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Hermione fled through the corridors of Hogwarts, clutching at the burning pain in her chest as she ran, struggling to breathe. She felt so stupid for going off on her own. The battle was over, they had won, and she’d had a stupid little argument with Ron over nothing! Of course, she was sorry that Fred had died but that didn’t mean she was going to be waiting around to devote all of her attention to him. He’d been ignoring her in favour of spending time with his family, and fair enough, but she’d felt as though she was intruding. Instead, she’d gone to help Madam Pomfrey with some of the minor injuries only for Ron to come and yell at her for not being there for him. It was ridiculous, and it had been ridiculous for her to run off in tears, only to run into bloody Dolohov, who was apparently just hiding out in a random corridor waiting for a victim.

He'd hit her with that stupid purple fire again, and now here she was, probably dying, she had a bunch of time sand melted into the wound from the last time this had happened, and she could feel it vibrating around now, heating up. She thought she’d lost Dolohov, she’d hit him with an Impedimenta and had been periodically dropping Tripping Jinxes behind her as she ran. She reached the Seventh floor corridor and conjured the Room of Requirement with relief, running inside and collapsing onto a sofa. She knew Dolohov wouldn’t be able to follow her into the room, she’d specifically requested that, though the others would be able to find her. She gasped as her chest burned more intensely, and she grabbed for her beaded bag. She had a vial of the same healing potion Professor Snape had brewed for the wound the first time, and she grabbed it, hoping to make the burning stop.

It didn’t. If anything the wound burned even hotter, she tore at her clothing, her t-shirt coming apart easily due to the hole burned in it, and stared at the glowing purple wound on her chest. The healing potion was doing something, but it wasn’t enough, and suddenly the world spun around her. She felt like she was moving, spinning and squeezed into darkness, it was almost as though she was apparating, but it felt wrong. It stopped suddenly, and she leaned over, vomiting.

She must have lost consciousness because she woke some time later. She used her wand to cast a Tempus charm, her watch said it was 7.15 but the room she’d conjured didn’t have a window and she wasn’t sure if she’d slept for a couple of hours, or if it was now night and she’d slept for more than twelve. Smoke poured from her wand and formed into the shape of 5.47am. She stared at it in surprise, wondering what was wrong with her watch. It had been early in the morning when she’d entered the room, had she slept for 24 hours? Surely someone would have come to find her if she had. She moved her wand again to cast the more complicated version of the charm to show the date and waited as smoke poured from her wand, forming the shape of 23/07/1977.

Hermione sat down, feeling stunned. It had been 02/05/1998 this morning. She cast the charm twice more, watching in horror as it continued to summon the same numbers, staring in dismay each time as she watched those last two sevens take shape. How could it be 1977? She wasn’t even born yet. She didn’t even know it was possible to travel back to before your own birth. Time turners certainly couldn’t accomplish it. She looked down at her chest again, the purple scar didn’t look any worse than it had after the first time she was hit. The time sand was no longer glowing orange and red the way it had before she blacked out. It seemed clear that was what had caused her time travel. She had no idea why she’d gone back so many years.

She wasn’t sure how long she sat there. After a while she remembered her beaded bag and smiled in relief when she realised it was still in her shoe. She pulled out her reference list and started going over the contents, checking what she had available to her, relieved that she wasn’t completely destitute. Hermione tried to order her thoughts, but she wasn’t quite sure where to start. She pulled out a biro and a notebook to begin making notes, she needed to consider the nature of time travel, whether she could change things, if so, which things should be changed, and what she would do with her future.

She’d done a lot of research on the theories of time travel during her third year when she’d been given a time turner, and she knew it was the time turner itself which created a time loop. The theory of it was really quite complicated but essentially something happened in an original timeline which caused the traveller to go back and change things, but that deleted the original timeline, eventually stabilising time into a loop, so that the events the traveller changed ended up being the one they remembered. It had given her a headache but it matched up with her experience of using the device.

She’d read a couple of books which speculated that travelling without a time turner could result in a person changing time without creating a loop. These theorised that the traveller created another timeline, either deleting their original time or creating a new branch while their original timeline flowed on without them. Hermione decided to hope it was the second option, but either way the result was the same for her. She would never see her friends again. They hadn’t been born yet, and the moment she emerged from this room she would be changing the future, and even a tiny change in the face of the miniscule odds of that one particular sperm meeting the right egg, at the right time, meant that they probably never would. It was a lot to think about.

She’d thought it would take her time to mull it over, but really the conclusions she came to were rather quick. Yes, she would certainly try to change the future. They were currently in the very beginning of Voldemort’s first rise to power, and if he could be defeated earlier, without the need to wait for a prophecy that would cause him to go about murdering babies, then she had a moral obligation to see to it. She’d never be able to accomplish such a task herself though. She knew where and what his Horcruxes would be, but the only viable option she had was to go to Dumbledore. She wasn’t happy about it. After Harry had run off to die she’d gone and watched Professor Snape’s memories in the pensieve and had been horrified at the old man’s actions. She didn’t trust him, but she would have to get this information to him, and she’d need to convince him to help her somehow.

She pulled a tin of spaghetti out of her beaded bag and warmed it up with a heating charm. She’d asked Fleur to go shopping for her while they were staying at Shell Cottage so she now had quite a supply of nonperishable foods in her bag. If she had any hope of facing Dumbledore without giving away all of her secrets she needed to learn Occlumency. Harry had recounted his lessons with Professor Snape to her, and the only thing she knew about it was she needed to empty her mind and calm her emotions. It wasn’t much to go off, but better than nothing so she decided to start practicing.

She spent four days practicing meditation and making lists. She didn’t find it that difficult to clear her mind, and she practiced with a decoy detonator letting it randomly startle her so she could quickly blank her thoughts and emotions. She had no idea how it would work against a real Legilimens but she just had to hope it would be alright. She made a list of all of the things she planned to tell him about, and some of the things which she didn’t. She still didn’t really feel ready but she was starting to go a bit stir crazy with no-one to talk to so she finally pulled the portrait out of her beaded bag, asking, “Excuse me Headmaster Black are you there?”

She’d realised that being polite to the former headmaster was more likely to get a response. He entered the frame immediately and demanded, “Who are you? How are you summoning him.”

She stared at the man, and asked slowly, “You don’t know me?”

“Obviously not girl, we’ve never met. Who are you?”

She immediately felt stupid, but cleared her mind and kept her emotions calm, a portrait couldn’t legilimise her but she may as well practice. She understood what had happened and wasn’t quite sure why she’d expected anything else. Phineas hadn’t travelled through time with her, she’d just brought an empty canvas with her. She concluded that the Phineas Black of the current time had access to this portrait, but she didn’t know much about how the magical signatures of paintings worked. She was aware there was nothing to stop Phineas from relaying everything she said to his relatives and it would be bad news for her if the Black family found out about her. She needed a fake name, and the first thing that occurred to her was, “My name is Penelope Clearwater. I’m sorry for disturbing you, and for the poor introduction. I need to speak to Headmaster Dumbledore, I was wondering if you could tell me if he is at Hogwarts currently?”

He narrowed his eyes at her, “Why should I tell you that?”

“He will wish to meet with me. Do you know where he is please?”

“He has gone home for the holidays Miss Clearwater.”

“Oh. Are you able to get a message to him, perhaps through one of the other portraits?”

Phineas smirked, “What is your message?”

She blinked, “Please tell him… hmmn. Please pass on the message that Penelope Clearwater has a riddle for him, it’s ‘why did the Peverell brothers cross the river?’”

“Miss Clearwater, I do not know how you acquired an additional portrait frame for me but I do not appreciate my time being wasted.”

“It isn’t! Please pass my riddle on, the Headmaster will wish to meet with me.”

She waited as Phineas left the frame and she could only hope that he was in fact relaying her message somehow. After some time he returned, clearing his throat, “Miss Clearwater the Headmaster will meet with you. He asked if you would be able to make it to Hogsmeade by 2pm?”

“Please tell him I would prefer to meet in his office at Hogwarts. If he can just provide the password to pass the gargoyles I will meet him there are his earliest convenience, as I am already in the castle.”

Phineas looked around the room they were in curiously but said nothing. When he returned again he gave her the password, ‘sugar quill’ and told her the Headmaster would be in his office at 2pm. Hermione nodded. She thanked him before popping him back into the bag.

Chapter Text

Hermione had watched the map as Headmaster Dumbledore appeared on the grounds and stalked around the castle, obviously checking to see if this was some sort of trap. She waited until it was nearly time and then exited the room, making her way over to his office. He arrived shortly after she did, just before 2pm and greeted her, smiling happily, “Miss Clearwater I presume?”

“Hello sir. My name is actually Miss Granger, I would appreciate if you could swear Headmaster Black to secrecy regarding me. Hopefully he hasn’t already talked of me to any of his other relatives.”

“Indeed Miss Granger, I have already done so. It was a curious riddle you gave me.”

“Yes sir, I wasn’t sure how obvious to be. May we go up to your office now?”

He gave the password and led her up the spiralling staircase. When they were settled at his desk Hermione pulled out her copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard and offered it to him, open to the inscription he had written to her. He blinked at it for a moment, and she launched into her prepared speech, “My name is Hermione Granger and I was originally born in 1979, to two muggle dentists. I attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry from 1991 to 1997. Unfortunately, I was forced to spend what should have been my Seventh and final year at school on the run from Voldemort’s Ministry, as he finally managed to take over shortly after your death in 1997. You left me this book in your will.”

Dumbledore studied her, and Hermione carefully kept her mind clear and focused on the current moment, running over the list of things she needed to tell him. “That is quite astonishing Miss Granger. How did you come to be here? Time turners are only capable of going back a few hours and I’d be surprised to learn that even in the future they’ve been improved to the point of turning time back by years.”

“Of course, sir, you are quite right. Time turners are only capable of travelling back 4 hours and even then can’t go past when the person originally possessed the device and certainly wouldn’t take me past my own birth. I’m not sure I know quite how I managed it, I suffered a curse wound in a battle against Death Eaters in the Department of Mysteries two years ago and my wound was contaminated with time sand. I was fleeing that same Death Eater after a battle at Hogwarts when I entered the Room of Requirement to escape him, and when I emerged I found myself in the past.”

“You were in a battle? Are you injured Miss Granger?”

She smiled at his obvious concern. “Not badly, I applied a healing potion and my wound seems to have settled.”

He looked horrified at her nonchalance. “I wonder how bad the future is that students are fighting Death Eaters in my school.”

Hermione said sadly, “We’d actually just won the war sir, but I stupidly went off on my own and ran across a Death Eater who hadn’t been caught yet. He hit me with the same curse he used on me years ago and it seemed to react with the time sand in the original wound somehow, it certainly wasn’t as effective as the first time. The future was difficult though. I’ve been here for a few days pondering the ethical implications of the fact that I am now in position to make significant changes as compared to my timeline.”

“My, that is a dilemma indeed. Normally a time travel device stabilises the changes to create a looping of time but that won’t be the case here. You’ve likely already changed things just from this conversation with me.”

“Yes, I believe I probably have. I think that I should probably give you the information you’ll need to stop Tom Riddle from gaining power and then try to integrate myself into this time. I doubt there is any way of returning to my own timeline now, even if I found a way to travel forward in time.”

“You seem very accepting of this Miss Granger, I must say I’m impressed with you so far. I believe you are indicating you know what Lord Voldemort has done to make himself immortal?”

“I do sir, he has created horcruxes. Several of them in fact and he plans to create 6 in total for a seven part soul. I can tell you what the objects are and I believe we will be able to figure out where they are all located.”

Dumbledore looked horrified, “Multiple horcruxes? You’ll give me the information, may I conclude from that that you will not be directly helping to destroy them?”

Hermione shuddered, “No sir, I’m sorry but I have just spent the last year on the run from the Ministry hunting Horcruxes and I don’t even have my N.E.W.T.s yet. I was hoping you could assist me in establishing an identity for myself so that I can attend school with the incoming Seventh years, in exchange I will give you all of the information I have about the Horcruxes.”

He considered for a moment, “Would you refuse to give me the information if I declined your deal?”

Hermione hesitated, “Of course it is more important to see him defeated. However, I am a security risk, if I appear suddenly it’s going to be suspicious and if anyone takes too much of an interest in me it could cause us all problems. If Riddle got access to me my information could be used to make things a lot worse. It’s in all of our interests for my identity to be as secure as possible.”

He smiled, “Yes that is true. Did you have a suggestion? I’m assuming you are a Muggle-born with no wizarding relatives?”

“Actually, Professor Slughorn once asked if I was related to Hector Dagworth-Granger and I did a bit of research later and found that I am, one of my ancestors was a squib and is a cousin of his. I have the curly hair, and I know there are spells which can be used to strengthen that blood relationship. I did a bit of research into the family and I’d like to imply that Edgar Dagworth-Granger might be my father.”

“That is quite illegal Miss Granger, and rather unethical as well.”

Hermione narrowed her eyes at him for a moment, imagine Albus Dumbledore arguing against something because it’s illegal. “I’m sorry sir, you’ve always done what was required for the sake of the Greater Good regardless of legality. I don’t think it would be such a bad thing, when I looked into the family I found out that Edgar did have quite a reputation as a student for sleeping around, I don’t think he’d be too terribly surprised to find he had a bastard child, only surprised that the mother hadn’t gone after him financially. I don’t mean any harm to the family themselves, only a family connection that will make my sudden appearance seem more believable.”

He considered for a moment before he agreed, “Yes, I can see your point. Do you have any ideas for the identity of your mother? You’ll have to claim that you were homeschooled.”

“No, I was hoping you could provide some advice. I’m only familiar with the Dagworth-Granger family from the research I did into my squib ancestor, but preferably my mother would be a Muggleborn witch who left the wizarding world and probably have died recently which would explain the sudden change in my schooling. It’s going to be difficult though because if she has any connections with the wizarding world people will wonder why she never told them about her daughter…”

“Yes, I will look through the records and see if I can identify someone suitable. On the next full moon we’ll perform a ritual to strengthen your blood connection to the Dagworth-Granger line. For now, you should extract any memories you have that will be relevant for me to know and place them in the Pensieve here. Any problems?”

“No, that sounds perfect to me, thank you so much sir. I’m glad you are alive again.” She genuinely felt glad in that moment, it was nice to be able to hand the problem of the horcruxes off to Dumbledore. She definitely didn’t want to have to deal with it directly herself. Dumbledore provided her with a set of room in the castle, she’d arrived in the middle of July so the school was mostly empty but she’d been ordered to stay out of sight regardless.

The headmaster visited her rooms frequently and she explained everything to him, extracting memories for the most important moments. She told him all about the prophecy, about Voldemort’s spirit going after the Philosopher’s stone, all about the Diary horcrux and the Chamber of Secrets though most of her memories of that were second hand thanks to being petrified. She skipped over the events of third year and refused to tell him who the Secret Keeper was, she’d already realised that most of the people she knew from the future were now her own age and it would be unfair to reveal all of their secrets to him particularly for Professor Snape. She showed him the events of the Triwizard tournament, then everything Harry had told her about his sessions with the headmaster looking into Tom Riddle’s history, and then the horcruxes they had located and destroyed while on the run. She showed him the battle of the Department of Mysteries and what Harry told her had happened after she was injured, and then finished with Dolohov cursing her and chasing her into the Room of Requirement and causing her accidental time travel into the past.

She refused to tell him how he had died, merely saying that the person Voldemort had requested to kill him hadn’t even been born yet, which was true and avoided the issue of Snape entirely. She could tell that he was sometimes frustrated with her for not telling him everything but she explained her reasoning and he agreed with it. She was sure he was sometimes tempted to Legilimise her and take the information by force, but she pretended to trust him completely and often talked about how good and noble a leader he was, and it seems Dumbledore was not above being flattered.

Before she knew it the time had passed, and she’d shown him everything he would need to know. He’d given her an identity for her mother, the woman wasn’t actually dead but lived in the muggle world and hadn’t kept in contact at all. She was also rather insane, before leaving the Wizarding world Alicia Ryerson had worked briefly at Honeyduke’s as a shop assistant while writing very interesting articles for the Quibbler, but after being attacked one night in Hogsmeade had cut ties with all of her wizarding acquaintances entirely. The headmaster even thought she had really been involved with Edgar Dagworth-Granger during his final year at Hogwarts when she was working in Hogsmeade, but he still met with him and cast a Confundus charm to encourage him to remember it. Hermione refined her story, and practiced it, knowing she would have to be convincing.

Once she had given Dumbledore all of the information she thought relevant he gave her a small coin purse and sent her off to Diagon Alley. She didn’t bother to tell him that she already had more than 1,000 galleons in her bag from Harry, just thanked him for the funds. She booked a room at the leaky cauldron and introduced herself to Tom, explaining her backstory. She went to Ollivander’s to purchase a new wand, relieved that she wouldn’t need to use Bellatrix’s any longer. Flourish and Blott’s provided her with the current versions of all of the textbooks.

In between shopping excursions she grieved the loss of her friends. It was really an upheaval and she kept thinking about all of the people she’d once known who wouldn’t even be born now. To make herself feel better she pulled out an old photograph of the original order members and thought of all the people who might now get to live full lives rather than dying in the first war. It would be worth it, and she’d already lost her parents in any case. She missed Ron and Harry, but Hermione had never been one to wallow, and she wondered if she might like Harry’s parents. She’d always been told she was a lot like Lily Evans, so perhaps she would finally have a good girl friend. She had her doubts based on what she’d seen in Professor Snape’s memories but that was still a rather one sided story. If he really was as evil as everyone said then perhaps, well she couldn’t really say he’d deserved the lake incident, but perhaps he deserved Lily refusing to be friends with him any longer.

The more she thought about it the more she thought that perhaps she should try to stay away from all the people she’d known in the future. She wasn’t a good liar, if she had to sit around with Remus Lupin and pretend not to know he was a werewolf, or pretend not to know about things like the invisibility cloak or the map, how would she cope? Perhaps it would be better to ask the hat to put her in Ravenclaw or something and stay away from all of them. She was feeling lonely, and now with having resolved against making friends with anyone she knew from the future she wasn’t feeling very optimistic about her situation improving any time soon.

She decided to take a trip to the Magical Menagerie to get a new pet. She was wandering around looking at the different kinds of owls, not that she had anyone to correspond with, when she spotted a litter of half-kneazle kittens and gasped. She would swear that ginger one was Crookshanks. She approached the kittens whispering his name, and he looked up at her immediately. She could hardly believe it. The timing seemed insane and yet it was him. She quickly gathered the kitten into her arms and cuddled him, just the way she used to do. The shop girl eyed her curiously, “He’s been a hissy little thing since he was born. I’m surprised he’s letting you do that.”

Hermione felt the tears pouring down her face and tried to get herself under control. She immediately purchased the kitten and carried him back to her room. After that she talked incessantly to Crookshanks, telling him all about the future, and about her plans for the past. It was hard to plan for anything really but she hoped it would all work out for the best. At least she had Crooksy now, that was a big comfort.

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On September 1^st she made her way to Kings Cross to catch the train to school. She arrived early and took a seat in an empty compartment, pulling out a book to read. She’d purchased the textbooks for the earlier years and spent some time going over them as she didn’t want to accidentally use something that hadn’t even been invented yet. Magical improvements didn’t always happen so quickly but twenty years was a long time and it would be stupid to get caught out just because she accidentally used a spell that hadn’t been invented yet. She’d have to claim to have created it and that would just make her look suspicious.

She was eventually joined by a few Hufflepuff girls, who introduced themselves as Bertha Jorkins, Elise Hewson, and Ffion Jones. Hermione remembered that Bertha had been a bit of a gossip at Hogwarts and had eventually gotten herself obliviated by Barty Crouch and subsequently murdered, and she thought Ffion Jones was the elder sister of Gwenog Jones of the Holyhead Harpies. She hesitated briefly, but telling her little story to a group of girls who would probably spread the gossip around on her behalf was probably the best outcome. She introduced herself and then gradually fed them her entire false history.

This Hermione Granger had been born on 19/09/1959 and her mother was a Muggleborn witch who had left the wizarding world after being the victim of a vicious attack. She’d raised Hermione alone, and though she told her that her father was a wizard she wouldn’t tell her his identity. No, the name Granger wasn’t for her father, her mother had just said she liked the name. Yes, she did wish she could have attended Hogwarts. No, she didn’t have any friends or know anyone in the wizarding world. Yes, that does mean she was born out of wedlock, her mother never married.

She answered their questions leading them to the desired conclusion, which was that Hermione’s mother had been an insane, control freak, who had controlled her entire life up to this point. She received lots of pitying looks as she tried not to look too happy that her fake mother was dead, but she did let out some real tears as she thought of her actual parents, who had just gotten married a month ago in this timeline. After crying she got a bit of a respite from questions as the girls began chatting about their summer holidays. She spent the entire trip with them, and smiled happily as Ffion hoped she would be sorted into Hufflepuff with them. Not a chance.

Hermione presented herself to Hagrid, who tried to argue with her that he was only supposed to take first years across the lake. He didn’t seem to understand the concept that though she was a seventh year it was her first year at Hogwarts and she had to go with the younger students to be sorted, but she kept her patience with him and he eventually agreed to let her into one of the boats after she pointed out that her uniform was plain black. The school uniforms came blank by default and upon being sorted would automatically take on the colour of the new students house, after which they could no longer be changed.

Since she had some time on her hands, and didn’t want to waste her money on new uniforms when the ones she had from sixth year still fit perfectly well, Hermione had taken the time to break the charms so that her uniforms could be recoloured once she was sorted. She was going to ask to be placed in Ravenclaw and was looking forward to wearing blue. The colours had been one of her least favourite things about being a Gryffindor. Luckily the uniform designs hadn’t changed much, she had to buy new ties as the stripes were thinner, and the current sweater vests had buttons while in her time they’d been pullovers, but her robes, shirts, skirts, and socks were all fine.

The first years were staring at her but she just explained to them that she had been homeschooled and thankfully they quickly lost interest in her to stare at the castle and eye the lake suspiciously, looking for the giant squid. Professor McGonagall had been forewarned about her arrival and unusual circumstances, and told her she’d be sorted first. She didn’t have to wait long before they were led out into the hall, she felt ridiculous standing there amongst the tiny little firsties but she was soon called, and stepped forward to put the hat on. Sitting on the stool was a terribly awkward business as it was much too short for her, her knees stuck up awkwardly as she perched on it and stuck the hat on top of her bushy hair.

“Interesting. Very interesting. You aren’t supposed to be here – you’re already a Gryffindor, I can see it here clear as day.”

Hermione thought back to the hat, “I need to be sorted. You should put me in Ravenclaw.”

The hat spoke again, “Hmm, that’s not right though. How can I put you in Ravenclaw when you’re already a – GRYFFINDOR!”

Hermione sighed and took the hat off, placing it back on the stool and walking over to the table. She could see the Marauders. James Potter really did look just like Harry, he was eyeing her with mild curiosity and clapping politely. Sirius Black was grinning at her as though her being sorted into his house was some form of personal accomplishment. Peter Pettigrew was staring at her, his beady eyes narrowed with interest. Remus Lupin looked heartbreakingly young and offered her a friendly smile. Her eyes fell on Lily Evans who waved her over eagerly, her green eyes bright with excitement. Hermione couldn’t help envying her gorgeous, silky red hair, and she knew her bushy mop must just look atrocious in comparison. She settled next to Lily and was introduced to her best friend Marlene McKinnon.

The curious Gryffindor’s waited until the sorting was complete and the table was groaning under plates of food to begin their interrogation. Sirius launching straight into it with a wink and a, “Where did you come from then?”

Merlin, was he flirting with her? She told them the basic details of her cover story without getting into the sob story she’d told on the train. Remus asked if she knew what subjects she’d be studying and she told them about her class schedule, 10 N.E.W.T. subjects. She’d only had 9 in sixth year but when she’d been discussing her options with Headmaster Dumbledore and he informed he was teaching an Alchemy class this year she’d insisted he allow her to join the class. He’d given her some reading to do over the summer to get caught up on the year she’d missed.

Remus eyed her with concern, “Are you quite sure you’ll be able to keep up with 10 N.E.W.T. subjects? I’m not quite sure what your study schedule was like at home but that’s quite intense. Lily and I are amongst the top of the class and we both only have 9.”

Hermione smiled at him, “I sat 10 O.W.L.s, I’ve dropped Care of Magical Creatures to take Alchemy. I wanted to do both but the Headmaster insisted 11 was too many.” She shrugged at their astonishment, “I might have been homeschooled but I’m a bit of a swot. Plus, I didn’t have any friends so there was never anything to do but read.”

They all looked at her like she was a really weird homeschooled kid, which was the goal, so she tried not to feel too self-conscious about it. She looked around the hall and found Professor Snape staring at her from across the room. She immediately blushed and looked away, then felt stupid. He wasn’t her Professor, just another Seventh year. She felt stupid for blushing. After a moment she peeked again, only to find he was still staring at her. He wore the expression his future self would sometimes employ when he was sure Harry was up to something and was just waiting to find out what it was. She stared back at him but he didn’t look away, his expression merely grew more curious. Ugh. She returned to her dinner, even though she still knew he was looking at her. Lily looked up and noticed him then flipped her shiny hair over her shoulder, smiling to herself.

Hermione asked quietly, “Who’s that boy at the Slytherin table? He’s staring.”

Black overheard her and asked curiously, “You already know who the Slytherins are?”

Hermione said primly, “I have read Hogwarts: A History.”

Black chuckled, “Oh Merlin you really are a swot. Well, it’s good that you already know. Stay away from anyone wearing green, they are all evil, honest to goodness dark wizards in the making.”

“Right.”

After he grew distracted Lily said softly, “That’s Snape, just ignore him. He’s a bit obsessed with me, we used to study together in the library until he called me a Mudblood.”

Hermione eyed her, surprised that she made their relationship sound so unimportant. She just shrugged and said, “My mum said people used to call her that all the time. It was one of the reasons she didn’t want to let me come to school, she was worried people would criticise my blood especially since I don’t know who my father is.”

Lily nodded, “There are some who are like that, mostly amongst the Slytherins. Steer clear of them, and most of the Ravenclaws aren’t much better. Everyone in Hufflepuff and Gryffindor is alright though.”

“Thanks for the advice, I met some really nice Hufflepuff girls on the train.”

“Oh, you met Bertha? She’s a bit of a gossip. Anything you told her will be all over the school by tomorrow.”

Hermione winced, “Oh, I didn’t realise. She was really curious about me, I’m afraid I basically spilled my whole life story.”

“Oh dear.”

After dinner Lily proudly informed everyone that she had Head Girl duties and would catch them later. Marlene showed Hermione up to the dormitory. She crashed into bed thinking she’d done a pretty good job of lying about everything tonight, it was something to be proud of. She spent a bit of time sulking over the fact that she didn’t get to be Head Girl. It would have been impossible, even if she’d thought of it, there’d be no way Dumbledore could have promoted a new student into the role, but she’d always known that one day she’d get that badge, and now she never would. It seemed a stupid thing to cry over, especially in comparison to her other problems, yet she still shed a few tears for it. It was a representation of her entire lost future, she would have to carve a place for herself in this world from scratch. It took her a while to get to sleep as she pondered that.

Chapter Text

Her first few weeks flew by quickly, and rather miserably. After her failure to be sorted into Ravenclaw Hermione had decided she would make friends with Harry’s parents after all, only to realise very quickly that she couldn’t stand any of them. Lily had been very nice to her in the beginning, but Lily was the kind of girl who liked making others feel inferior. She was the smartest, prettiest, most popular girl in their year, and when it quickly became clear that Hermione would be taking the moniker of smartest it accidentally became a rivalry. Lily felt very safe being pretty and popular, and so she spent all their time together making little comments that couldn’t precisely be called out as insults, but were clearly designed to make Hermione feel like an ugly loser.

Marlene seemed like a genuinely nice girl but after six years of only Lily for company she had absolutely no self-worth. She worshipped Lily like she was the sun, it was a terribly unhealthy relationship, but Hermione was never going to be able to get into the middle of that, even if she’d wanted to. It was obvious that she would not be allowed to encroach on their friendship so she quickly ceded the ground to the other girl. She was invited to study with her and Remus as the three of them had quite a lot of overlapping classes. Hermione had liked Professor Lupin in the future. He’d been a good teacher, although she thought a bit less of him as a person after finding out more about what he’d been like as a teenager, but she’d still imagined they might have been friends if they’d had the opportunity. Meeting him as a teenager made her wonder what she possibly could have liked about him, even in the future.

Potter and Black were bullies. Pettigrew encouraged them. Lupin just did nothing. It was the scene from Professor Snape’s memories, but it played out every single day. The boys would kick younger students out of the comfiest seats in the common room, and Lupin would say nothing. They would verbally insult other students, usually Professor Snape, but always a Slytherin. Lupin would pretend he hadn’t heard it. They would sneakily hex someone, once again the someone was usually Professor Snape (she had to stop calling him that, even in her head), and Lupin would pretend he hadn’t seen it. It was obvious he’d only been given a Prefect badge because the others were all worse than him, and not from any merit or inclination to follow the rules of his own.

He was also madly in love with Lily Evans. Lily had dropped a lot of hints to Hermione about the possibility of her having a crush on Remus, offering to encourage him to ask her out, and she had repeatedly declined the offers. Even if she didn’t find Remus to be a pathetic, spineless lump of a human being she would never date someone stupid enough to think the sun shone out of Lily Evans’ ass just because she happened to be pretty. She knew she was jealous. There wasn’t much point in lying to herself about it, but Harry’s mother was genuinely awful. Not so awful that the thought Harry had been better off growing up without her could last long, she wasn’t worse than Aunt Petunia and growing up in a cupboard, but she was probably worse than Sirius Black after ten years in Azkaban as a godfather. Hopefully she would mature before her and Potter had any babies.

She’d done so well with her plans to avoid people from the future that she’d also managed to find herself sitting with Snape in two classes. The Marauders had an odd number for potions, since Pettigrew had only managed an Acceptable on his O.W.L, and Marlene had no interest in the subject, so the four of them already had partnered each other. She waited nervously, and as the lab filled she noticed that the only person who didn’t appear to have a partner was Snape. She was honestly a bit frightened of him, though the idea of having him for a partner was somewhat thrilling. He’d been a potions prodigy, even at this age, so it would definitely be an improvement from Neville.

When Professor Slughorn eventually turned up he did introduce her to Mister Snape, who barely waited for her to say hello before sneeringly informing her, “I will not be assisting you. If you must blow yourself up, try to do so quietly.”

Hermione had laughed, thinking it a joke, but the scathing look he’d given her told her he was being serious. She’d merely shrugged and settled herself in to work on her potion. There was a wild moment when she considered following the steps the Half-blood Prince had inscribed into his textbook, she wasn’t using it of course but she could remember the extra counterclockwise stirs he had added to the instructions, but she resisted. She wasn’t Hermione Granger, Muggle-born student who had to prove she was better than Draco Malfoy at everything, she was Hermione Granger, mysterious Half-blood student, who was supposed to be boring and unexceptional. Also, it would be cheating, a thing she had spent an entire year telling Harry off for. She was only tempted because Snape was such an asshole, and it would be funny to beat him using his own instructions. Her potion came out just fine in the end.

She complained to Crookshanks at night about how lonely she was. She’d made some time to hang out with the Hufflepuff girls over the weekend, but she found them boring. They talked about gossip, Bertha told her all about Severus Snape, laughing about the lake incident. Ffion talked about her siblings, one of whom was indeed Gwenog, but she had eight of them in total, of which she was the second. Elise complained about Sirius Black, who she was kind of dating, but he wanted to keep things ‘casual’. Everyone told her to dump him, but it was clear Elise would allow him to continue stringing her along. Hermione told her about Black flirting with her, trying to be helpful, but knew it had come out wrong almost immediately. She sounded superior and judgemental, and when she tried to backtrack it only seemed to make it worse. Being friends with the Hufflepuffs was a bust.

It was too hard to talk to anyone without being able to tell them anything real about her. She realised that Albus Dumbledore was basically her only friend, since he was the only person who knew anything real about her. He taught the Alchemy class which was a combined class with sixth- and seventh-year students where she also sat with Snape as he had been the only one without a partner. Lily and Remus sat together. Hermione tried to avoid the Headmaster’s notice as much as possible, she was a bit afraid of him. That made her wish she knew more about Occlumency, which made her think of Snape and wonder if he already knew how to do it. She couldn’t stop thinking about Snape.

He was still unfriendly towards her, but she couldn’t really blame him for that. She was in Gryffindor with all his tormentors, and it was clear his pensieve memories had not been a one-sided, biased view of the situation. Snape mostly ignored the Marauders, she’d only ever seen him hex them after they hit him first, and they constantly insulted him. After her first potions class Black had offered her a hanky, for the grease, and commiserated her for having to sit next to the evil git. He’d obviously expected her to find it humorous, and he’d said it within Snape’s hearing as well. She hadn’t been able to think of anything witty to say and had just shaken her head before stalking off to take a walk before dinner, but their behaviour disgusted her. She did pity Snape, and the more she saw the worse it got.

He hung out with the other Slytherin’s but she’d overheard something in the library, Rosier complaining he hadn’t gotten a high enough grade on his essay and so he wouldn’t be taking escort duty, which made her think it was more like a protection arrangement. Snape had stayed in the library but near curfew the Marauders had all come in and started picking on him. She’d followed them when they left and watched as Black threw a hex at his retreating form, starting a four vs one fight. Hermione had hesitated, watching as curses started flying, but she’d just started screaming that there was a fight. Professor McGonagall had turned up, and when Hermione told her she’d seen Sirius Black fire the first hex the woman had the audacity to ask if Snape had done anything to instigate the fight.

All 5 boys were given detention and Hermione decided she was going to become Snape’s friend. If they could both learn Occlumency together then she could even tell him the truth about herself. She’d stop him from becoming a Death Eater, she hoped Dumbledore would take You-Know-Who out before they graduated so he’d need new plans anyway. In that moment it seemed like a lovely plan. It wasn’t until the next time she saw his scowling countenance and recalled that the only time she’d successfully made a friend there had been a troll involved that she began to see the inherent difficulties.

Chapter Text

Hermione made no progress with Snape. She greeted him politely in potions and alchemy class and he only scowled at her. She was impressed with his brewing and watched as he made little improvements to the methods of preparation from the textbook and occasionally added changes to the stirring instructions. Usually his potion was finished first, and he would then watch her with his intimidating glare, but since she was used to him being like that as a Professor it didn’t bother her too much. Her potions were always textbook perfect, which meant they weren’t as good as his. Although she did enjoy the fact that occasionally his little experiments failed. He’d never melted a cauldron as far as she saw but once his potion had been completely unviable, and another time it had just been a bit worse than hers.

She wasn’t sure what else to do though. He obviously didn’t want to talk to her, and she kept clear of him in their other classes despite them having almost the exact same schedule. She finally caught a break in their Friday transfiguration class. She’d been keeping an eye on the Marauders, since she knew they were bullying little prats, and they were all lining up for class when she saw Black pull his wand and mutter something. She pulled her own wand out. Snape was walking down the corridor, but Black hadn’t done anything obvious to him. She hesitated but was ready when Snape took another step forward and his leg slid out beneath him sending him sprawling forward. He let out an undignified yelp, his arms flailing, but Hermione did a neat swish and flick with a muttered Wingardium Leviosa and floated him back onto his feet.

He eyed her, scowling, and said, “I didn’t need your help.”

She scoffed at him, “Well I didn’t think you needed to smash your face on the cobblestones, but my mistake obviously.”

Black and Potter laughed, and she frowned at them. Snape slunk off down the corridor and turned to watch them. She still had her wand out when a younger student came hurrying down the corridor, obviously late for her next class, hands full of books and parchment. The girl hit the same spot in the corridor and flailed, her books flying out in front of her. Hermione did another charm to help the girl get back on her feet. She helped her gather up all of her belongings and soothed her. She turned to glare at Black and spotted Professor McGonagall coming down the corridor and suddenly had an idea. She was sure Black’s trip jink would have faded by now, it had obviously been weaker on the Hufflepuff than on Snape, if the girl hadn’t been in a hurry and carrying all of her books she might not have even tripped.

No time to think about it Hermione silently cast her own trip jink in the same spot as Black and then hissed at him, “Cancel your trip jinx Black this isn’t funny.” She gave the girl her belongings back, including the girl’s wand, and hurried her along. As she stood, her own wand still in hand she turned to watch Professor McGonagall. She felt a little queasy at what she’d just done but it was a bit late now. Suddenly Professor McGonagall hit Hermione’s trip jinx, her legs flew out beneath her and she yelled. Hermione quickly set her to rights a moment later, though her hat was a little askew.

Hermione turned and hissed at Black, “I told you to get rid of it. How many people are you going to try to trip? And our Professor too?”

Black looked alarmed, “What? I didn’t do that. My trip hex already faded.”

“Obviously, it didn’t.”

Professor McGonagall interrupted sharply, “What’s the meaning of this Miss Granger, Mister Black?”

Hermione turned to Professor McGonagall, “You’re the third victim of Black’s trip hex that I’ve rescued this morning Professor. He’s been trying to trip anyone who-”

Black interrupted her, “I didn’t trip you Professor McGonagall, it must have been Snape.”

Professor McGonagall turned, “I should have known you were involved in this Mister Snape.”

Hermione gaped at her. Snape scowled, and said, “I didn’t do it. Miss Granger tripped you.”

Hermione shot him a betrayed look, shocked that he’d dobbed her in. The bastard. “Of course I didn’t. I’ve been casting Wingardium Leviosa’s all morning, look.” Feeling very satisfied with herself she did a quick Priori Incantatum to prove her innocence. Then she continued, “Professor McGonagall I can assure you it was Black’s hex. I saw him cast something which is why I had my wand out in time to rescue Mister Snape in the first place. Obviously, he was the target but when Black didn’t cancel the jinx it caught a younger student, and then yourself.”

Professor McGonagall hesitated and then said, “Well we can’t prove who cast the jinx so I’ll let you all off with a warning this time, and 10 points to Gryffindor for Miss Granger for your quick charms work.”

Hermione gaped at her, but said determinedly, “Professor, Black may have denied tripping you, but he admitted to tripping Mister Snape and the Hufflepuff girl. Surely that merits a detention at least.”

Professor McGonagall eyed her sternly, “Yes, quite right Miss Granger. Mister Black you may report for detention with Mr Filch this evening.”

After class Hermione packed up slowly and caught Snape as he was leaving. “I can’t believe you snitched on me after I saved you.”

“I didn’t ask for your help.”

“Would you really rather fall on your face than have me help you? Asking for next time you know. If you’re really determined to introduce your remarkable nose to the stone floors I won’t intervene again.”

He scowled, “You’re really going to try to help me again after I snitched on you?”

“Why did you snitch on me?”

“Because Black was about to blame me and Professor McGonagall would have sided with him. I wasn’t going to take a detention for something you did.” His eyes narrowed, “How did you trick the Priori Incantatem?”

Hermione smiled, “I’m not going to tell you all my secrets, you don’t even want to be my friend.”

“Why would you want to be friends with me?”

Hermione hesitated. She couldn’t tell him yet. He was suspicious though and probably would see through a lie. She hedged, “I need help with a potions project.”

“What’s the project?”

“It’s a secret. My plan is to befriend you first, and then once I trust you, I can ask for help.”

He scowled, “So you want me to agree to some mystery project in the future but you won’t tell me anything about it?”

“Don’t be so suspicious. I’m not making you swear an oath or anything, we can spend some time together and maybe become friends, and then I’ll tell you about it. Then if you want you can turn around and say, ‘Ha, I’ve tricked you into telling me all your secrets and now I’m going to refuse to work on your very interesting potions project which will bring me much prestige and a profitable patent because I just like to be contrary.’ I’m not going to force you into anything.”

“Being friends with me is not wise. What happened today is not an isolated incident, and you’ve probably already brought yourself to their attention by demanding Black get detention.”

“Yes, I’m aware of the situation. I can handle myself.”

“I don’t trust you. How you did that today?”

Hermione laughed, “You refuse to be friends with me but then demand answers? Well fine, I will tell you, it’s nothing exciting. I used the Hufflepuff girls wand before I gave it back to her. Not that I really thought I’d have to worry about anyone accusing me.”

“How are you in Gryffindor?”

She laughed, “The bloody sorting hat is lazy. I think it just didn’t want to reallocate space in one of the other dorms, you know Gryffindor has the least girls in our year right? That’s my theory anyway.”

He snorted, “That’s not how the hat works.”

“It might. I’m not totally un-Gryffindor though; I can be a bit brave and foolish sometimes.”

“Yes, it would certainly take a Gryffindor to attempt to become friends with me.”

“Like Lily?”

His face was blank but he said, “Has she said something?”

“Nothing that would surprise you, I’m sure. Complaints about you being friends with the wrong people, and about you getting into the Dark Arts.”

“And those things don’t bother you?”

She didn’t want to lie to him, “They do, but they are secondary to my project.”

“If you’re planning to try to convince me to stop being friends with the other Slytherin’s you can forget it. Lily tried for years.”

“Do you like them?”

“It doesn’t matter. I wouldn’t stop being friends with them for Lily, I won’t for you either. If that’s what you’re after you can forget it.”

She took that to mean that he didn’t like them, but even if he wanted to he couldn’t safely withdraw from those relationships yet, so she just said, “Okay.”

“What’s your blood status?”

She quirked a head at him, “Isn’t that a rather rude question?”

“My friends will want to know if I’m seen hanging out with you.”

“It’s not great. I’m half, but my mother was Muggle-born and I’m trying to keep my fathers identity under wraps. He’s from a respectable pureblood family but I’m illegitimate, and he doesn’t even know about me so I can’t exactly go shouting about it. There’s a reason I wasn’t sent to Hogwarts before.”

“What family?”

“It really can’t get out Snape.”

“It won’t, but I need to know if we’re friends.”

“Dagworth-Granger.”

He raised an eyebrow, “Is that anything to do with your secret potions project?”

She smiled, “In a way yes.”

“Okay. You do realise you won’t be able to get the Gryffindor’s off your back right? You’re going to make enemies.”

“They are already my enemies they just don’t know it yet.”

He eyed her, “What have they done to you?”

“Nothing to me, I just can’t stand bullies. I uhhh know what happened at the lake last year.”

He looked away and then said angrily, “Are you just trying to befriend me out of pity then? I don’t need your help, I can handle them myself.”

“No, there really is a potions project. Don’t be mad at me, I just thought I should get it out there that I know about the incident. You’re not the only person they bully, just their favourite target.”

He was silent for a while, then said, “I don’t think being friends with you is a good idea. It will just make things worse.”

She hesitated but decided not to argue with him. They had made progress, and she didn’t want to be too pushy, instead, she just said cheerily, “Well I’m your friend now even if you don’t want to consider me one.”

If Hermione had thought landing him in detention would stop Sirius Black from flirting with her she was sorely disappointed. He confronted her in the common room that night to ask her how she’d done the trick with the Priori Incantatem. He seemed impressed and acted as though he was in on the joke somehow, saying he knew she had cast the trip jinx that got McGonagall.

Hermione responded, “Even if I had I’d hardly dob myself in to you.”

She’d been perfectly serious, but Sirius laughed as though she’d told a joke, “You’re a weird girl Granger. Well how come you were so determined to land me a detention, did you know I had a date tonight?” He waggled his eyebrows at her suggestively.

Hermione sniffed, “I had no idea. I just don’t like bullies.”

“Aww you haven’t been around long enough to see what a creep Snape is. Well how about I’ll stop picking on him if you’ll go out with me? It worked for James with Lily.”

She stared at him. It had not worked for James and Lily, as far as she could see James still picked on Snape as much as ever. “I’m going to bed.”

He laughed again.

Chapter Text

In Defence the next Wednesday they were all taken out of the classroom and into a large empty room then partnered up to practice duelling. Remus was off sick as it had been a full moon the night before, and Sirius immediately took the opportunity to partner with her, leaving James and Peter to duel each other. Hermione had been trying not to draw too much attention to herself in classes, and although she wanted to tell him to bring it on when Sirius smiled handsomely and promised to go easy on her, she resisted. They began casting hexes back and forth, alternating shielding, but she didn’t take him very seriously. She wasn’t exactly the best at duelling, she knew plenty of hexes but she had a bad habit of crumbling under pressure. Still, she had more skill than she chose to show now.

Everything was going alright until Sirius grinned cheekily and hit her with a nonverbal Levicorpus. She was flipped upside down by her ankle, and quickly scrambled to hold her skirt up to avoid flashing everyone, losing her wand in the process. She heard a few laughs from around them and she hissed, “Let me down Black.” She was furious, even though she had bike shorts on under her skirt. She hated that girls weren’t allowed to wear trousers.

Sirius just smirked, “I’ll let you down if you’ll agree to go on a date with me.”

“You’re not being cute right now. Let me down.”

Other people were still fighting each other but a lot of them were looking at her, a few people laughing at her being hung in the air. The Professor was all the way across the other side of the room and hadn’t noticed anything was amiss yet. Hermione was trying to keep her cool when she heard a quiet “Evanesco,” from Pettigrew.

She screeched, “Did you just try to vanish my knickers you little creep? Let me down you bastard.”

She looked around the room to try to figure out where her wand was, and as she did she spotted Severus Snape across the room. He was one of the few people who didn’t look amused by the situation, and she shot him a pleading look. He narrowed his eyes but flicked his wand, releasing her from the spell he’d created. She immediately ducked her head, wincing as she landed on her shoulder but angling her body to roll so that she could grab her wand. She spun and hit Black with Ginny’s go to bat bogey hex, then turned her wand on Pettigrew and hit him with the slug vomiting hex. Ron hadn’t ever tried to use it again after his wand backfired on him but Hermione had asked Fred and George to teach it to her. She’d always imagined using it on Malfoy but never got the chance. She was pleased now though as she watched Sirius Black yelp as a small bat flapped around as it made it’s way out of his left nostril, and Peter Pettigrew clutched at his stomach, made a few retching noises, and then turned away to vomit up a slug. Everyone stepped back from him as though the jinx might be contagious.

When the Professor finally came over to find out what had happened Hermione didn’t bother pretending she hadn’t cast the hexes, losing 20 points for Gryffindor and gaining a detention. The Professor didn’t seem to care much about Pettigrew trying to vanish her bike shorts but she didn’t bother trying to convince him, just happily responded, “Oh, there’s no counter curse, it will fade on its own after a couple of hours.”

The Professor asked her suspiciously where she’d found these hexes and she hesitated a moment. They’d both been invented by the Weasley twins, though the bat bogey one had been Ginny’s idea originally. She hated to lie and take credit for their work but reluctantly admitted, “I invented them sir.”

He looked at her in surprise, and a few people broke out into whispers. Hermione had been trying to keep quiet and not draw too much attention to herself but inventing your own spells wasn't exactly common. She had created and adapted a few things herself, but her spells were usually more practical, things like bluebell flames, the point me spell, and her use of the Protean charm for communication galleons. She hadn’t always seen eye to eye with Fred and George, but had often found herself discussing magical theory with George and she did know how they’d come up with these so she would be able to convincingly claim credit for them. She began to feel annoyed with herself for losing her temper though, she was supposed to be a boring, average student, not someone who created their own hexes.

They had Alchemy after lunch that day and Snape voluntarily spoke to her for the first time ever, smirking in amusement as he asked, “How long did it take Pettigrew to stop vomiting slugs?”

She smiled, “I’m not sure, he didn’t make it to lunch but that might just mean he’s still feeling a bit queasy.”

“It’s an interesting hex; how does it work?”

“Oh, it transfigures any undigested material in the stomach into slugs. The slugs wriggling around is what causes the vomiting. It doesn’t work on an empty stomach but unfortunately Peter always enjoys his breakfast, hence lots of slugs.”

Snape looked positively delighted, “Teach me? I’ll give you the spell Black used on you in class in trade.”

Hermione hesitated, she had no reasonable way of explaining to Snape that she already knew his spell. He was also looking a bit… evil. She did want to be friends with him though, and this was the first time he’d shown much interest in her. “If I did teach you and you used this against anyone they’d immediately know where you got it from. I have a different spell you might like though, maybe we could meet early on Saturday in the library?”

He looked a bit put out that she wouldn’t teach him the slug spell but he agreed to her proposal. Hermione began to panic that night. She’d overheard people talking about her and she now had a reputation for making up crazy hexes, people were speculating about what else she might have up her sleeve. She’d also basically promised Snape a new spell of some kind. She scrambled to come up with her own adaptations on the hex so that she’d have something to give Snape and could more convincingly portray herself as the sort of girl capable of coming up with a hex to turn the contents of someone’s stomach into slugs. The bat bogey hex was based on a similar idea, it transfigured the snot inside a persons nostrils into bats.

She decided to stick to that theme and created a spell to turn any loose hairs on a person into earth worms, to convert ear wax into little moths, and another that would turn any flakes of shed skin into tiny jumping spiders. She realised Ron was lucky that in her previous life she’d never been inclined to invent hexes because he really wouldn’t like that last one. She knew the twins had tested out their spells on their brothers, mostly Ron, but she didn’t have anyone to test on. She tried the worm one on herself, carefully peeling the wiggling worms off her robes where she’d had a few loose hairs. It was appropriately disgusting. Theoretically they should all work, she’d save the others to try on the Marauders the next time they pissed her off.

She’d expected Sirius Black might be upset with her for hexing him but he seemed delighted. He was grateful she hadn’t hit him with the slugs but he seemed to find the bat bogey hex amusing, and begged her to teach him the spell. She offered to cast it on him again and see if he could figure it out that way, but he just put his hands up in surrender and laughed at her threats. Pettigrew seemed afraid to make eye contact with her, and she heard from Lily that James had scolded him for trying to vanish her bike shorts.

The standard Hogwarts uniform included charms which prevented it from being transfigured or banished, but it was expensive and time consuming to do to most clothing. Hermione had convinced Hestia Jones to help her apply the charms to a pair of bike shorts for herself after finding out that she had worked part time at Madam Malkin’s in her youth and knew a lot about tailoring charms. She hadn’t really expected anyone to maliciously remove her clothing like that, even after knowing what the Marauders had done to Professor Snape. It was something she’d read about in a romance novel, where the hero had dashed in to save the heroine after a rival love interest vanished her clothes, and Hermione had a bit of paranoia about it ever since. She was certainly grateful for it now though and resolved to examine the library to see if she could look up all of the charms she’d need to apply to her casual clothing.

Snape found her in the library on Saturday with a book on tailoring charms propped open in front of her. He sneered at it, “I didn’t take you for the sort of girl to be interested in that.”

Hermione raised her eyebrows, “I’m interested in applying anti-vanishing charms to some more of my clothing, or did you think I’m the sort of girl to enjoy having my knickers exposed in class?”

He frowned seriously, “Oh. I thought those charms were proprietary, I didn’t think there’d be any books about it. I forced myself to fork out for a proper pair of trousers after…”

Hermione sighed, “There aren’t. I was hoping there’d be something similar that I could adapt but so far, no luck. So, spells, would you like to turn loose hair into worms, ear wax into moths, or dandruff into tiny spiders?”

He frowned, “None of those are as cool as vomiting slugs.”

“I know. If we become friends one day I’ll give you the slug spell, but until then you’ll have to settle. I’ve only tested the worms, but I think the other two should work.”

“The earwax thing sounds kind of cool but moths aren’t very exciting. A lot of people find bats scary, and slugs are gross, moths are a bit dull in comparison.”

“I agree in principle, but they are going to be inside your ear, crawling around, and how do you get them out? Part of the effectiveness of my bat spell is the fact that the bats do not want to be inside your nose, and they start wiggling their way out. I don’t know if the moths will be so eager to escape, and you’re probably going to squish them, and suddenly you have dead moths you’re trying to extract from your ear canal while more of them are coming to life.”

“Hmmn, you do know how to sell it. You’ve not tested it though?”

“No, but you can have it to try out and if it doesn’t work you can take the worms instead.”

“Very well.”

Hermione gave him the incantation and wand movement first, and he then taught her Levicorpus and Liberacorpus, which she pretended not to already know. After they traded, she said, “Thank you for setting me free by the way. I appreciated it.”

“It was worth it to see you hex Black and Pettigrew.”

Hermione just smiled. He sat with her pulling out an essay to work on. She continued looking through tailoring charms, writing down any that might be useful, though she didn’t find what she was looking for. Shortly before lunch Avery came to the library and then took Snape down to lunch, eyeing her with curiosity. She was feeling pretty positive with her attempts to befriend Snape so far. Perhaps hexing the Marauders was the way to his heart.

Chapter Text

The following day in Potions Sirius sauntered over to the desk she shared with Snape and leaned against it, “Hey Kitten, Remus is still sick, want to come sit with me today?”

Hermione blinked at him, then said with as much polite condescension as she could manage, “I’m sorry your friend isn’t here Sirius but I’m sure you can survive one potions class without him.”

Snape snickered slightly next to her, but Sirius ignored him. “It’s not a matter of surviving, it’s a matter of thriving.”

She decided to try changing the subject and hope that would make him go away. “Is Remus okay? He’s been unwell for a couple of days now, it’s nothing serious I hope?”

“No, he’s fine I’m sure he’ll be back tomorrow, nothing to worry your pretty little head about.”

Snape muttered, “Big bushy head is more like it.”

They both turned to eye him, and Sirius sneered, “Like you can talk you greasy git.”

“Can your little pea brain not come up with something new, Black? You’ve been calling me that since first year, I’m afraid it’s rather lost its touch.”

“If you ever washed your hair Snivellous I’d bother to think of something else.”

“Pardon me if I don’t hold my breath while you ‘think’ on it. Go sit with your boyfriend Granger, not like I wanted you here anyway.”

“If you don’t want to sit with me Snape then maybe you should go sit with Black, but this is my seat and I’m not leaving it.” She smirked then said cheekily, “Oh, unless you were hoping to replace me with Lupin once he’s feeling better?”

He sneered at her, “Don’t be ridiculous. I was thinking of getting rid of you for a week and that’s all.”

She said teasingly, “All I’m hearing is that you want me to come back next week.”

He said nothing, ducking his head to hide behind a curtain of greasy black hair while he bent over his textbook. Hermione turned back to Sirius, and seeing he was about to harass Snape again she blurted, “Do you know when Remus will be up and about again? Oh, he doesn’t have anything contagious, does he?”

Sirius waved vaguely, “I think he’ll be back by tomorrow, he’s practically better already, and no he’s not contagious.”

Snape snorted.

Sirius said seriously, “Maybe you should consider swapping seats with Remus permanently.”

Hermione stared at him, the only thing she could think to say was, “Why? I’m perfectly happy sitting here.”

He leaned in closer, to whisper, “Yeah but it’s not exactly safe, sitting next to him.”

Hermione responded at a perfectly normal volume, “Why wouldn’t it be safe to sit here?”

He said flatly, “It’s next to Snape.”

Hermione leaned closer and whispered, “What’s wrong with Snape? Vampire? Werewolf?”

Sirius started, “No, why would you ask that?”

She laughed, “If he’s just a regular human student then I don’t see what you’re worried about.”

“He’s a creep and he’ll probably attack you.”

Hermione asked doubtfully, “With his mortar and pestle?”

Snape said, “I can hear you, you know?”

Hermione grinned and said cutely, “Aww, do you have ears?”

Sirius groaned, “Granger, stop being obtuse.”

Snape added, “Obviously Black is referring to my plans to suddenly stab my paring knife into your chest and cut your heart out in the middle of class, and I’m sure I could have gotten away with it too, were it not for his interference.”

Hermione laughed, “Well, there’s always next week.”

Sirius groaned, “Don’t antagonise him Granger, he really will hex you.”

Hermione asked seriously, “Did you have a falling out with Remus?”

“What? No, why.”

“The poor bloke is in the Hospital Wing and you are trying to give his seat away, and get him hexed! I think Snape is more likely to attack him than me.”

“Remus can look after himself.”

She asked archly, “Oh, and I can’t?”

He hesitated, “Remus is used to dealing with Snape, that’s all.”

“Well, really, I don’t see how he can be more qualified than me, it’s not like he’s spell resistant.” He was, being a werewolf, but Black certainly couldn’t tell her so. “I’ve sat next to Snape in”- she paused to count- “seven lessons already this year, and look at me, not a stab wound in sight. I’m sure Remus is more stabable than I am.”

Black looked horrified, and Snape made a weird choking sound.

Hermione blushed, “I didn’t mean that how it sounded.”

Black sighed, “Just come and sit with me, he probably really will hex you for teasing him like this.”

“Do you not pay any attention in Defence class? I’m much safer here than at your desk, he’d have a way easier time hexing me over there since I’d have my back to him and never see it coming.”

“Do you always have to be this difficult?”

She deadpanned, “Yes, it’s part of my charm.”

Snape snorted, “Bugger off Black, even I’m getting sick of hearing her reject you.”

Black shook his head, “Enjoy it while it lasts Snivellous, we both know she doesn’t actually want to sit with you even if she refuses to move.” He turned and walked back to his desk.

Hermione was just saying quietly to Snape, “Didn’t we just established I’m sitting here so I won’t get hexed in the back?”

He had pulled his wand out though to point it at Black’s retreating back and muttered an incantation before slipping his wand back into his pocket. She watched with interest as Sirius yelped and clapped a hand to his left ear, he jerked awkwardly for a moment, and then pulled his hand away and said, “There’s a bloody moth in my ear. What the hell Snivellous?”

Snape just sneered at him. His loud outburst caused Professor Slughorn to finally notice them, and he came bustling over. He looked at the moth, listened to Black’s accusations, asked if anyone had seen Snape draw his wand, to which Hermione shook her head negative. Black gave her a disbelieving look and asked, “Seriously?”

She shrugged, “I didn’t.”

He reluctantly stalked back to his desk. She turned to Snape and whispered, “How did you get the spell to only make one moth, that was brilliant?”

He looked smug, “Modified it. I’m going to get him a few times with a single moth before I go for the full effect. Do you always lie to Professor’s so easily? I thought Gryffindor’s prided themselves on honesty.”

“I was completely honest. I didn’t see you draw your wand, I only noticed you had when it was already pointed at him, so really, I was telling the truth.”

He snorted, “What, do you get off on telling lies of omission and pretending you’re still a good little girl because you don’t tell real lies?”

She frowned, “I do tell proper lies sometimes, I hate it every time I do though. By contrast, lies of omission feel fun! It’s like I’m having a bit of a joke, only the other person isn’t in on it.”

He didn’t respond and they worked on their potions for a while. She was rushing to chop her lovage fast enough, Slughorn had started class so late that they’d barely have enough time to brew their potions today, when Snape reached over and grabbed her jar of beetle shells then started grinding them for her. She stopped herself on the verge of snapping at him as she realised he was actually helping her, he was much faster at ingredient prep than she was, and so she found herself saying, “What are you- Oh, thank you!”

He rolled his eyes, “Keep chopping, my help will be worthless if you don’t start the first brewing step soon.”

She smiled to herself as she followed his instructions. He was so much nicer than Professor Snape. He asked, “What’s up between you and Black?”

She blinked in surprise, that question had come out of nowhere, “Nothing. He’s a bit annoying really, and he won’t bugger off.”

“That’s why you were flirting with him?”

She gasped, “I was not.”

He gave her a disbelieving look.

“Seriously. I would rather flirt with this puddle of beetle guts, it’s a more intelligent conversationalist at least, seeing as it’s incapable of saying anything.”

He chuckled, but didn’t look convinced.

They were at a more advanced stage of their potion than the rest of the class which gave Snape the perfect opportunity to slip his wand out and hit Black again. The other boy jerked, knocking a few of his ingredient jars onto the floor, and yelled as he slapped his ear again, digging his finger in and pulling out another dead moth. Hermione looked down at her potion to try and hide her amusement. Snape was the picture of innocence, already in the middle of chopping a Purpura mushroom. Hermione tried desperately not to laugh as Black turned to glare at Snape. She kept her focus on the potion she was brewing, carefully counting stirs, trying to clear her mind.

She waited until Black had turned away then scolded quietly, “You shouldn’t have done that. He was just brewing his potion; he didn’t even provoke you.”  

“Like you’ve never hexed someone you didn’t like.”

She thought for a moment, “Actually I haven’t, I’ve only hexed-” she cut off, she’d been about to say friends, Ronald Weasley had suffered far more under her wand than Draco Malfoy ever had, but she was supposed to be the weird, homeschooled girl who’d never had any friends. After a brief pause she continued, “My mum. I’m more likely to hex someone I like for upsetting me, so you should watch out.”

He narrowed his eyes, “You’re a bad liar. That isn’t what you were going to say. Who have you hexed?”

“Pettigrew, remember?”

“Who else?”

She sighed, “No-one important.”

They continued in silence, and she could tell he was annoyed with her for lying to him. She couldn’t tell him the truth though, not yet, so she let it go. Sirius Black gave her a very serious talking to at dinner, telling her a bunch of stories of evil things Snape had apparently done over the years. She had no way of knowing if it was true or not, but she wasn’t going to take his word for it. She refused to swap seats, she’d continued to prod about Remus’ illness, enough to find out that it was something chronic, and she insisted she wasn’t going to let some poor sick kid sit next to someone who wanted to hex him. Black had finally given up the argument, though he seemed sulky about his inability to convince her.

They were just leaving the Great Hall when Sirius suddenly screeched, “Snivellous!” He then pulled his wand out and fired a hex towards Snape, who deflected it and shot a nasty looking purple spell back at him, beginning the duel in earnest. Hermione put a shield up around herself and then noticed that there were moths crawling out of Sirius’ ears. He was ignoring them in order to focus on the fight with Snape. Professor McGonagall came over to break up the fight but not before both of them were injured, Snape had pussy boils on the left side of his face, while Black’s wand hand looked as though it had been petrified, and he seemed to be having trouble hearing. She hoped her moth spell hadn’t caused any damage to his ear drums. It wasn’t supposed to, but it hadn’t exactly been thoroughly tested. She was sure Madam Pomfrey would sort it out regardless.

Chapter Text

Hermione had been keeping an eye on her map to get a rough idea of the habits of various members of the castle. She’d been keeping an eye on Alfred Dagworth-Granger as she thought she should probably make an attempt to befriend him. Not that she was particularly good at befriending people, but she seemed to be doing well with Snape. She’d noticed he spent every Tuesday evening in a Charms classroom alone, so she’d come up with a plan to introduce herself. This is how she found herself in the room under a Disillusionment charm when he entered the room. She cancelled the charm, causing him to yelp, and then said quickly, “Sorry, so sorry, I was just practicing disillusionment, I didn’t mean to startle you.”

He looked at her then smiled sheepishly, “Oh, no worries. You certainly scared me, I didn’t realise there was anyone in here. I’ll just come back later.”

“You’re welcome to stay if you’d like, I don’t need much space.”

He looked uncomfortable but said, “Oh, sure.”

Hermione disillusioned herself again and then began walking around the room inspecting herself in the mirrors that ran along one wall of the room. She really did need practice, it wasn’t possible to become truly invisible but she should at least be able to stop shimmering when she stood still. Alfie sat at one of the desks and pulled a book out, obviously uncomfortable with her presence, but staying out of politeness.

After a while he said, “You’re quite good at that, I’m surprised you think you need to practice at all.”

“Not good enough though, I should be completely invisible when I stand still. I’m normally excellent at Charms but this one is giving me some trouble.”

He nodded and went back to his book. She continued her practice. After a while Alfie grew a bit more comfortable and walked over to the cupboard to grab a cushion to practice on. He settled back into the desk and began trying to Accio the cushion. Hermione watched him for a bit, he was obviously struggling with the charm. She wondered if he’d welcome help, or if he’d be like Ron and get upset over genuinely helpful advice because it made him feel inferior. She’d just have to try and see.

Cancelling her charm she said, “Where are you trying to summon the cushion to?”

He blinked at her in surprise, “Well it’s just supposed to come to my wand, isn’t it?”

“That’s how most people get the charm to work without really understanding it, but it’s more complicated than that. Watch.” She conjured a small rubber ball and tossed it across the room towards him, then held out her left hand and summoned it straight to her open palm. She tossed the ball back, then summoned it more slowly as she walked around the outside of the room, the ball curved in mid air as she pulled it towards the top of her head until it finally settled into her hair before dropping to the ground.

“You want to think about the object you are trying to summon, fix it into your mind and think about its properties. The shape, how heavy is it, its texture, the more clearly you can imagine it the easier it is to summon. Then think about where you are summoning it to. It does have to be your person, but not necessarily your wand. Try your left hand first, that’s how I found it easiest, and do the same thing. Think about how your hand feels and imagine yourself holding the object. Then imagine that the object wants to be in your hand. It’s like your hand and the object are attracted to each other, but your hand is immovable.”

She paused, “Oh and try with a conjured object first until you get the hang of it, because you created it you already know all of its properties, and it being part of your magic makes it easier to attract towards you.” Hermione disillusioned herself again and returned to examining herself in the mirror as he muttered his thanks. He did what she’d recommended, conjuring a small ball then tossing it away. He held his palm out on the desk and stared at it for a while, then looked at the ball and cast the spell. The ball jerked towards him but stopped. He looked encouraged though and continued practicing and Hermione was pleased.

She was making progress herself and spent the next hour gradually becoming less visible before deciding she’d had enough for the night. She settled herself into a chair and asked, “How’s it going?”

He looked up, “Well, thank you for the advice. I’m still having a bit of trouble, the object jerks towards me but it’s not moving smoothly towards me the way yours does. I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong.”

If that wasn’t a request for further advice Hermione didn’t know what was. She watched him cast it again then closed her eyes as she thought for a bit and said, “When I cast I don’t think of the object moving at all, I just think of it wanting to be in my hand. The object isn’t flying, there’s no force behind its movement, it’s just supposed to be attached to me, and it isn’t right now. Try closing your eyes and imagine the object is just going to appear in your hand, don’t think about how it will get there.”

He nodded then did as she said, and she watched as when he next cast the ball began smoothly moving towards him before it dropped suddenly when he opened his eyes.

She grinned, “It was working perfectly, the ball was moving straight towards you, it just dropped when you gave up.”

He blinked, “Oh, I thought it was taking too long and must not have worked at all, I couldn’t tell at all and yours seemed much faster.”

“I’ve practiced a lot, once you get the hang of it you can work on speed by modifying the strength of the spell. For now, keep practicing with your eyes closed, I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it soon, though around others you should probably summon to your wand hand, unless you want to have to teach everyone else how to do it.”

“Is it a secret? Why did you teach me if it is?”

She laughed, “I probably shouldn’t have. It’s just something I figured out on my own, I just get excited about teaching. Perhaps I should Obliviate you.”

He smiled, “You sound like a Ravenclaw, you’re not though.” He eyed her Gryffindor tie. “Oh, how rude, I haven’t introduced myself. I’m Alfred Dagworth-Granger.”

“I think I’m the rude one, I startled you and didn’t introduce myself either. Hermione Granger.”

He blinked, “Granger?” He looked at her hair, which was just as curly and brown as his own, “Are we cousins or something?”

Hermione looked away, “I’m not sure who all of my relatives are actually, my mother was unmarried.”

“Ahh. That’s awkward. We have the same hair though…” he mused.

“It’s fine really, anyway it’s almost dinner time I should probably get going.”

“Wait, you said you’re good at Charms right? What did you score on your O.W.L.?”

“Outstanding, of course.”

“Of course, would you be interested in tutoring me? It’s my O.W.L. year and I’m struggling a bit, I could pay you.”

Hermione perked up, happily surprised. That would be perfect. “Yes, I’d love to, I was planning to come here again next Tuesday to practice Charms anyway.”

“Oh, that is perfect, I come here every Tuesday already.”

Hermione pretended to not already be perfectly aware of that fact. “That’s convenient.”

“I’ll write to my parents for permission but I’m sure they’ll be happy. I had one of the seventh year Ravenclaw’s helping me last year but he never managed to explain anything, and you’ve already helped so much.”

“Yes, and it would be nice for me to have a bit of pocket money, plus I do love teaching. I’ll see you next week then Mister Dagworth-Granger.”

He grinned, “You can just call me Alfie.”

“You’d best call me Hermione then.”

She took her leave, feeling a little guilty about her plans to insert herself into Alfie’s family. She’d expected him to be another Pureblood snob but he was really quite lovely.

Hermione had taken to keeping an eye on the Marauder's map. Snape was really careful not to be caught out on his own most of the time. After leaving Alfie she ducked into the bathroom to use the loo and quickly checked the map, more out of habit than any real worry, but was startled to see most of the Slytherin team making their way into the Great Hall, while the Marauders made their way out of it. The little dot marked ‘Severus Snape’ was still out on the pitch, and the bloody Marauders were heading straight for him. She scrambled to pack the map away and then raced down the stairs and out of the castle.

As soon as she made her way out of the doors she could see flashes from their duel. She hurried along the path towards the pitch and almost stumbled over Pettigrew unconscious on the ground. She continued on towards the flashing spell lights and soon enough could see the fighting. No sign of Remus for the moment but Black and Potter were facing off against Snape and all of them were clearly injured already. She hesitated for a moment, too long a moment, and so she watched as Black and Potter both sent spells at Snape, one taking his shield down and the other blasting him backwards to land in a heap on the ground. Enraged she sent two quick, silent stunning spells at the two boys then conjured a Patronus charm sending her otter off to the Hospital Wing.

That done she rushed over to Snape who was trying to rise from the ground. She pressed down on his shoulder, “Stay down, they are both stunned.”

He said nothing, and she proceeded to cast a diagnostic charm on him, which immediately lit up with bright crimson around his abdomen. “Bugger, hold still Snape you have internal bleeding.”

He scowled at her, “Your bedside manner could use some work.” He stopped trying to get up though.

Hermione had a closer look at the diagnostic, noting that the blast had torn his intestines open and partially crushed his liver. She immediately got to work, talking as she moved, “You’re going to be alright, I just need to stop the bleeding until Madam Pomfrey gets here. I can do that. Hold still it’s going to be alright. You’re not going to die, it’s just a bit of internal bleeding, nothing to worry about...” She could tell that her panic was showing through her monologue but couldn’t seem to help herself. How could this have happened?

She placed one hand on his chest and poked her wand into his stomach, digging it in to get the right angle. He winced, but didn’t complain as she continued to explain, talking to herself just as much as to him. “The closer I can get my wand tip to the injury the easier it will be to put a Sealing charm on it. Don’t worry I’m not going to try and mend it myself, that’s a bit beyond my capabilities, I just have to hold it closed so that you stop bleeding. Once Madam Pomfrey gets here she’ll be able to fix you up in a jiffy I’m sure. Try not to move around too much, I know this is hardly comfortable but you’re going to be okay I won’t let you die.”

Her mumbling cut off as she reached the point where she needed to concentrate. She was holding the Sealing charm on his intestines but she was worried about his liver too. Checking the diagnostic again she bit her lip nervously and then, straining herself to focus shifted her wand point to get closer to the small tear in his liver so she could place the charm on that as well. Holding both at once was a struggle of concentration and she lost awareness of anything else as her concentration split between the two wounds. She almost lost it when Professor McGonagall finally approached but managed to hold her concentration, barely, and ask through gritted teeth, “Where is Madam Pomfrey?”

She heard the noises and movements around them and realised that Madam Pomfrey was approaching the two unconscious boys. She managed to sound reasonably calm as she stated, “I need some assistance here. Snape has internal bleeding, I’ve got a Sealing charm on him but I’m struggling to hold it.”

Madam Pomfrey bustled over and after performing her own diagnostic to confirm it quickly knelt down onto the ground next to them. “If you can keep both wounds sealed I will begin mending his intestines, but if you get too tired inform me first so I can take over.”

Hermione said nothing, but the other woman didn’t wait for a response, she poured several vials of potions down Snape’s throat, ignoring his spluttering, then pointed her wand just beneath Hermione’s and began to chant a healing spell to mend his injuries. Snape watched them through half lidded eyes, alternating between a dull, sleepy expression, and intense curiosity as they worked. Hermione held the sealing charms in place, shifting her gaze away nervously whenever his eye contact became too much. He never seemed to feel much discomfort and never looked away first.

Eventually Madam Pomfrey called her attention back to the present, “That will hold for now Miss Granger, you can release the charm now.”

She did so, feeling relieved, and happily sat back, ignoring the mud that squelched up around her skirt. The rain was still drizzling gently and she sat for a moment in a daze while Madam Pomfrey got everyone organised. Black and Potter were up and moving, Lupin had turned up at some point, though he had a limp, and Pettigrew was still unconscious on a stretcher. Professor McGonagall was standing by sternly, and Professor Slughorn had appeared as well. The last thing Hermione was aware of was uncomfortably squelching mud between her fingers as her vision fuzzed and she lost consciousness.

Hermione awoke in the dark and after a moment of disorientation realised she was in the Hospital Wing. After shifting about for a bit Madam Pomfrey came over to check on her, saying softly, “Miss Granger, you exhausted yourself magically. You’ll sleep here tonight but I’ve given you a replenishing potion and you should be fine by the morning.”

“Thank you, Madam Pomfrey, is Mister Snape going to be alright?”

“Yes, thanks to you. You did very well to treat him as you did, are you interested in becoming a healer?”

She lied, “It’s something I’m considering, I haven’t decided yet.”

“Well do think about it, if you have any questions for me I’d be happy to discuss it with you. It’s not for everyone but you’ve already shown a knack for the spells and that you can keep your head in a crisis. Mister Snape might not be alive without you. He’ll spend a few more days in my company before he can return to classes. Now why don’t you go back to bed and get a bit more rest, I’ll see you in the morning.”

After Madam Pomfrey left her she noticed red sparks coming from further in the room. She looked over curiously to see Snape, she could just make him out in the dim light of the darkened room. When she checked she found there was an alert around her bed that would let the Matron know if she got up so she disarmed it and made her way over to Snape. When she reached his side she asked quietly, “Hello, how are you feeling?”

“Like I was hexed by a bunch of assholes and nearly died. Why did you save my life?”

“Why wouldn’t I save your life? You didn’t deserve to die.”

“Madam Pomfrey said you exhausted your magic to keep me alive.” He sounded as though he thought she were stupid for doing so.

Hermione said with annoyance, “My magic will recover, I’ll be fine. You wouldn’t have recovered from being dead.”

“You want something from me, what is it?”

She bit her lip, “I can’t really tell you yet.”

“You only saved me because you want something.”

“No! I do want something, but I would have saved you anyway.”

“Yeah, right. Tell me what you want, I don’t fancy having another unpaid life debt.”

“You owe me a life debt?”

“Obviously.”

“Huh. How does that work?”

He said as though she was some kind of idiot, “You saved my life, now I owe you a debt.”

“Can I just agree to forgive the debt?”

He said rudely, “Of course not, don’t you know anything? It’s a magical debt, it has to be repaid by something both parties find valuable enough.”

She ignored his attitude but pondered for a moment, “While you owe me would you be unable to deliberately betray me in a way that would lead to my death? I mean say I had a secret and if someone were to find out about it they would torture and kill me, would the debt prevent you from telling on me?”

“Yes. I couldn’t do anything that would deliberately place you in harm.”

“What if you could betray me to just be tortured but the person promised not to kill me?”

“Like I said, I couldn’t deliberately place you in harm. Torture counts.”

“If that’s true then maybe I could tell you what I want from you, and we could resolve the debt that way.”

He looked concerned, “Do you actually anticipate being tortured?”

“I don’t think it’s likely.”

“Will you tell me what you want then?”

“Not here. I’ll take you somewhere we can be sure we won’t be overheard once we’re both discharged. Try to get some sleep, I’ll come visit tomorrow. I can bring you any homework assignments and a copy of my class notes as well if you’d like?”

He looked surprised. “Sure, that would be nice. Goodnight Granger.”

“Goodnight Snape.”

Chapter Text

Hermione was discharged in the morning. She drank another replenishing potion but wasn’t required to stay in the Hospital Wing just for magical exhaustion. Snape’s organ damage would require him to remain in bed for multiple days while everything healed, and Hermione resolved to visit him. Her plans to befriend Severus Snape seemed to be going well, near death experiences really helped to establish a bond between people.

The next few days passed without too much trouble; Black scowled at her for interfering with their duel which she found incredibly irritating. Did he actually want to be a murderer? She managed to ignore him for the most part. Lily Evans was totally intolerable. She’d resolved to go and visit Snape in the Hospital Wing until James told her it was his own spell which had rebounded upon him. It wasn’t even true yet Lily believed it completely, she seemed to be just like Harry and Ron when it came to believing the worst of one Severus Snape so persisted in believing it was his own fault he nearly died, even though in her opinion someone fighting four vs one absolutely had the right idea to be casting dangerous curses.

As far as she could tell she was the only person to visit him. She made copies of her notes for all their shared classes, collected the homework assignments for him, and visited him during lunch each day. He seemed surprised to see her every time, even though she told him she’d be coming back, and she couldn’t help feeling very sorry for him. It was impossible to reconcile the old image of her stern Potions teacher with this fragile, skinny, lonely boy reclining on a hospital bed. She was feeling even more sure about her decision to befriend him, so she took his continued prickliness in stride reasoning that it was never fun to be in the Hospital Wing, even if she personally thought he ought to be grateful not to be in the morgue.

Madam Pomfrey finally let him out on Saturday shortly after breakfast, Hermione had been sitting with him while they worked on their homework for Transfiguration together so she escorted him out. He grew suspicious the higher they got within Hogwarts, obviously thinking she was taking him up somewhere near Gryffindor tower, but she did manage to get him to follow her. He sneered at her when they reached the empty stretch of wall and scowled when the door to the Room of Requirement appeared, as though it had personally wronged him by proving her right. She’d made a cosy little sitting area with a large window that looked out over the lake, and to her amusement the furniture was all black and the walls of grey stone so there wasn’t any colour in the room at all.

“What is this room?”

“It’s called the Room of Requirement. It’s very useful and I will tell you more about it later. For now, lets talk… I’m just not sure where to start really.”

“You want something from me. Just tell me.”

“It’s not that simple. I have a secret that I can’t tell you until I trust you to keep it for me, and yet you won’t trust me unless I can be honest with you. It’s a conundrum. We aren’t really friends yet and I need to know that you won’t tell anyone else about me. What I would like to do is come to a mutual agreement with a secrecy contract so that neither of us can betray the other, but there are ways around those if one is really determined so I will need your word that you won’t tell anyone about this. Does that sound reasonable to you?”

He hesitated for a moment, “Not really, no. I thought you were going to be honest with me now that I owe you a life debt.”

She smiled, “Yeah me too but then I thought what if I get almost trampled in a freak accident in Charms next week and you save my life, then you’ll owe me nothing and can go blab my secrets all over the castle if you feel like it. Also, you say there’s a life debt but how do I know for sure it’s even a real thing, or that it works the way you said it does? I tried looking it up in the library and it was all just vague hearsay.”

He looked a bit hurt, “So you don’t trust me at all?”

“I’d like to. We’ll make an agreement to work together for things we both want from each other, with a promise of secrecy. I will promise to absolve you of the life debt, but I will include other things on your side as well.”

“I know you want something from me, but I don’t want anything from you. What kind of agreement would we come to?”

“Tell me what you do want. You’ll be surprised at what I can accomplish.”

“You aren’t a bloody genie, I’m not just going to make ridiculous wishes. What can a 17-year-old girl give me?”

Hermione was a bit offended, but she knew it was a reasonable question, he had no idea what she was capable of. “You are friends with the other Slytherin seventh years for a reason, and it’s not because you enjoy their company. I suspect it’s for protection right? That’s something I could give you. What else do you want though, I mean life goals, career goals, that sort of thing?”

He stroked a finger along his lips and then said, “I already have protection though, as you said. Things that I want which I don’t yet have? I want revenge against Black and his friends… Also, you’re a girl-”

Hermione groaned, “Oh god not this again.”

“What?”

She grumbled, “Just people failing to notice my gender. I am a girl. What gave it away, was it the boobs or the long hair?”

He flushed slightly, “I didn’t mean anything by it, just… I want you to help me fix my relationship with Lily.”

“Okay give me a second. Firstly, protection. You don’t want that from me because you have the other seventh years but at what cost? Also, how well did that work out for you, considering you now owe me a life debt because they left you on the pitch alone? I know I said that if you became friends with me I wouldn’t try to stop you from being friends with them, but one of my conditions for this agreement is that you won’t become a Death Eater. Will that be a problem?”

He looked away for a moment, “Lucius Malfoy has hinted that he will organise a Potions Mastery for me when I graduate from Hogwarts. In exchange he will want me to join.”

“So, if I organise a Potions Mastery for you instead you won’t?”

He narrowed his eyes, “And you’re just handing out apprenticeships, are you? A seventh year who appeared out of nowhere with no family connections.”

“Actually, it’s what I was sort of expecting you to ask me for, not revenge against Black or anything to do with Lily. I already have a plan, will you agree that if I can organise a Potions apprenticeship for you by the time we graduate then you won’t become a Death Eater?”

“Why do you care?”

“We’re going to be friends and friends don’t let each other join terrorist organisations. Is it just for the apprenticeship?”

“I’m a poor half-blood with no wealthy family friends. An apprenticeship isn’t easy to get, and I don’t want one of those shit ones where I have to trade away half of my life to do scut work. I want the sort of contract a Pureblood would get where they actually learn potions and get to patent their own work.”

“I will get you a good apprenticeship. As to the other things, revenge is very subjective. I’m not going to murder or torture anyone, and I’m hesitant to do anything illegal, but I will certainly help you deal with the Marauders. I don’t want to commit to any specific actions but I think we could probably get Black expelled, he’s unstable enough. The others are more difficult, Potter is basically untouchable as long as his father is on the Board of Governors, and I’m sort of friends with Remus so I’m hesitant to do too much against him. I will promise to try.”

Severus scowled, “Black gets just as much special treatment as Potter does, the family have basically adopted him.”

“I’m aware but if he does anything bad enough they won’t be able to cover for him even if they want to. I don’t think we could goad Potter into doing anything serious enough, but Black is a loose cannon.”

“Very well, if that’s the best you can do. Black certainly deserves expulsion, and he is the worst of them.”

“Alright, now for Lily. I think it’s a good idea to be clear about your expectations here and there’s no point in hiding that I am aware you are infatuated with her. I know the two of you used to be friends, though Lily now claims there wasn’t anything to your relationship with her beyond being study partners. When you ask me to fix your relationship with Lily are you saying you want to go back to being friends with her? Because if you’re asking me to help you get her to go out with you I will have to tell you I don’t think it’s an achievable goal.”

Snape kept his expression purposefully blank but his tone sounded a little bleak as he responded, “You think it’s impossible that Lily would ever be interested in me that way?”

Hermione felt awfully sorry for him but she wanted to make sure he wasn’t going to misunderstand this and she already knew he’d never had a chance. She copied his emotionless tone hoping she wouldn’t sound too condescending, “You were friends with her. You tell me what she is looking for in a wizard.”

He thought for a moment and then said listlessly, “The same thing all girls look for. Rich, handsome, popular.”

“That’s reductive and sexist Snape. It’s also simplistic in this case, I haven’t known Lily for very long but it’s clear to me that she wants Prince Charming. I get it, she’s Muggle-born, coming to Hogwarts for the first time is so wonderful and she wants the full fairy-tale romance.”

He sneered, “And isn’t that what all the girls want? It certainly seems like it.”

“Girls don’t have a collective hive mind. It’s probably what many of them think they want, that’s true, but you’re saying it like boys are any better. Lily is pretty, she’s rich for a muggle, and she’s the most popular girl in our year, can you really claim the moral high ground on this?”

“It’s not like that, Lily is kind and sweet, she’s also really smart.”

“I’m sure Potter can be those things as well, especially towards her.”

“You wouldn’t fall for Prince Charming though I suppose?”

“I would not. It sounds nice in theory, being swept up into opulence and attending fancy parties, but then you have to be grateful for it. Lily will have to sit and endure dinners with relatives who will sneer at her and throw out polite, veiled insults about her heritage, who think they are better than her because of their blood, or because they were born wealthy, and she will have to be nice to them. That’s going to be her future, and she will have to be thankful to James Potter for giving her the opportunity to debase herself to people who are inferior to her by any reasonable metric.”

Hermione smirked, “I wouldn’t suffer it. If there’s a Prince Charming out there for me, he’s a misanthropic, reclusive bachelor with no living relatives, he might occasionally socialise amongst academic circles but wouldn’t be caught dead at a ball and if I insulted any of his acquaintances he’d think it a good joke.”

“He’s still wealthy and handsome, you’ve only dropped off the charming part.”

“Oh no, I don’t go for handsome. The uglier the better really. I’ve never met a good-looking wizard who was even remotely tolerable.”

“You do want him to be rich though?”

“I want to be ‘lovely cottage by the sea, monthly account at Flourish and Blotts, holiday once a year’ rich. I have no interest in being ‘disgustingly large mansion, which bloody fork am I supposed to use, dragon guarding the Gringotts vault’ rich.”

Severus looked amused for a moment then said, “You think Lily wants to be that rich though. Are you saying she just wants Potter for his galleons?”

“That implies a certain kind of ruthlessness that I don’t think she has about it. It’s not just about the money; it’s a way for her to really integrate and be accepted into the Wizarding world. She’s a social climber, and marriage is the easiest way to do it.”

“So, you think she’d never marry me because I’m ugly, poor, and unconnected?”

She hesitated, “I don’t think it’s completely impossible, I just don’t really like your chances right now. You aren’t handsome but with a bit of work you could manage attractive, and one day when you’re a famous, respected Potions Master you’ll probably be wealthy enough. That would be enough to win someone like Lily, but she won’t wait for you. She has her Prince Charming already, she’s secured Potter and even if we could get them to break up she’d find a different rich Pureblood to marry.”

“You think I could be attractive?”

Hermione smiled slightly, amused that he would focus on that, “I’m sure you could. It would be a lot of work though, you’ll need new clothes, better shampoo, and if you’re up for it we could fix your teeth. You’ll also want to start exercising if you don’t already.” She knew from Defence class that Professor Snape had told them physical fitness improved duelling capability she just had no idea when in his life he’d figured that out, or what he did for it. This Snape didn’t look particularly keen on the idea.

“So just change everything about myself then? Well, I can’t afford any of that. If I could buy new robes I would have already, and getting my teeth fixed is way out of my price range. I’m also not sure what you expect me to do for exercise, other than Quidditch. I’m not going to go out running by myself so that everyone can laugh at me.”

“I will provide you with new clothing as part of our agreement. I think we can fix your teeth ourselves, and for exercising we can make use of this room, it will provide whatever you need, including muggle gym equipment.”

He narrowed his eyes at her, “Are you rich?”

She smiled, “Better than rich, I’m resourceful. Look there’s no point in me lying to you, if I don’t provide what I say I will it just voids our agreement so if I say I can do something you can trust me to do so.”

“Fine. So instead of getting Lily back I’m just getting a pointless makeover?”

“I think we can recover your friendship with Lily. She won’t have any interest in you so long as you are pining after her though, so you need to at least appear to be over her. Ideally you will want to prove that you can attract the attention of other girls, hence the makeover. That may or may not make her jealous, but it will help regardless. I can assure you she knows how you feel about her, and it makes her uncomfortable. You will have to stop mooning over her and following her around.”

“I’m not mooning over her! I’ve been trying to apologise. I just wanted her to forgive me.”

Hermione tried to keep her face neutral, but she knew she didn’t manage it when he said angrily, “Don’t you dare pity me! She was my only friend, I just wish… you don’t understand.”

“I’m sorry, it’s not that. Of course you want her forgiveness, it’s just… don’t you think she’s being a bit unreasonable?”

“You know what I called her, don’t you?”

“Is that really something to throw away your friendship over?”

“You can’t understand what it’s like for her, being Muggle-born and being called that. You don’t know what it’s like.”

Hermione opened her mouth, then closed it. She eventually said, “I’m not saying it’s okay to call someone that, it’s a horrible thing to say to anyone. I just think that considering the circumstances it’s hardly surprising that you lashed out. If you weren’t sorry about it or thought it was justified, then I’d say she was right to cut you out, but I know you’ve genuinely apologised.”

He said sadly, “Considering the circumstances? She was trying to help me, and I insulted her. I don’t even know why I did that.”

“Was she really trying to help you? Because I heard she was more focused on flirting with Potter than actually assisting you.”

He looked uncertain, but then sneered, “I suppose you could have done better?”

“Of course I could have. I would have sent a Patronus off to summon a teacher, disarmed you all, and then given Remus Lupin a lecture on how he is neglecting his Prefect duties.”

“It was fifth year, we hadn’t learnt the Patronus charm yet.”

Hermione quirked an eyebrow, feeling smug, “Hadn’t you?”

“You knew how to cast a corporeal Patronus as a fifth year?”

“I did.”

He narrowed his eyes suspiciously, “Weren’t you homeschooled? How are you so advanced.”

“It’s not a matter of advancement but of need. There were a lot of Dementors around when I learnt. Anyway, that’s not the point, she should have forgiven you and I think you know it.”

He looked down at his hands and picked at one of his nails for a moment. “I don’t know what to think anymore. I really thought that if I apologised enough, she would. Then she started dating Potter.”

Hermione wondered if she should give him her opinion but wasn’t sure if it was a good idea or not. She didn’t really like Lily, but she knew he did even if she couldn’t understand why. After a moment of silence, he looked up and said, sounding resigned, “Just tell me. You know why she won’t, whatever it is just tell me.”

“I don’t know, not for sure. I think she just didn’t want to be friends with you anymore. I suspect she had started developing feelings for James Potter and knew how you would react. I think her worries about your associations with the other Slytherins were genuine, but I think mostly she realised she couldn’t date him and be friends with you at the same time so she saw this as a convenient excuse to get what she wanted without looking bad.”

He was silent for a while before saying morosely, “I don’t even know if I can be friends with her while she’s dating him.”

Hermione shrugged, “That’s for you to decide. I’m not going to try to break them up or anything, I wouldn’t even know how, but if you want to be friends with her I think I can make that happen.”

“How?”

“Easy. Lily enjoys your attention, if you act like you’re moving on she’ll try to lure you back in.”

“You’re very cynical.”

“Well, we will see what happens. Anyway, to add to my cynicism I bet that in a few years you can make her regret not choosing you. Once you become an attractive, independently wealthy, well respected, accomplished Potioneer she will see the error of her ways.”

He looked thoughtful for a moment but then asked, sounding amused, “Just how far out have you planned my future exactly?”

“Only three years, you’ve finished your Potions Mastery and you’re deciding whether to open an Apothecary or to just brew potions from home so you can spend more time on research.”

“I suppose you’re going to be resourceful again and somehow fund this fantastic business I am going to start?”

“Sure, I’ll add it to the agreement. I’ll expect a return on investment for that though, I won’t fund you for free.”

“So, you do have money then?”

“We’ll get to my secrets soon. Let’s make a start on this agreement. I am going to provide you with protection from the Marauders, revenge against them, advice about your friendship with Lily, a makeover, an apprenticeship, startup funds for a business, and clear your life debt. Is that everything?”

“This is absurd. That’s way too much. What do you want from me?”

“I know you’re a naturally suspicious person but it’s not so bad, I promise. So, we’ll say this is everything for your side-“

“No. There’s one other thing, since you are just giving me whatever I ask for I would be remiss not to take advantage of the situation. You said that I need to show Lily that other girls can be interested in me, and that she’ll be more likely to be friends with me again if she thinks I’m interested in someone else. It will also stop Black from constantly going on about how impossible it would be for a girl to ever like me. You will pretend to be my girlfriend.”

Hermione hesitated, surprised. She wasn’t sure what to think of that. The idea of being Professor Snape’s girlfriend floated through her mind for a moment and she imagined going down to Hogsmeade on his arm. The idea was ridiculous and she couldn’t help giggling. She wasn’t sure if she’d be very convincing in the role but she did need to get better at lying, she’d always prided herself on her honesty but being captured by snatchers and tortured at Malfoy Manor had made her rethink that. It would be better to be capable of lying convincingly if you needed to and it wasn’t like she had any real friends she would have to feel bad for deceiving.

Snape scowled at her, “I’m not asking you for sexual favours. You won’t have to do anything with me, just accompany me to Slughorn’s dances and to Hogsmeade, and don’t date anyone else.”

Hermione thought she may have offended him by being reluctant so was quick to reassure him, “I’m not very practiced at lying, I was mostly just considering whether I’m capable of this before I agree to it. Also, I don’t think it’s true that I won’t have to do anything with you. We won’t be very convincing as a couple if we aren’t caught snogging at least. Potter and Black follow you around so much they would be sure to catch us if we were together, and while we probably aren’t the type to be snogging in the middle of the Great Hall, people would expect to see us holding hands and possibly cuddling.”

He looked suddenly nervous, “And you’re willing to do that? With me?”

Hermione smirked, “I think it’s a good idea actually. It will annoy Sirius, he’s been flirting with me since I got here, and it will really get his goat if I start going out with you after turning him down so many times.”

He looked angry suddenly, “Black wants you.”

“Sirius Black wants to shag anything that moves. I’m new and shiny, of course he wants me.”

Snape was eyeing her suspiciously, “You need to wear a Fidelity charm.”

“A what?”

“Black will be even more persistent if he thinks he can steal you from me. I’m not taking the risk, I won’t be humiliated by having my girlfriend cheat on me, even if our relationship is only fake.”

Hermione felt her anger spark in her hair and glared at him, “I’m not going to cheat on you, don’t be ridiculous, and even without our agreement I would never let Sirius Black anywhere near me! That doesn’t mean I’m going to let you put some stupid charm on me, you will just have to trust me. I will take my duties as fake girlfriend seriously.”

“I don’t trust you, I don’t even know you. You won’t tell me why you’re doing any of this, maybe this is all some ridiculous plot by the Marauders and you are just my latest torment. I won’t agree to this unless you will wear the charm.”

“Then we can scrap the fake girlfriend thing and just be friends.”

“No. If we are friends Black will just insult me about you not wanting to be my girlfriend, I won’t agree to any of it if you won’t agree to this.”

Hermione took a deep breath and tried to calm down. She hated the sexism that was displayed in Wizarding society. She’d never heard of a Fidelity charm but she was sure it would be something Wizards put on Witches and not the other way around.

Snape said snarkily, “If you aren’t planning to date anyone else while you’re with me then surely you can’t object to wearing the charm.”

“What is it? I’ve never heard of it before.”

“It’s common amongst Slytherin. Usually, a Pureblood wizard gives one to his wife, to ensure she will be faithful and preserve their bloodline. It will prevent the witch from engaging in anything inappropriate with a wizard other than her husband.”

“Oh, and I suppose she can’t just take it off can she?”

“No, it can only be removed by the person who gifted it.”

“So, you’re going to put this charm on me and I’ll never be able to take it off, even after we break up? You don’t trust me not to cheat on you but I have to trust you with this?”

“I will take it off you.”

“What if something happens to you?”

“If I die it will break the charm, it’s my magic which powers it.”

“How exactly would it stop me from ‘engaging in anything inappropriate’?”

He hesitated, “That varies based on the specific charms used, but generally they cause nausea, progressing to pain if the behaviour continues.”

Hermione scowled, “Right, so if I’m raped or something your stupid charm is going to make it even worse?”

“No, you can’t be raped. Well other than by me I suppose. It causes pain to any wizard who touches you against your will, and it protects you from having your will subverted as well so you can’t be Imperiused and forced to have sex.”

She blinked, “Oh, well that sounds useful actually. You should have led with that rather than complaining about not trusting me. Do you already have this charm? What is it anyway?”

“No, I don’t have one, it’s a piece of jewellery and they are quite expensive. I will have to ask Lucius Malfoy if he can lend me one.”

“Absolutely not. Can we buy one ourselves? How much does it cost?”

“I don’t know. I’d have to go to Borgin and Burkes which we can’t do during term by which time we won’t need it anymore. I’m not sure how much it will cost either, but Lucius would loan me one I’m sure.”

“I don’t want you getting into debt with Death Eaters. From now on you won’t take anything from anyone associated with them. We can leave Hogwarts at Christmas and go to Knockturn Alley then. We need to go shopping for you anyway, I have some clothing for you but we may have to get some things tailored and we’ll need to buy a few things.”

“I can’t go home at Christmas, I always stay at Hogwarts.”

“We need to go shopping though. Why can’t you return home?”

He looked tense, “I just can’t. It’s not an option.”

“Well, we could risk sneaking off during the next Hogsmeade trip I suppose. Okay fake relationship is added to the list but this is going to be a requirement that goes both ways. If I’m pretending to be yours you have to pretend to be mine as well, and if either of us aren’t convincing we will break up.”

“This seems unnecessary. No-one would doubt my interest in you.”

“They will think I’m an idiot if you make it clear you’re still pining for Evans and are only with me because she won’t give you the time of day. You will have to act as though you prefer me.”

His dark eyes bore into her for a moment before he nodded, “Alright.”

“Alright, now I will tell you what I want in return. I want to be able to confide in someone, so we will both agree to keep each other’s secrets. Some of the things I will ask you to keep though are dangerous, so this is a serious promise. I don’t know if you already know Occlumency yet or not but that is something we will both need to master, so we will practice together. You will swear that even under torture you will not divulge anything I have told you. I require your assistance with some financial arrangements, so once you have finished your mastery we will be business partners. I have some potions recipes that I will need you to help me fake research notes for, for which you will claim credit and obtain patents. Not all at once, but during your apprenticeship which I will organise for you. Then I will fund our business but will receive a share of profits, particularly for the potions recipes I will give you, though of course anything you develop on your own will be entirely yours.”

He looked mildly alarmed, “How likely is it that I will need to resist torture for you?”

“Hopefully not likely at all. Headmaster Dumbledore is the only other person who knows anything about me and yet I am suspicious. It’s odd for me to appear at Hogwarts for my seventh year with no personal history, no-one knows who I am or where I came from, and I stick out. I tried not to, I wanted to just be boring but I can’t seem to help myself. I don’t think anyone will target me, and hopefully any threats will be eliminated before we graduate, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.”

“Okay, and potions recipes… you’ve stolen someone else’s research? Should we not be worried about them seeking revenge when we apply for their patents?”

“Don’t worry about that, I’m not exactly stealing. It’s complicated, no-one will be coming after us for this, but it will be noteworthy. Luckily you really are brilliant at potions, but you will need to convincingly claim these as your own work.”

“If you already have recipes though then why do you need me? Why not just claim it for yourself?”

“The first potion I want us to claim is incredibly advanced. It will be a stretch for people to believe that we came up with it together even with how good you are at Potions and my skill in Arithmancy. For me to claim our later advancements when I’m not even going to do a Potions Mastery? I need you.”

She thought she saw a flash of something in his eyes, an emotion she couldn’t quite understand when she said she needed him, but it disappeared, his face returning to that emotionless mask he often wore. He looked away, gazing into the fire and she turned to watch the flames as well, letting him think. After a while he said, “You are very mysterious. I hadn’t thought about it that much because anyone talking to me, trying to befriend me, is already odd, but you are particularly strange. I still feel as though this is some kind of trap and I’m going to feel like a fool for agreeing, yet I can’t see how it could be, so I have no choice but to agree. Draw up the contract and I will sign.”

Hermione smiled and showed him the piece of parchment she had prepared as they discussed their agreement. It was primarily a secrecy contract but it detailed all the other things they had promised each other. He read through the entire thing several times, obviously looking for some kind of trick, but there wasn’t one. Eventually he pulled his own quill from his bag and they both signed, using a spell to collect their own blood to use as ink. Their signatures, hers large and looping, his small and spiked, were still shining brightly on the parchment when she turned to him with a grin to begin her explanation.

Chapter Text

“I’m a time traveller. It’s currently 1977. I celebrated my birthday a couple of weeks ago, which was quite odd considering I wasn’t born until 1979. I should have been returning to Hogwarts for my seventh year in 1997 but instead I spent a year on the run from You-Know-Who before accidentally travelling 20 years into the past and ending up here. That’s why it seems like I turned up suddenly out of nowhere, and why nobody here knows who I am. I didn’t even exist, and I doubt I ever will now.”

She’d spent some time thinking about how to try to explain this and as she looked at his incredulous expression, she wasn’t sure she’d quite got it right. She gave him a moment to process.

He said sharply, “That’s impossible. Time travel is highly regulated, and time turners can only take someone back a couple of hours at most, not twenty years.”

“I didn’t use a time turner. I don’t fully understand the mechanics of it, but here, let me show you some things.” She began summoning things out of her beaded bag. “Here is a picture of me with my two best friends. You’ll notice Harry here looks familiar? He’s basically a carbon copy of his father James Potter, but he has Lily Evans’ eyes. He was born in 1980 in my timeline. Here’s a book published in 1990, ‘Gadding with Ghouls’. You’ll recognise Gilderoy Lockheart on the cover though I believe he’s currently only a third year. Ooh here this is a duplicate of Advanced Potions Making, property of The Half-blood Prince, it even has your notes in the margins.”

Snape flipped through the books she’d given him, and pulled his own copy of Advanced Potion Making out of his bag to compare the two. It was mostly identical, just a bit older and more worn, but some of the pages had more notes on them in her copy, all in his handwriting. He stared at the photograph of her with Harry and Ron. “She’s going to marry him?”

“She did marry him in the future I came from. Not everything will happen the same way though, it’s not a closed loop like it would be with a time turner, my presence here is going to change things. Everyone said they were very much in love though, and she does seem to be now from what I can gather.”

“What was my future? Did you know me? I would have been almost 40 in your future…”

“I did know you and I will tell you, but it’s going to be a long story so maybe not tonight. It’s already pretty late. I’m going to change your future anyway so it’s not really that important.”

“Why me? Why are you changing my future?”

“You were the best Occlumens in the world as far as I know. I need to learn, and I can’t tell anyone about myself if they can’t shield their mind because I really can’t risk this secret getting out. There are people who just go about Legilimising anyone and everyone with no regard for their privacy so it’s not something I can confide in just anyone about. Also, potions. I have textbooks in my bag with recipes for potions which haven’t been invented yet, research hasn’t even begun on them, we are going to claim the patents for some of them.”

“That’s still stealing other people’s intellectual property. I thought you were a Gryffindor, shouldn’t you have moral objections against that?”

“I thought about it but really, the research hasn’t been done yet. If we invent these potions the people who worked on them will find other projects to work on and there will be even more advancements in the field, so it’s a net benefit to society. Plus, the first thing we are going to work on is a treatment for Dragon Pox.”

He blinked, “Oh. Of course, and that’s why you want us to discover this treatment soon, because of the outbreak?”

She grinned, “Yep. That pesky outbreak due to a batch of tainted dragon scales which infected almost all of the Potions Masters of Britain and is one of the biggest reasons you will have trouble securing an apprenticeship without the help of Lucius Malfoy to connect you to some dubious Potioneer in Bulgaria. Instead, you will have your pick of grateful Potions Masters who all owe you their lives, and a tidy profit from the treatment to boot.”

“That’s… this is insane. What else do you have?”

Hermione grinned; he sounded excited now. “I have lots, but we don’t want to draw too much suspicion on ourselves. I’ll share things with you but the only thing we’ll have publicly for a while is the Dragon Pox treatment.”

“What else is in the bag?”

“Before I travelled back in time I spent almost a year on the run, living in a tent. I had all of my worldly possessions, as well as the belongings of my two best friends, in this bag. I have clothing for you, though we’ll have to get some of it tailored. I have all seven years of my textbooks, with twenty years of spell advancements in them, but we’ll have to keep quiet about that. I also have a bit of money, my friend Harry thought it would be helpful to withdraw a bunch of galleons before we went on the run, not that we had much use for them but I’m glad of it now. The only trouble is I suspect that coins with the same serial numbers are currently sitting in the Potters’ vault at Gringotts, Harry dug these out of a pile at the back of his vault that didn’t look like it had been touched for quite a while, so I have to be careful not to draw any suspicion.”

“Hmmn, I have no idea how that works, the coins do have serial numbers but can the goblins track them?”

Hermione shrugged, “I don’t care to find out. Luckily the seventh year Gryffindor dormitory empties out every full moon, I broke in last week and swapped the coins in Potters coin purse so we’ll see what happens when he starts spending coins which are duplicates of the ones in his family vault.”

Snape grinned, “That’s brilliant. Do you know why the Dorm is empty then? Did you know them all in the future as well?”

“Yes, Remus is a werewolf. I used to like Remus and when I first got here I’d sort of thought we might be friends, but his younger version is even worse than when I knew him in the future. I know a lot about them mostly from my friend Harry, he was closer to them than I was.”

“Right, Potters son with Lily.” He narrowed his eyes, “You liked Remus in the future, what about me?”

“It’s complicated.”

“That’s a no.”

“You didn’t like me. I respected you, but you weren’t very nice so it was hard to like you. Trust me, we don’t have the time to get into it now.”

“Fine. Is there something in your bag of tricks that will help with getting revenge on the Marauders?”

“I need some time to work on revenge plans, but the first thing we need to do is protect you from them. Do you know what this is?” She pulled out the Marauder’s Map which currently just looked like a ratty old piece of parchment.

He raised his eyebrow, “Oh a blank piece of parchment, how extraordinary.”

“I solemnly swear I am up to no good. This is a map of Hogwarts, invented by the Marauders. Unfortunately, it’s quite good spell work and I must admit to being impressed by their creativity, while being horrified by what they use it for, which is mostly to follow you around so they can hex you whenever you leave your Dormitory.”

Snape was staring at the map with a burning intensity in his eyes that made her worry he was about to pull his wand out and light it on fire. “They do. If I go anywhere, they always find me. I can’t even walk the corridors on my own or I end up in an ambush. I have to rely on the other Slytherin’s to escort me to the bloody library, and Rosier was mad at me the other day which is why he left me to stay behind to pack up after Quidditch practice. I knew they would come after me and they did…”

Hermione blinked, he sounded so resigned to it and it was horrible to hear. “Right, well I’m going to make them regret it. I’ve been working on the spells they used on this map and I’m confident we could duplicate it, I want to make a smaller more portal version, I was thinking of watches. We’ll charm them to vibrate whenever any of the Marauders are nearby, so we can stop them spying and sneaking up on you. We’ll also put a modified Protean charm on them so we can send each other messages, that way if you’re ever left on your own you can let me know.”

“Couldn’t you just steal their map?”

“If I did, they would just make another one. Better to use their own tools against them. Plus, they are going to use it to catch us snogging all over the castle.”

Snape blushed, which was just adorable, his pale cheeks turned all blotchy and red.

Hermione smiled, “I need you to stop hexing them. From now on you need to be completely unreproachable. Infuriate them, goad them into attacking if you can, but the only spells you will ever use against them will be completely defensive.”

He scowled, “It’s four against one. The only way I can survive those encounters is by striking first.”

“No, from now on it’s four against two. You won’t be alone against them anymore.”

“You’re seriously going to duel them with me?”

“I don’t think it will come to that, I suspect Black will be unable to resist throwing hexes at us so keep a shield charm ready, but I don’t think they will fight us. If they do I will kick their asses and you will only cast Protego.”

“Fine, agreed. Is there anything else?”

“Nope. I want to get started on our potion straight away. This is the final recipe, look it over and start working backwards to look for things we could have tried that didn’t quite work before we got to this. We’ll say I came to you with the idea and we worked together, I will do Arithmancy calculations for any ingredients you think might be suitable and we’ll present our findings to Professor Slughorn once we have some research notes to show him.”

Snape took the recipe and slipped it into one of his books. He returned Gadding with Ghouls and the photograph back to her but indicated he was keeping the future version of Advanced Potion Making with all of his notes in it. “What about the girlfriend thing? How is that going to work?”

“We’ll go to Hogsmeade together for Halloween, people will figure it out from there.”

“I don’t want people to know you’re my girlfriend until we have the Fidelity charm.”

“Well, we will have to wait until after then.”

“Fine.”

“Do you own a watch?”

“What?”

“You’ll need a watch, for the map. Or any piece of jewellery you’d be comfortable wearing and wouldn’t look too weird for looking at in public.”

“A watch then. No, I don’t have one.”

“I don’t know how to make clockwork, unless you’re some kind of transfiguration genius we’ll need to get you one. I wonder if the room might have one hidden away somewhere. Let’s try it.”

“Try what?”

“Follow me, you’ll see.”

He grumbled but followed her out of their cozy sitting room. She walked back and forth thinking of the room of lost objects and opened the door.

Snape stepped in behind her, eyes wide as he surveyed the piles of broken furniture and assorted objects. “This is different.”

“The room can be anything you require. Sometimes people require a place to hide things. Unfortunately, Accio doesn’t work in here so you’ll have to look around. Can you send a Patronus if you find something?”

He shook his head, “We haven’t even learnt the charm in class yet.”

She looked around, “Right, send up red sparks then. It’s easy to get lost in here but I don’t think there’s anything dangerous.” Dumbledore had removed the Horcrux already.

He wandered off down one of the aisles to start poking around. She went in the other direction. It was actually kind of fun. She’d only been in here before under rather stressful conditions, today it was a bit like a flea market only everything was free. She’d spotted a nice hairband, made of black ribbon with lace roses on one side. It was pretty and she liked it, she didn’t really wear things like that. She’d been a late bloomer and by the time she decided she sort of liked pretty things sometimes it felt too awkward to wear them. People would always comment, her dormmates would criticise and judge her, it just wasn’t worth it. No-one knew her now though so if she wore a pretty hairband for a date in Hogsmeade (a date with Snape) none of them would know her well enough to think it was weird. She hesitated but it was just sitting there, the room wouldn’t care if she took it. Who knew how long it had been there for? It was covered in dust. She picked it up and put it in her bag.

After that she didn’t hesitate about collecting anything interesting. She found a broken jewellery box, a beautiful red dress robe with a weird stain on the back that she thought might come out with a bit of scrubbing, some garnet hair pins, a few old books, some potions ingredients which still looked well preserved, a nice silver stirring rod, and a random pile of gemstones. Most of the things she came across were rubbish, they’d decayed, or were too broken to bother repairing, or had been worthless in the first place. She found herself wondering why people had hidden things in here. The only reason she could think someone would have to hide a pile of gemstones was if they were stolen.

She’d been wandering around looking through things for hours when she noticed the sparks. She sent her Patronus to Snape with the message, “I’ve seen your sparks, head back to the entrance if you’re able.” They met again at the doorway and she laughed to see him carrying a pile of things. He’d stuffed his book bag full of things, and he had a cauldron with more stuff piled inside it.

He gave her a sarcastic look, “As though you didn’t find anything in here you’d like to keep?”

She grinned, “Of course I did, it’s all in my bag.”

He nodded, “I’d love to get a look at that thing. Where did you get it?”

“I made it.”

“You can cast an Undetectable Extension charm?”

She shrugged, “Charms is my best subject.”

“That’s still really advanced. Also, really illegal.”

“Yep, and really useful. I love my bag. Speaking of which-” she opened the bag and summoned sandwiches, a flagon of pumpkin juice, and some muffins. “I went down to the kitchens this morning and grabbed us some lunch, I figured we’d probably spend all day in here.” She gestured him over to a broken couch, one side of it had been burned and had a chunk torn out of it but they sat next to each other on the other end to eat their lunch.

“Can I assume you found a watch?”

He nodded, digging around in the cauldron and pulling out a silver pocket watch. She looked it over, the silver was a bit tarnished and the chain was broken but that could be fixed. The time was wrong but it was still ticking which was good. “Perfect, nice work.”

He gave her a flat look. She ignored him and summoned her A Guide to Advanced Transfiguration from 1976 and began to flip through it, looking for the spell she would need to fix the chain. Snape watched her, his black eyes curious. “What else do you have in there?”

She looked up, “Oh, I have a reference list. It updates automatically when objects are added or removed from the bag, it’s not perfect though. If there are any books you want to read you can look them over while we’re in here.”

She’d found what she was looking for, the textbook specifically used adding extra links to a chain as an example, but said it was best to transfigure them from the actual material you wanted to use. She wondered if they could find some extra silver, the stirring rod she found was too nice to repurpose, but had she seen a banged up silver cauldron at one point? Severus interrupted her musing, “What’s Firebolt?”

“Hmmn? Oh, that’s Harry’s very fancy racing broom.”

He vibrated with excitement, “Can I have it?”

She rolled her eyes, “Boys and their broomsticks. The Firebolt was the fastest on the market when it was released in 1993 with an acceleration of 150 miles an hour in ten seconds. What’s the fastest broom currently?”

“Cleansweep 6, 82 miles per hour.”

“Yeah, sorry but I’m not giving you the Firebolt, you’ll have to stick to your current broom.”

“I don’t have a broom.”

She was puzzled, “Aren’t you on the Quidditch team?”

“I’m a reserve. I’m a good player but I have to borrow one of the school brooms, an ancient Silver Arrow. It’s so slow. If I had my own broom I could almost certainly make the starting line up.”

“Oh, I’ll be back in a second.” She walked back to where she’d seen a broomstick. She’d ignored it since she had no need for one. It was a Cleansweep 4 and the tail was rather bent out of shape but it was probably better than a school broom. She also grabbed the silver cauldron she’d spotted which was nearby. She found her way back to Snape and gave it to him, then pulled out Harry’s broomstick servicing kit. “Here you go, you should be able to fix this up, the book in the servicing kit has some instructions for how to properly tidy up the twigs, if you-“

“I can read thanks.”

She winced, “Sure of course you can, and I suppose you can also be grateful for free broomsticks, and servicing kits, you just choose not to.”

She started chipping pieces off the cauldron with a severing charm and then transfiguring them into the right shape to add to the chain for his new pocket watch. She’d added three new segments when he said quietly, “Thank you for the broom.”

“You’re welcome.”

They agreed to meet the following week to work on the watches, Hermione wanted to get those maps working as soon as possible and Snape agreed.

Chapter Text

The following Saturday she got up early and grabbed a breakfast muffin and some coffee from the kitchens. The elves didn’t serve coffee to the student tables, they made it mostly for the teachers, but they gave it to her when she asked. She picked up some food for lunch later as well then headed up to the room. They hadn’t set a time to meet and she had no idea if he was an early riser or not, most students seemed to enjoy a sleep in on a Saturday. She pulled out his pocket watch and started working on it. The night before she’d done a nifty transfiguration on it, originally it had a leafy design on the front but she’d changed it to a lioness and a snake. Then she’d charmed them to move slightly, the lioness yawning to show off her teeth, the snake was wrapped around her neck like a scarf and would poke it’s tongue out occasionally, tasting the air. She wondered if he’d think it silly, it was a bit, but if he’d really been her boyfriend she would have wanted to give him something nice and hadn’t been able to resist. They were learning to make inanimate objects move in their lessons currently and it was a lot of fun to animate things.

She had her own wristwatch already, her mother had given it to her as a gift for her birthday two years ago, and she started by transfiguring the face to be a little larger for more map space. She’d need Snape’s help later but she got started on embedding the map information into an arithmantic array. Using the small watch face rather than a huge unfolding piece of parchment was practical for use but meant the maps would be less detailed, so instead of displaying names it would just show coloured dots with their initials. The four Marauders would show as maroon dots, and other students would be almost white with a faint glow representing their house colour, she wanted them to stand out but she’d still want to know if she was surrounded by Slytherin’s at any point, just in case. Teachers would be black, and any other adult would show a blue dot. She also added house elves in grey, the Marauders hadn’t considered them but remembering what Dobby had been capable of Hermione thought she’d want to know if she was being followed around invisibly by someone’s slave.

Next, she cast a Protean charm linking their watches together, they could send messages to each other which would appear on the border of the watch face for her, and on the inside lid of his pocket watch. Deciding that it was time Snape got out of bed she summoned her Otter and sent it off to him, to tell him the Marauders were still having a lie in so he could make his way up to the room to meet her whenever he was ready. He took another half an hour to arrive and when he entered the room he snarked at her, “If you checked the map and saw they were still in bed then you obviously knew I was as well. Must we really be up so early on a Saturday?”

“Not a morning person Snape?”

“Usually, I am. I was up late working on your bloody potion.”

Hermione perked up, “Oh thanks, have you made any progress?”

He grumbled but showed her the notes he’d made on the Dragon Pox treatment, which were incredibly detailed, well researched, and perfectly referenced. Hermione skimmed it over and she was just so pleased that she could feel it bubbling within her, it was just so lovely to have a friend who could research! Not that Harry and Ron couldn’t, but she had to nag them to get any real effort out of them, and here she’d asked Snape to do this, expecting she’d have to harass him and instead he’d just gone and done it, without any pestering at all! She felt gleeful and she looked up at him, smiling broadly. “This is brilliant! I’m so impressed.”

He frowned slightly, “It was simple enough, I just researched the ingredients you gave me and came up with a list of alternatives we could try. I saved all of the arithmancy for you, I assume you are actually capable of that part?”

Hermione didn’t let his snarky mood get her down, she just nodded her agreement. She showed him the two watches and explained which parts of the spell required tandem casting, it was a complicated charm, the original map had needed all four of the Marauders to cast together, but they’d simplified it down. They could tap the watch to bring up the map which would appear on the glass covering the watch face, and touching the sides of the screen would move the view in that direction. By the end she was quite pleased, and Snape seemed happy as well. She watched him stroking the lion and snake she’d engraved onto the front of the watch and was pleased he seemed to like it, even though he hadn’t said so.

Instead, he asked, “What does it mean that you engraved this with a lion being strangled by a snake?”

“It’s not strangling her, they’re friends.”

“It’s wrapped around her throat.”

“Yes, like a scarf.”

He looked amused, “A very sinister scarf. This silly lioness is far too trusting.”

She finally realised he was joking and laughed self-consciously, “I thought it was cute.”

“It’s a little bold.”

Feeling a little put out that he didn’t like it she said, “Fine, I can transfigure it again with a different design.”

He snapped the watch closed and placed it in his pocket, “No need.”

Hermione smiled at him; he did like it! She said, “I think we should start practicing Occlumency. Do you know how to do it yet?”

“How do you know that I will know how to do it?”

“Umm, well, Harry needed to learn it and you tried to teach him.”

“I tried to teach Potters son Occlumency? If my future self was unsuccessful at teaching him why do you think I will be able to teach you?”

“I don’t think it was your fault that Harry couldn’t learn. He didn’t really practice or take it very seriously. He told me everything you taught him, which was mostly just to clear his mind and control his emotions, and I did manage to fool someone when they used Legilimency against me, though she was a bit unstable and I don’t think she was very good at it. I don’t know how I would fare against someone truly competent who was determined to look for something. So do you already know how to do it?”

“I know a bit, but before we get into that I want to know how you knew me in the future. Why on earth would I have been teaching Lily and Potters son Occlumency?”

Hermione bit her lip nervously, she supposed she’d have to tell him, but she wasn’t sure how to go about it.

“Why don’t you want to tell me?”

“It’s just a bit complicated. What I knew of your future isn’t a very nice story, just keep in mind that things won’t happen the same way again, okay? So, the you that I knew accepted Lucius Malfoy’s patronage, took the Dark Mark, and then went to Bulgaria to complete an apprenticeship. You obtained your Mastery then returned to England where You-Know-Who ordered you to apply to apply as Potions Master at Hogwarts since Professor Slughorn was retiring. You had a job interview-”

“You-Know-Who ordered me to become a teacher? Why?”

“He wanted you to spy on Professor Dumbledore.”

He stared at her incredulously, “He’d never hire me, and I have no desire to be a teacher.”

“I don’t think you had a choice, you were a Death Eater remember? It’s kind of a ‘do what I tell you unless you want to be tortured and killed’ arrangement once you get far enough in, and Professor Dumbledore did in fact hire you.”

His eyes widened and then he laughed, “I taught you potions? I’ve been so impressed with your skills in class and it’s because I was your bloody teacher.”

“I’m glad you’re amused but the rest of the story is not very funny. You overheard a prophecy, and though you only caught the first half it spoke of someone with the power to defeat the Dark Lord, and you immediately rushed off to tell him all about it. Unbeknownst to you, it was referring to the unborn child of James and Lily Potter who had married while you were away in Bulgaria. I don’t think you even knew she was pregnant but you inadvertently made her a target. You asked him to spare her, and he agreed but you didn’t trust that, so you went to Dumbledore to protect her. In exchange you agreed to turn spy for the Order of the Phoenix and took the post at Hogwarts to teach Potions, pretending to be a spy for You-Know-Who. Lily and James went into hiding but in 1981 they were betrayed by their Secret Keeper, You-Know-Who went to their house and murdered them both then tried to kill their son Harry. He hadn’t-”

“I killed Lily. You are saying that if you hadn’t come back into the past the way you did then that’s what I would have done.”

Hermione sighed, “You told You-Know-Who about a prophecy that led to him targeting her, but you couldn’t have known. I don’t think you even knew she was pregnant, and you then did everything you could to protect and keep her safe, even though she was married to one of your childhood bullies.”

“I shouldn’t have told him about the prophecy at all, even if it wasn’t about Lily if it led him to trying to kill a bloody baby.”

“I don’t know all of the details Snape, it’s not like we were besties in my future. I do know that if he had found out you’d overheard a prophecy and not told him about it he probably would have killed you, and even if you’d realised what the prophecy meant how could you know what he would do with it? I know the war was getting a bit bad at that point but he wasn’t going around murdering babies all willy nilly. You aren’t responsible for how he chose to act on your information.”

He was sombre, “Right, what happened next?”

“He hadn’t heard the full prophecy so he didn’t realise, but trying to kill Harry was a bad idea, Harry was orphaned that night but he survived the killing curse and You-Know-Who disappeared. He wasn’t really dead though, as we would find out later. You knew that he would return so you stayed at Hogwarts as a Professor, until 1991 when myself, and Harry Potter, started our first year at Hogwarts. You taught us Potions, and in between lessons tried to keep us from throwing our lives away, knowing that one day Harry would have to face You-Know-Who when he returned. My school years were fraught with danger due to my befriending Harry who was basically a danger magnet, and you didn’t like us very much.”

“Why didn’t I like you?”

“Well to be honest you didn’t like anyone very much, other than the Slytherins, but even then I’m not sure how genuine it was. You- Professor Snape hated Harry. I shouldn’t keep talking about you like you’re the same person. I think Harry reminded him too much of James, and the fact that Lily was dead. I think he wasn’t very happy being a teacher and just waiting around in case You-Know-Who showed up, and although he was very unfair towards Harry it’s not like he could have been nice. He was quite nasty though and Harry returned the favour by hating him until the very end. It must have been very annoying for him, trying to keep us safe while we despised him for it.”

“Merlin, I must have been a miserable bugger. Killed my only friend, forced to be a teacher, associating with the sorts of people who kill babies, and then having to teach a kid who looked exactly like Potter but was also a permanent reminder that Lily had married him. If I disliked you so much in the future though then why did you set out to befriend me? It’s not like I’ve been particularly nice to you since you turned up here.”

“You’re a bit standoffish sure but that’s understandable. I guess this sounds bad but it’s a very practical choice. It’s hard to make friends when I can’t tell anyone anything about myself, I’m sick of lying through my teeth all the time which just means I spend all of my time saying nothing. I was supposed to just keep my head down and avoid drawing attention to myself, but I’ve already failed miserably at that, and I worry someone is going to notice something off about me and I won’t be able to protect my secrets. I really want to learn Occlumency and I figured you could teach me, and I’d at least have one person I can tell the truth to.”

“All that about wanting to be friends with me was just rubbish then?”

“No, of course not. I picked you for practical reasons but I also think we’d get on, I’ve seen your potions improvements and we both have an interest in spell development. I always wanted a friend I could talk about magical theory with and while Potions isn’t my favourite subject I’d still love to pick your brains about it. I often wished I could have talked to Professor Snape the way I talked to my other teachers but he would have sneered me out of his office and probably made me cry so I never dared.”

 “Was he really that mean?”

“Oh yes, he was the scariest teacher at Hogwarts. Terrifying.”

“I find it hard to imagine. People aren’t afraid of me.”

“No, I was surprised by that really. I used to wonder, I mean he really worked at terrorising the students, seemed to enjoy it even. Now though I just can’t help thinking that he became a teacher so young! Can you imagine coming back to teach in 3 years? Your N.E.W.T classes would include students who’d watched you bullied by the Marauders, and with Slughorn’s very relaxed teaching style… Well, your standards are a lot higher.”

“Merlin, he had to teach the current fourth years… I don’t think I could do it.”

She shrugged, “You could. Not much fun for anyone involved though.”

“Right. The great and powerful Dark Lord was defeated by a baby?”

“Yes, his body was destroyed but his spirit went and hung out in Albania until my fourth year when he finally managed a ritual that let him return. He gathered all of the Death Eaters who weren’t in Azkaban, including you, and by the time I should have begun my seventh year Dumbledore had been murdered, the Ministry was completely infiltrated and a Muggle-born registration committee had been created to basically just throw anyone of impure blood status into Azkaban, and I was on the run hunting dark objects so that we could finally defeat You-Know-Who. The Headmaster had decided that task was best left to a few 17-year-olds who hadn’t even graduated yet.”

“He’s barmy, don’t know why you’re surprised.”

She laughed, “Well we managed it in the end, but then there was a huge battle at Hogwarts. We won in the end but then I ran across a random Death Eater in the castle after the battle was all over and everyone was celebrating our victory, and that’s when the accidental time travel happened and now here I am.”

“What happened to me?”

“Professor Snape was killed by You-Know-Who, he set his familiar on him. It was a giant snake and it tore his throat out. He left us a few memories just before he died which is how I know some of your personal history.”

“Great, so I blew my cover right at the end?”

“No, you had thoroughly proved yourself and he thought you were his most loyal follower at the time, he even apologised for murdering you. He wanted your wand. It was such a stupid waste.”

He looked annoyed, “Really? I survived as a double agent for all of those years just to get killed at the last moment over a wand? Surely, I would have handed it over if he’d asked me?”

She sighed, “He hadn’t done enough research into wandlore, he wanted the allegiance of a wand and thought he need to ‘defeat’ you for that but he was wrong on both counts, you never had the allegiance of the wand in the first place and even if you had he could have defeated you without killing you.”

“That’s depressing. I spent all those years teaching dunderheads and didn’t even live to see it finished. As far as he knew it was all for nothing.”

She winced, “You’re right, it’s terrible. He was so close, and then he died not even knowing if it had been worth it in the end.”

She felt so awful thinking about it again. Everything she’d seen in those memories had made her so angry at Dumbledore for leaving so much of the plan up to chance, for leaving the Order so unprepared and disjointed during that final year even though he’d known he was dying. For forcing Professor Snape to murder him and spend the last year of his life being despised by the Order instead of utilising him to help them find all the Horcruxes. It was just such a terrible mess. She tried to hold it together but her eyes filled with tears and she couldn’t help sniffling. A box of tissues popped into existence on the little table, courtesy of the room, and that little kindness, from a partially sentient room which couldn’t even properly converse with her and might have been responsible for sending her twenty years into the past where she didn’t know anyone, sent her over the edge. Snape looked somewhat panicked, and she watched him shift in his seat as though he wanted to get up but he clearly wasn’t sure if he should or not. She turned away from him, covering her face with tissues and then burrowing into the soft cushion of the back of the chair. She finally got her tears under control, wiped her face and then turned back to Snape.

“Sorry, it’s difficult to cope with the idea that everyone I ever knew is essentially dead. Most of the people I knew haven’t even been born yet, and the people I did know are so different, and they don’t know me at all. It wasn’t for nothing because I’m here now and that’s because of Professor Snape, he just wanted to save Lily and I came back in time and am going to do exactly that, so really he succeeded in a roundabout way.”

“I’m sorry, it was insensitive of me to say that. It hadn’t really occurred to me before how difficult this must be for you.”

“It has been, especially because I can’t talk to anyone about it and I keep having to lie to everyone. It’s a relief that I have you to talk to now.”

He grimaced at her, “What was in my memories?”

“Remember how I said Dumbledore had been murdered? Well at the end of my sixth year Death Eaters broke into Hogwarts and cornered him at the top of the Astronomy tower, he was already weak and injured and well… Professor Snape joined them, and he was the one who killed the Headmaster. They all fled-“

He looked impressed, “I killed Professor Dumbledore? Even You-Know-Who is scared of him.”

Hermione eyed him, “Are you proud of being a murderer?”

“Well, I didn’t kill just anyone, did I? That’s an accomplishment, it doesn’t make me sound very loyal to the Order though.”

“Everyone in the Order thought he had betrayed us but I found the entire situation to be a bit odd. The others were all ranting about how untrustworthy he was but I just kept thinking that if I were an evil Death Eater I wouldn’t have cast Avada Kedavra. The Headmaster was weak and disarmed, I’d have given him some kind of disabling, slow acting poison, and then dragged him off and delivered him to You-Know-Who so he could be tortured and interrogated for a few hours. It seemed rather merciful to me at the time and I was glad you’d been there to do it. There was no explaining that to anyone else though and I figured the adult members of the Order would get it all sorted out.”

“Your plans are disturbingly well defined, do you often plot to torture and murder your own allies?”

She flushed, “I thought about it after!” Her outrage faded as she realised he was teasing her.

“Was I a traitor? Or were you right in the end?”

“Of course I was right. That’s what was in the memories. It showed your friendship with Lily, your falling out, then you overhearing the prophecy and switching sides. You also showed us that the Headmaster was dying, he’d been cursed and he ordered you to kill him, it was all part of the plan.”

“This is a lot to take in.”

“I know but it doesn’t really matter now. You aren’t going to become a Death Eater, and hopefully Dumbledore will have sorted You-Know-Who out before we graduate.”

“I suppose you’ve given him all of this information?”

“I told him what he would need to know to be able to kill You-Know-Who, but I haven’t given him all of the details.”

They sat quietly for a while before he said, “Lily never forgave me in your future?”

“No, I think if she had he would have included it. I don’t know if she even knew he had become a spy, I think she knew he’d become a Death Eater though.”

“Right, and even as he died, he was still thinking of her? He didn’t ever marry or have like a girlfriend or something?”

“He wasn’t married. I wouldn’t know if he had a girlfriend or not, but I doubt it. He was a spy, he was acting a role. I don’t think he had any real friends, he spent most of his time with the other Professor’s or with the Death Eaters spying. I don’t think he was very happy, but he was a hero.”

“I don’t want to be a hero, and I definitely don’t want to be a teacher.”

“Well, I promise not to make you do either, apart from teaching me Occlumency of course. Do you already know how to do it?”

“Can this room provide us with tea or does it only give out boxes of tissues?”

“It can’t, the room still works on Gamp’s Laws of Elemental Transfiguration, it can summon things from other locations within the castle, including library books which is quite helpful, and it can provide anything you could transfigure yourself, but no food. We can call a house elf though. Gilly?”

She placed an order for tea with the elf and Snape asked, “How do you have a house elf?”

“She’s a free elf who works in the kitchens, she can serve anyone she likes. I don’t like to use elves much because I don’t approve of slavery but I’ve made her promise not to come when I call if it would interfere with her duties.”

“I’ve never met any of the house elves, how did you organise that?”

“I know how to get into the kitchens, once there the house elves were happy to talk to me which was a nice change. They didn’t like me in the future.” Hermione smiled to herself, remembering how badly she’d buggered up her relationship with the Hogwarts house elves with S.P.E.W. She was pleased nobody here would know about that and she could better represent house elf rights now without that failure looming over her.

Chapter Text

They had their tea and then Snape began, “Something happened during my fifth year which brought me to the Headmaster’s attention and during the meeting with him I felt odd. At first I wasn’t sure what it meant but when I went home that year I spoke to my mother about it and when I described the sensation she knew exactly what I was talking about.”

He gave her a sharp look before continuing, “This is a secret but part of the Prince legacy is an affinity for mind magic. Consider that knowledge as something our secrecy contract should apply to. It’s an ability that requires active practice to learn to use efficiently of course, but comes more naturally for us. My mother learnt it in her youth and I immediately demanded that she teach me. I was not at all pleased to learn that Professor Dumbledore had been in my mind, and it seems that if it weren’t for my family legacy I would not have been aware of it at all.”

“Yes, once I found out that it was possible I was not very pleased at the idea of others being able to look into my mind without me even knowing about it.”

“Indeed. My mother gave me some lessons but as I was not of age at the time she would not allow me to practice more actively. It is as you say, the most important skill is to learn to clear your mind, particularly to dismiss your emotions. If you have already learnt to do that then we can presumably proceed by practicing Legilimency on each other, I haven’t used the incantation before but I understand it involves entering the other persons mind and then feeding them an emotion which will call up memories where they have felt that way. The practice of Occlumency is to conceal some memories from the Legilimens, only allowing them to see memories you are willing to show them, and in some cases providing false memories to trick them.”

“Right, and you are likely to be much better at this than I will be, as I expect that in addition to your natural talent you have practiced more than I have. I only ever had second hand instructions, Harry telling me what Professor Snape had told him, and he didn’t even take any notes.”

Snape snorted, “You sound as though your friend annoyed you.”

She smiled sadly, “He did at times. It was difficult to sympathise when he was complaining about getting Occlumency lessons when I would have begged for the privilege if I thought anyone would teach me.”

“I don’t expect it would be very pleasant to learn, particularly if the person you are working with dislikes you.”

“Yes, I imagine that is true. So, I suppose we will take turns looking in each other’s minds and trying to target particular emotions? I think we should agree beforehand what we will try to look for.”

“In a real situation you won’t know ahead of time what sort of memories a Legilimens will be searching for, we’ll need to be adaptable.”

“That’s true and I agree that once we have some more experience we can work on increasing the difficulty but there’s no point going all out from the beginning. This is going to be very intimate, experiencing your thoughts and feelings directly, surely you can see the benefit in declaring some things off limits, at least in the beginning? I know I certainly don’t want you to go looking for my most embarrassing memories, for example.”

He tensed and then agreed quickly, “You’re right, but then if we are agreeing to only look for things the other person is comfortable sharing how do we know which memories we should be hiding?”

“Pick an emotion and then each think of a memory related to that to hide specifically? Let’s start with something innocuous, like just looking for happy memories, and later we can make a list of which emotions are okay to look for so we won’t know which one is being targeted for each attempt?”

At his nod Hermione tried to think of happy memories to pick something to hide from Severus. She thought of Viktor asking her to go to the Yule ball, and of how she had felt seeing the shocked reactions to her appearance at the ball. She’d been happy and proud but was also a bit ashamed of herself for being so vain and frivolous so she’d rather Snape not see it. She would try to hide that and focus on her childhood memories. She nodded to him that she was ready and then he was in her head and she immediately failed. The memory of entering the ball on Viktor’s arm immediately played out and she felt mortified at how poorly her first attempt at Occlumency was going. That led immediately into the memory of her first Potions class when Professor Snape had scorned her for answering his questions and Snape broke the connection.

Hermione felt flushed and after a moment said, “Well that went terribly. The memory I wanted to hide from you popped up immediately, and then I reacted emotionally to my failure and then that emotion triggered other memories. I’m not sure how to control that at all…”

She looked up and noticed that Snape looked rather pale and shaken. “Snape? Are you okay?”

“I just… That was horrible. Seeing myself like that! I really was your Potions Professor, but I was so old and awful. Honestly sometimes over the past week I’ve wondered if you were just insane, even though you gave me my book from the future but seeing it like that... You told me about how awful my future was and it’s hard knowing that’s what would have happened to me if you hadn’t turned up.”

“I’m sorry. That isn’t your future now though.”

“It would have been though! I would have made those choices, if it weren’t for you telling me. I feel so stupid, how could I have ever thought that being a Death Eater was a good idea?”

“I don’t know. It was something I always wondered about after we found out that Professor Snape was a Death Eater. You were thinking of it then, before?”

“Lucius Malfoy spoke to me about helping me achieve my Mastery, he knows of my interest and skill in Potions, and I know he wasn’t going to help me for free. I understood what he would expect from me and I was willing to go along with it. People talk about Lord Voldemort being an evil dark wizard but most in Slytherin say that’s a misrepresentation and he just wants to preserve Pureblood traditions. They say that Wizards are powerful and shouldn’t be forced to hide from Muggles. They make it all sound very reasonable.”

She said sarcastically, “Well I suppose if they open with the plans for world domination and the mass slaughter of innocents they are less likely to attract followers.”

Snape flinched, “Lucius always tells us things like that are exaggerations. I have had doubts but… I wanted my Mastery, and I would have done it, and then I would have killed Lily. It’s just hard to realise I would have made such poor decisions.”

“You are being too harsh on yourself, I think. I mean really, you are absolutely brilliant at Potions, if you don’t get your Mastery it will be a terrible shame. Yes, you would have made some poor decisions in order to achieve that but it’s not like you had any other options before, and as soon as I offered you another way, you took it. It really wasn’t that difficult for me to convince you. It’s a problem with Wizarding societies lack of meritocracy. Even 20 years in the future apprenticeships are based more on who you know and talented students are passed over for whoever happens to have the wealthiest relations.”

“I believe in some of their policies though. I may have been worried about the requirements, but I did think they made some valid points.”

“Really? Like what? Surely you don’t believe that Muggle-borns should be excluded from the Wizarding world?”

“No, but I don’t think it should be illegal to use magic on or around muggles. The statute of secrecy restricts us and I think that as long as secrecy is maintained we should be able to do what we like.”

“So, you think wizards should be able to go out and use their magic to get away with committing crimes against muggles and that should be perfectly legal? They can dose muggles with lust potions to rape them, cast spells to injure or kill them, so long as it can be explained away without magic? Those are all things that Death Eaters did during my time.”

He had the good sense to sound horrified, “No, that’s not what I mean. I just don’t think we should have to hide the way we do, and we should be able to defend ourselves against them without getting in trouble for it.”

“Even with the laws as they are now it’s very rare for a wizard to get into any real difficulty for using magic against muggles. Relaxing them would lead to more cases of wizards using magic around muggles which is just going to increase the workload for Obliviators, and as it is wizards can already use magic when they need to. Unless we plan to dissolve the Statute of Secrecy completely the best option is to try not to use magic around muggles unless it’s absolutely necessary.”

He said hotly, “That’s the problem, the Ministry decides when it’s necessary or not. We should have more rights than muggles do, they shouldn’t be protected at our expense.”

Hermione scowled at him but decided they should stop arguing. “We are getting off topic. Let’s try Occlumency again, it’s your turn. Prepare your happy memories.” She waited until Snape indicated he was ready. At his nod she cast the spell and entered his mind, before she could figure out how to project the feeling of happiness into his mind though she was swallowed up by a memory, a younger Snape arguing with a woman who must be his mother.

He was clutching his right arm which was aching painfully and saying angrily, “You should have stopped him Ma. What’s the point of being a witch if you’re never going to use your magic?”

The woman hissed back, “You can’t use magic against muggles, it’s illegal.”

“It’s stupid! We’re more powerful than him for a reason.”

Hermione pulled out, feeling overwhelmed by the feelings of anger and powerlessness from the memory. She realised that although Snape had indicated he was ready he’d obviously still been stewing over their argument which had caused him to show her memories of a similar feeling. She thought he might say something but he remained quiet, staring into the fire. She offered, “Perhaps we should both meditate for a bit then try again.”

He said nothing so Hermione followed her own advice, closing her eyes and trying to clear her mind. She relaxed into her body, focusing on the physical sensations and letting her thoughts drift away. She came back to herself feeling calm and opened her eyes to find Snape watching her. His black eyes flicked away from her then returned and with a whispered spell he was in her mind again. She hadn’t really been prepared which turned out to be an improvement, the first few memories were from her childhood, her joy when she received a chemistry set for her 8^th birthday, a giggling Hermione being swung around by her father, her happiness when a bout of accidental magic led her to find snow in her closet after reading ‘The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe’. Then suddenly it was Viktor standing in front of her in the library asking her to accompany him to the Yule Ball.

She panicked as she suddenly remembered that she wasn’t supposed to be letting him see that and then she was in the memory of her History of Magic O.W.L exam when Harry had begun screaming and after being dragged off she’d suddenly remember they were in the middle of an exam. Then she was in the Department of Mysteries with purple fire flying towards her and suddenly remembering that wizards could cast spells non-verbally and it was occurring to her that silencing charms were no longer very useful in a duel. Snape pulled back with a gasp, “What was that last one?”

“Battle with Death Eaters during my fifth year. I felt really stupid for using a Silencing charm but it did save my life in the end, apparently that spell came out less effective than it should have because he couldn’t say the incantation. Prof- someone told me later that he probably would have blocked a Stunning spell but the Silencing charm I cast is quicker, so it was still effective.”

“Were you going to say Professor Snape just now?”

“Umm no, actually. Remus Lupin was our Defence Professor for a year, I talked to him later about what happened during that battle. Professor Snape only told me I was stupid and shouldn’t go running off to fight Death Eater’s when I wouldn’t win a duel against a group of competent first years.”

“That’s harsh.”

“He was right though, it was stupid. I nearly died. Well anyway, I’m not having any luck hiding my chosen memories, I don’t know how to stop you seeing them.”

“Oh, did I find the right one? I didn’t know what happened.”

“Yes, the first time the one I wanted to hide appeared immediately which set off my feelings of failure and inadequacy. The next time the first few memories were okay but then the one I wanted to hide popped up causing me to panic and suddenly remember I was supposed to be hiding it, which led to memories of that feeling instead. I’m not sure what I am doing wrong.”

He scowled, “At least you managed to clear your mind. Try on me again.”

A memory of his mother showing him a levitation charm, his father ruffling his hair, finding an interesting rock with a vein of shiny red running through it, a smiling Lily showing him her Hogwarts letter, then he was filled with shame and a feeling of failure as Lily walked off after taking offence at him calling her a witch. Hermione pulled out.

Snape said with gritted teeth, “I see what you mean.”

“I think we should try hiding a series of memories, I’m going to try to keep all of my happy memories about Viktor a secret, and even if you see one and my thoughts go off track you should try to force it back to see more. Do you think?”

“I think perhaps if we choose memories we don’t want the other person to see the additional motivation to hide them might help.”

“I did. Even though they are happy memories I’d rather not share them.”

“Really? Why do you care if I see you with your boyfriend?”

“It’s not that he was my boyfriend, but that ball is the only time in my life that I’ve ever been vain and frivolous, I’m not usually very girly, I find it a bit embarrassing.”

“Oh, okay then.”

The next attempt was better, he saw Viktor asking her to the ball again, which redirected to feelings of failure and Professor McGonagall was looking surprised when Hermione didn’t immediately grasp something in Transfiguration, and then she was forced back to happy memories. Hermione immediately thought of opening presents, she received her chemistry set again, then she was unwrapping a beautiful copy of Aesop’s Fables, her first Weasley jumper, the lovely watch her mother had given her, Viktor was giving her a beautiful black quill, then he was gifting her a conjured flower in the rose garden outside the ball, Professor Snape was criticising her for giving a word perfect textbook answer. Snape withdrew.

“Why was I taking points from you? The answer you gave was correct!”

Hermione giggled at his outrage on her behalf, it was funny to think of his younger self not approving of his behaviour. “He was impossible. If I gave a thorough answer he’d criticise me for being pedantic, if I tried to keep it simple he’d say my answer was incomplete, I realised there was no pleasing him but if I didn’t put my hand up he’d accuse me of not having done the reading and if I admitted to knowing the answer he’d take points off for not raising my hand. I did tell you he didn’t like me.”

“I thought you respected him though, how could you when he treated you like that?”

“He was a spy, he could hardly have been nice to me even if he wanted to. Humiliating me was part of his evil Death Eater act, it was difficult at first but once I understood that I even found it a bit amusing at times.”

“I feel like you should hate me, and instead here you are being nothing but helpful.”

“I never hated Professor Snape, but even if I had I wouldn’t hate you for the things he did. I’m trying very hard to think of everyone the way they are now and not how they turned out in my future. You haven’t done any of those things, and even the Marauders… I can get revenge on them for the things they’ve already done, but I’m not going to punish them for things they might never do if the future is different.”

“What did they do?”’

“Another time. It’s your turn, get ready.”

They continued practicing until both of their heads were aching, Hermione pulled a vial of headache relief from her beaded bag for each of them while noting she’d need to replenish her potions stores at some point. They chatted for a while and made plans to speak to Slughorn later in the week then left the room. Hermione headed back towards Gryffindor tower and was nearly there when her watch buzzed and the four Marauders rushed past her in the direction she’d come from. She watched them go then sent a message to Snape via her watch to warn him they were coming after him. She had a feeling they must have noticed he was missing on their map and had probably been waiting for him to reappear. That was unfortunate, but they didn’t seem to realise she’d been with him at least, and she was pleased to know the watches worked.

Chapter Text

On Thursday they hung back after potions class and Hermione approached Professor Slughorn, “Excuse me sir? Mister Snape and I had an idea for a potion and we would like to make a time with you to use the classroom after hours to brew.”

 “Oh, Miss Granger? Yes of course, and Mister Snape. Ahh, I forgot you were the one who helped Madam Pomfrey when he was injured weren’t you? She said you’re interested in becoming a healer, and quite a natural at it. Have I talked to you about joining the Slug Club yet? Mister Snape here is already a member, quite an exceptional talent at potions, you couldn’t know it from the way he experiments in class but he’s quite good.”

“Oh yes thank you sir, I’d be glad to join. I’m aware of his talent already, we’ve been discussing Potions theory together and think we have quite a good idea.”

“Indeed yes, tell me what are the two of you going to be working on?”

“A treatment for Dragon Pox, we have a few ideas we’d like to try to see if we can come up with a stable brew.”

“Treatment for Dragon Pox? That’s very ambitious, very ambitious indeed. You do realise that most of the Potions masters in Britain are working on that very thing?”

Hermione shrugged, trying to appear modest despite knowing none of them would come up with anything. “We know, but I had an unusual idea and we think it might work. We’d like to try regardless.”

“Oh ho, an unusual idea. What are we thinking of?”

She smiled a little reluctantly at his enthusiasm, “As you know sir the recent outbreak of Dragon Pox is of a particularly strong strain which is resistant to the existing cure. I was thinking of the fact that dragons themselves are carriers of Dragon Pox but it doesn’t affect them very strongly, even when they get sick it’s never fatal. It’s hypothesized they have some innate property which protects them from it so I thought perhaps a potion which gives the drinker some of the properties of a dragon would allow them to resist the disease long enough for the cure to be effective. We want to try creating a variation on a strengthening potion which imbues the drinker with some degree of fire resistance while also increasing their internal body temperature.”

“That is an interesting idea Miss Granger, though I’m not sure why fire resistance and increased temperature would help?”

“I got the idea from muggle medicine sir. The purpose of a fever is to create an environment which is too warm for viruses to survive in, but too high of a fever can be dangerous to the person as well. With magic though we can increase a person’s temperature while imbuing them with fire resistance so they can withstand the higher temperature, and I think that will inhibit the disease.”

Slughorn’s eyes lit up, “Muggle medicine, really? I don’t know much about that but you certainly sound as though you know what you’re talking about. Do you have a recipe you plan to try first?”

Hermione eagerly showed him their research notes and the first few potion variations they planned to try out before they would come up with the proper recipe. Slughorn startled when Snape answered one of his questions, apparently Snape had been quiet for so long the Professor had forgotten he existed. In the end they gained full permission to use the lab every Thursday before dinner, and he happily approved their request for access to the store cupboard. They’d talked for so long that he ended up escorting them to the Great Hall.

Not long after she had settled in at the Gryffindor table Lily asked, “Hey Hermione, what were you doing with Professor Slughorn and Snape?”

“I was asking permission to work on an extra credit potions project.”

“With Snape?”

“Yes, we’re working on something together.”

“Really? What are you working on? I’m good at potions you know maybe I could help?”

Hermione was surprised, “Oh, umm, sorry. We’re keeping it to ourselves for the moment, we’ve already done a bit of research on it.”

“Maybe you could ask Snape, he probably wouldn’t mind.”

Hermione felt her heart racing suddenly, unsure. If they were really collaborating on a potions project she was sure Snape would jump at the idea of having Lily work on it with them, but they were working backwards from her future recipe. They could easily fool Slughorn by preparing their fake research notes and then presenting it to him but she wasn’t sure how well they would do keeping the truth from Lily if she was supposed to help them develop the recipe. She also just didn’t want to. Snape might be upset with her for refusing him this chance to spend time with Lily though. Was she just asking to be involved with this because she wanted to reconcile with him?

Hermione said hesitantly, “I’m sure you’re right, he probably wouldn’t mind but I would. Sorry, it’s just it was my idea originally and we’ve already done a lot of work on it, it’s a bit late now to bring in another person.”

Lily looked annoyed, “If it was your idea why would you choose to work with Snape in the first place? I didn’t even know the two of you were friendly.”

“We aren’t really, but we’re partnered in potions so we talk sometimes. We were talking about some ingredients, and he seemed really knowledgeable, so I asked him some questions and when I told him about my idea he went off and did some research, he was really detailed and thorough, I was impressed so I asked him to work with me and he agreed.”

“I’ve never noticed you talking, even in class.”

Hermione was finding the questioning annoying, but she kept her cool, “We don’t talk much, and only about potions. He’s not very friendly.”

Lily seemed pleased, “No he’s not. You should be careful, even just working with him. He is a Slytherin you know.”

Hermione nodded as though that were a perfectly sensible thing to say and went back to her dinner. Lily clearly didn’t like the idea of her being friendly with Snape. It was a bit uncomfortable, and she wondered what the other girl would say once they started dating. None of the Gryffindor’s would like the idea at all but Hermione didn’t regret the agreement. She was already pleased with their Occlumency lessons, and his work on the potion had been impeccable. It would be worthwhile no matter how ostracised she ended up being.

On Friday evening Hermione went with Lily and Marlene to the showers. She found it somewhat odd that girls would choose to bathe together rather than going on their own but Lavendar and Parvati had been the same, she found it easier to just go along when they asked. She’d just stepped under the spray in one of the cubicles when she felt her watch buzz and she froze. She tapped the screen to show the little version of the map and found the three dots which represented her and the other girls, and a maroon dot labelled ‘PP’ somewhere near the wall. Hermione’s brain stalled as she tried to think of what to do while they were all naked with one of the Marauders in the bathroom and decided that she had best pretend she hadn’t noticed anything. She couldn’t see anything so she quickly washed then wrapped herself in a towel and casually looked around the room.  

It took her a moment but eventually she saw it, there was a tile wall that ran around the edge of the bathroom above eye level and sitting on top of it peering into the showers was a rat. Peter Pettigrew was using his animagus form to spy on the girls as they showered. She looked away from him in case he noticed her as she tried to think of what to do. She waited until the other two were finished and then, pretending to just notice him she said, “Oh look a rat.”

Marlene squeaked while Lily spun around to see where she was looking. Peter scurried along the wall where he slipped through a crack in the tiles and disappeared.

Lily complained, “Gross.”

Hermione said nothing as she began a new plot against Peter Pettigrew.

On Saturday she met Snape in the Room of Requirement again. She knew the room was unplottable so they hadn’t showed up on the map at all, but she didn’t want the Marauders noticing their disappearance and deciding to investigate. She considered the problem as she paced back and forth in front of the empty stretch of wall and asked for a comfy sitting room that would be unplottable but would make them appear to be in their dormitories. When she entered, she pulled out the full version of the map and checked, happy to see that her dot now appeared to be in her bed in the girls dormitory. It wasn’t a perfect solution and it was possible they might find out at some point that their map was being tricked but they could hardly check the Slytherin dormitories to look for Snape and as long as he wasn’t disappearing there would be nothing for them to investigate.

She was prepared for Snape to have a lie in again so was surprised when he turned up not too long after she had. She checked the map again and then showed him, “Look, I asked the room to make us look as though we are still in our dormitories. I think the Marauders noticed last time that you weren’t on the map and they went chasing after you as soon as you appeared again. Now if they check they will just think you are spending the whole day in bed.”

“Of course, they have a map so they can follow my every movement in the castle. Thank you for thinking of it. This room is incredibly useful.”

“Yes, I love it, and I definitely don’t want them finding out about it. Before we get started on Occlumency today I have a few things we should talk about. Everyone saw us talking with Slughorn and Lily asked me about it, when I told her we were working on a potions project she asked me if she could assist us. I turned her down but I thought I ought to tell you.”

“Really? Lily knew you were working on something with me and she wanted to join us?”

“Yep.”

He scowled, “And you turned her down without even asking me?”

“Yep. It was rude of her to ask really, I told her we’d already made a lot of progress to which she said I should ask you as she was completely confident that you would immediately agree to her joining, as though my opinion of the matter is entirely irrelevant. I thought she was probably correct and that you would let her join just like that but I’m not prepared to. Our potion is going to be revolutionary and I’m not willing to share credit just so you can hang out with a girl who doesn’t even like you. It is promising that she wanted to though, we just need to find another way for her to hang out with us. If you can think of something let me know and I will invite her.”

He stared for a moment then asked slowly, “Do you not want me to be friends with Lily?”

Hermione pursed her lips, “Honestly? Not particularly. I said I would help you reestablish your relationship with her and I will but not if it is counter to my other goals.”

“Alright, is that all?”

“No, we also need to talk about our agreement about getting revenge against the Marauders. Something happened last night and I’ve changed my mind about-“

“What? Black did something nice and now you feel bad about trying to get him expelled?”

“No of course not. Pettigrew did something bad and I reassessed my stance on not punishing him and Lupin. I was hesitant before because I didn’t want to hurt them for things they haven’t done yet and I felt I might be a bit excessive, particularly in Pettigrew’s case, and Lupin is going to have a hard life as it is. Last night though I found out that Pettigrew uses his Animagus form to spy on girls in the showers and I got to thinking about how terrible they all already are and decided there’s no sparing any-”

“Pettigrew is an animagus? That cowardly little shit is terrible at Transfiguration how can he be an animagus?”

“Oh. I guess I forgot to mention before? All three of them are animagi, they transform every full moon so they can hang out with Lupin while he’s wolfing out.”

Snape stared at her, his eyes glittering dangerously. He said in a quietly menacing voice, much like the Professor Snape of her future, “You didn’t think to tell me this earlier? They are all animagi? They can’t be registered, we could have them all expelled just for that.”

“It’s not that simple. I looked up the rules as I was curious about registration and you have a month from your first transformation to inform the Ministry. I thought that if I became an Animagus I wouldn’t register, stupid to give up valuable information like that when you can simply run around as you please and if you get caught just say, ‘Oh, I only learnt to do that last week, I definitely haven’t been running around as an illegal animal for years without registering’. One witness is not sufficient to establish a pattern so you need multiple people to be aware of it and then for enough time to pass without the person registering, and even then the Auror’s are as likely to question you as to why you didn’t report this person the first time you saw them, even though it wasn’t illegal at that point and being summoned in for questioning has tipped them off to the issue and now they’ve registered.”

“I see you’ve thought about this a lot.”

She smirked, “I blackmailed someone about their failure to register. I’m pretty familiar with how it works.”

“Right, so Pettigrew is a rat?”

“Yes, the other two are bigger but obviously Pettigrew can crawl around in some pretty tight spaces, I’m guessing spying on girls in the bathroom is not the only thing he uses it for. Potter is a stag and Black is a large black dog, I doubt you’ll see them. The watch will alert you if Pettigrew is around but if it happens pretend you haven’t seen him. I have a plan.” Hermione grinned wickedly to herself but refused to explain, she wasn’t quite sure how it would work out exactly and didn’t want to tell him until she’d nailed down some more of the details.

Snape had written to his mother about their struggles with Occlumency and she’d sent them some visualisation exercises to try. Apparently the real trick to it was to make it so you couldn’t recall the memories you were tyring to hide at all, Eileen had been taught to imagine a lake in her mind and she would sink any memories she wanted to hide under the water, and only memories outside of the lake would be accessible while the others were submerged. Snape did really well with the lake visualisation but Hermione struggled, it felt like she had to keep pushing the memories down and if she focused on that it seemed as though he could almost follow her and fish them out.

As predicted, Snape was much better at all of it than she was, and Hermione hated it. She tried really hard to keep trying though, and to not get frustrated over it. It was something she wasn’t used to, her friends before had been more skilled than her in some areas but it was usually things she didn’t care about, like flying. Although she had hated how much better Ron was at chess. Everyone thought she should be good at chess, but she was hopeless and she didn’t know why. It made her feel stupid. Occlumency made her feel stupid. When she wasn’t busy feeling stupid, she was feeling awfully sorry for Snape.

He was good at hiding his memories but she still spent time poking around in his head and even his happy memories were kind of sad and troubling. She watched his mother sit and comfort him after he’d been belted, and that was a happy memory because his father had gone off to the pub so his mother had soothed him instead of running off to comfort her useless husband. His happiest memories were all to do with Lily, playing on the swings with her, the time they’d built a snowman together, little gifts she’d given him, but Hermione also found their relationship troubling. Lily often made him feel bad about himself, in the younger memories it seemed unconsciously done but the later memories of her from Hogwarts had something uncomfortable about them that made her think the other witch was deliberately toying with him. She kept her thoughts to herself though.

Snape was less inclined to keep quiet about his opinions on her friends. He’d focused on memories relating to the Yule Ball so he’d watched the memories of Ron accusing her of lying about having a date, and his claims that Viktor was just using her. He did not have a very good impression of Ron from it and forced her to struggle through an explanation of what she’d ever seen in him. She knew Ron had his issues but he’d been a good friend, and she ended up in tears again as she defended him. Snape looked a bit abashed after that.

He’d managed to watch most of her memories of Viktor but there were a couple he hadn’t seen yet, she focused on submerging those completely and let him watch the other memories over and over. He eventually grew frustrated, “Do you even have any more memories with this bloke or are you just messing with me?”

She smiled at his frustration, he was doing far better than her at Legilimency so she wasn’t sure what right he had to complain. “I do have a couple more personal memories you haven’t managed to pull yet.”

“What’s the point of this though? Surely if I were really trying to Legilimise someone I’d have some idea what I’m looking for.”

“Would you? Imagine you are looking for information about Viktor and you know that I have a relationship with him but you aren’t sure how close we are or what he might have told me. You’re looking for memories of him without knowing exactly what you’ll find.”

He considered for a moment then said, “You’ve kissed him, haven’t you? Is that what you want me to see?”

“I don’t want you to see it, which is why I’ve managed to hide it so well up until this point. There’s another conversation you haven’t come across as well.” She mused, “Probably because they aren’t exactly happy memories. Your mum didn’t give any tips about Legilimency though, did she?”

“No. I will write her again and see if she’s more forthcoming about that but I’m not sure if she will be.”

“Well, we’ll just have to keep trying and see if we can figure it out ourselves then.”

He nodded and then entered her mind again. He managed to watch a few of her memories from the ball again, and then he sent a wave of arousal to her and they were suddenly in a new memory that had nothing to do with Viktor Krum. She was in her four-poster bed, silencing charms around her, as she plunged her fingers into herself while tweaking her own nipple, moaning slightly. He pulled out instantly, saying, “Sorry, that wasn’t what I expected.”

She might have been annoyed at him for invading her privacy like that but he looked so embarrassed that it softened her temper. His whole face was bright red and he was avoiding her gaze. She laughed, “I don’t have any memories of Viktor with that kind of feeling. Just for future reference.”

“I thought you said he kissed you though?”

“Yes, and it was a nice kiss, but it wasn’t very sexy. Really, I was more anxious and nervous than anything else, especially since Professor Snape was going around blasting rose bushes and handing out detentions all night.”

“Oh of course he was. I can’t get a girlfriend so he wouldn’t want anyone else to have one either.”

Hermione giggled, “He wasn’t a fan of Valentine’s day either. Also, excuse me but you do have a girlfriend.”

He rolled his eyes, “A real one.”

“You could probably get a real girlfriend if you weren’t too busy being obsessed with Lily.”

“I don’t think that’s true. You’re the only girl at this school crazy enough to be seen associating with me.”

Hermione winced at the inherent dismissal of the idea of her having potential as a real girlfriend. She said snippily, “Well, I’m sure you can find someone after we graduate.”

When she took her turn at Legilimising him she couldn’t get anything from him other than embarrassment. He couldn’t seem to clear his emotions from what he’d seen so his mind was showing her times he’d felt embarrassed, mostly times he’d been insulted for his greasy hair, shabby robes, his big nose. She saw him wake up to find a sticky mess in his nightshirt. He shoved her out of his mind. Hermione sighed, “I’m not getting the hang of this at all. I find it so hard to redirect you, especially when you haven’t cleared your mind properly.”

By the time they stopped he had managed to pull both her remaining memories of Viktor, watching him kiss her softly in the rose garden and when he had said goodbye, reiterating his invitation to visit Bulgaria over the summer, but she wasn’t having any more luck. It didn’t help that Snape was very smug over his own success, she found herself feeling very sour by the end of the day but forced herself to say a polite goodbye regardless.

Chapter Text

Snape had insisted that they wouldn’t start dating until they’d acquired the Fidelity charm, he was quite paranoid about the whole thing, but Hermione didn’t see much point in arguing about it. The first Hogsmeade weekend for the year was on the Halloween weekend and they planned to meet up quietly then sneak out to Diagon Alley together.

The Friday of the Hogsmeade weekend Black was flirting with her as they waited for Professor McGonagall to arrive for Transfiguration and proclaimed loudly, “Come on Granger, accompany me to Hogsmeade on Sunday. Double date with James and Lily it’ll be fun. Isn’t that what you’ve been angling for all along?”

Hermione stared at him, she was so sick of him asking her out. People spent so much time falling at his feet that he really couldn’t grasp the concept that she was just not interested. She said primly, “I’m not going to go to Hogsmeade with you, stop asking Black.”

He didn’t look daunted at all. “I’ll buy you something, a nice book you can cosy up by the fire and read it when we all get back. We’ll have lovely warm butterbeers and go to see the Shrieking Shack, don’t worry I’ll protect you from all the ghosties.”

“Or I could save my self the trouble and go to the library then stop by to say hello to Sir Nicholas by myself. Thanks, but no thanks.”

“You’re just going to stay in the castle? You can’t! Hogsmeade is an experience Granger you’ve got to go see it.”

Lily smiled brightly, “Yeah Hermione you should really come. It’ll be fun I promise.”

Hermione was beginning to feel very annoyed. How many times could a person say no to something before these people would get the picture? “I’m sorry Lily I already have plans.”

Black exclaimed dramatically, “Ack, you wound me. Tell me you aren’t already going with someone else?”

She gave him the look she used to use on Ronald to inform him when he was being an absolute dunderhead.

“Who are you going with?”

Snape’s voice from across the hallway said silkily, “She’s going with me.”

They all went ominously still. Black turned to face Snape who was casually leaning against the wall as though he didn’t have a care in the world. “You? What did you threaten to murder her family unless she went along with you?”

Lily sounded a little shaky as she asked quietly, “It’s not a date though, right?”

Hermione said no at the same time as Snape said yes. Their eyes met and though his face was still mostly impassive she could see a brief flare of panic in his eyes, and his cheeks pinked. Sirius Black threw his head back and laughed. Hermione raised an eyebrow at Snape and said, “Is that really how you ask a girl out Snape? I thought we were just going to the Apothecary to look at ingredients.”

“You like the Apothecary.”

“I do, but that isn’t a date. You’ll have to take me to the Three Broomsticks or Madam Puddifoots.”

“I am not going to that horrendous tea place. You’ll have to settle for butterbeer.”

Hermione smirked at him, “Fine, it’s a date then.”

Snape rolled his eyes and relaxed again, he was still leaning against the stone wall but he’d tensed up during the conversation. His black eyes watched her from behind a curtain of oily hair. He was such an odd mixture of ugly and appealing in that moment, his relaxed stance was so calculated, prepared to spring into action at any moment, but it still made him seem powerful and confident. There was no hint of anxiety to his expression now, it had been very brief. She was sure he hadn’t planned to say it like that in front of everyone. He knew what the others would be thinking about him, their surprise that she would agree to a date with him was palpable.

Lily grabbed her elbow and whispered in her ear, “You do realise you just committed social suicide, don’t you?”

Hermione looked at the other girl knowing that Lily, who was embarrassed for people to know she had even been friends with Snape, would never understand that Hermione just didn’t care what others thought of her. She shrugged and said nonchalantly, “Sure, why not?”

“You’re crazy! Snape is… he’s evil. Why would you even want to go out with him? Sirius is genuinely really interested in you; you’re just going to throw that away?”

Hermione said sweetly, “Lily, do you mean that? I’m throwing away the chance to be Sirius Black’s fourth favourite girlfriend?”

Lily snorted, “Well yeah but maybe he’d settle down with someone more serious?”

Hermione gave the other girl a look that indicated just how unlikely she thought that was.

Transfiguration began and she held her head high ignoring the speculative looks the others were all giving her. After the class ended she waited for Snape, staring at him until he abandoned his Slytherin classmates to walk beside her on the way to the Great Hall. He looked very stern and serious and she couldn’t help but giggle. It reminded her too much of Professor Snape and the idea that she was going on a date to Hogsmeade with him was suddenly hilarious. He glared at her which didn’t help matters at all and when she continued to giggle he suddenly gave in to the amusement with a slight quirk of his lips.

“You know I just about had a heart attack when you said no.”

“I know. You were so insistent about waiting until after though, I was surprised.”

He mumbled, “Sorry, I panicked.”

“Did you? Why?”

“I didn’t like the way Black was pestering you.”

“No, neither did I. He just cannot get it into his thick skull that I don’t like him. It’s very annoying. Anyway, I think it’s probably for the best this way, he would have been interested to find out who I was going with and if we weren’t open about it he’d assume we were ashamed or something.”

“Everyone assumes you are ashamed anyway. I basically just forced you to admit it.” He continued quietly, “What did Lily say?”

“She told me I’d committed social suicide and that she couldn’t understand why I would do such a thing, particularly considering I could have gone out with Sirius Black, god’s gift to women, but turned him down to go look at stinky ingredients with you.”

Snape snorted but he looked a bit sad. Hermione bumped his shoulder which she meant to be comforting but just seemed to startle him. They parted in the Great Hall to head to their House tables for lunch and she said cheerfully, “Bye Snape.” He merely inclined his head in return and swept off, in his school robes he couldn’t quite manage to billow but he was still impressive. No-one spoke to her at lunch, though their looks spoke volumes. She happily ignored them. Having a fake boyfriend was turning out to be kind of fun.

The following day was Saturday, and rather than meet in the Room of Requirement as they usually would they’d gone to the Transfiguration courtyard. Hermione was usually careful to only leave the room once the boys had left the common room so they wouldn’t know she’d tricked their map somehow but now that she was of more interest to them she worried they’d figure it out. Although Crookshanks did his best to guard against Scabbers there was a risk that even with the rooms trick of showing her in her dormitory he might figure it out. Plus, now that they were dating they should be seen publicly together.

When Snape arrived she smiled at him, “You caused quite a stir with your little stunt yesterday. Jorkins came up to me at dinner to ask if I’m under the Imperius curse, as though I’d just tell her if I were.”

Snape looked slightly hurt for a moment, but he recovered quickly, “Mulciber asked me if I’d put you under the Imperius, as though I’d admit it if I had.”

Hermione laughed, “They are all being so silly. The girls gave me quite a talking to last night and Lily went on and on about you calling her a Mudblood, implying that my associating with you was practically a declaration of loyalty to the Dark Lord.”

“What did you say?”

“I reminded her that you’d apologised for it, that you only ever said it once, and that calling someone a bad name one time is not the equivalent of joining a terrorist organisation with an aim towards torturing and murdering muggles. I told her that if you did join up, I wouldn’t go out with you anymore though so just keep that in mind.”

“Right, refrain from joining any terrorist organisations so that my fake girlfriend won’t break up with me. Got it.”

“The good news is that she seemed thoughtful by the end of the discussion, I told her that I didn’t think it was fair to write you off for something you hadn’t done yet and I think she might have listened to that. I wouldn’t be surprised if she starts talking to you again.”

He nodded stiffly, “Thank you.” They sat in silence for a bit, until he asked, “What do I do then?”

“Huh?”

“How do you make someone like you?

“You don’t. Find someone who likes you the way you are, trying to make someone like you means pretending to be someone you aren’t. It’s not worth it.”

He rolled his eyes, “Yes, you have moral objections, you’re a bleeding-heart Gryffindor and would never try to manipulate anyone unless it was for their own good. Spare me, I’m a Slytherin now answer the question.”

“Fine. Well to start with people are all unique individuals who want different things. If there were a universal approach everyone would know about it already. I’ve already told you I don’t think you could win Lily but if you’re going to try anyway, well…”

She paused for a second then said, “Let me tell you about my experience. I’ve had two boys show interest in me. You’ve already seen my memories of Viktor Krum. He was already famous at 17 because he was a professional Quidditch player, apparently the best seeker the league had ever seen. He had just competed in the world final, which his team lost, but the fact they placed second was attributed solely to his skill as a seeker. His team got thrashed in every match, he just managed to catch the snitch early enough for it to not matter. He had girls throwing themselves at him. You saw the way people would giggle and stare at him from the stacks until they grew loud enough for Madam Pince to throw them out of the library. He hated it. He ended up asking me to go to the ball because I told them off.”

“Right, I’m sure it wasn’t anything to do with the fact that you are attractive and intelligent.”

“I wasn’t then. That was when I was still a bushy haired, buck toothed, bookworm. Just before the ball Ron had his sudden epiphany that I was in fact a girl and could solve my friends datelessness and then didn’t believe me when I said I was already going with someone. I was so undesirable to him that he couldn’t imagine anyone would want to ask me. Viktor was interested in me because I treated him differently, he had all those girls fawning over him and he decided he wanted the one girl who didn’t act like that.”

“Right, and then Ron went from not realising you were a girl to being suddenly insanely jealous that someone else had noticed it.”

 “Yes, Ron was a different sort. We did end up dating much later, but Ron was only interested in me when he thought someone else wanted me. As long as I was just uselessly pining after him I was basically a non-entity.”

“He was a prat.”

She said fondly, “Oh he was. Anyway, the point is, I got Viktors interest by treating him differently to how others did, and I got Ron’s interest by having others interested in me, and I think those are two things you can do with Lily. She’s well aware of how pretty she is, and she gets a lot of compliments on it. I wouldn’t recommend insulting her looks, you don’t want to hurt her feelings but act as though you don’t care what she looks like, while complimenting her on other things. The other thing you’re already doing because you have me as a girlfriend now but be careful with it, you don’t want Lily realising you’d drop me like a hot potato the second she looked your way.”

He cocked his head, considering her for a moment, then nodded, “That does sound sensible. Differentiate myself and make myself seem desirable by attracting the attention of others. I suppose for Lily that would be not complimenting her for her looks but for her skills, what would that look like for you? Complimenting your looks rather than your brains and magical ability?”

She scowled, “Implying I’m not pretty enough to be complimented on my appearance? I know I’m tolerably pretty, well aside from the hair, but I’ve been hearing enough about my looks, particularly recently. It’s hard to find compliments about my appearance genuine though, especially when I’ve always spent so much time around much prettier girls. Someone telling me I look like a goddess while I’m standing next to Evans doesn’t seem particularly genuine.”

“You think Lily is prettier than you are?”

Hermione gave him a sceptical look, “You’re not going to try to convince me otherwise, surely. It’s fine, I’m prettier than I ever expected to be, I can assure you I wasn’t this promising when I was younger. I’m fine being the smart girl, I don’t need to win out on popularity or looks, and I do clean up nicely when I can be bothered to fix my hair.”

He asked seriously, “What’s wrong with your hair?”

“Are you kidding? It’s a crazy, bushy mess. If I spend ages dividing it up into sections after I wash it I end up with some nice looking curls but it’s so much effort, usually I just let it do what it wants and I get this poofy nest on my head. To really get it to look nice takes hours and about a bucket of Sleekeazy’s.”

He eyed it, “I don’t think it looks that bad but maybe I’m not the best judge, considering my own hair. Are you going to do something with it for our date tomorrow?”

“Hmmn, you don’t rate that much effort, sorry. I will wash it tonight and section some curls I suppose.”

He looked worried, “Wait, am I supposed to do something about my appearance?”

“No. Well, you should wash your hair as well but hopefully you don’t need me to tell you so.”

He rolled his eyes, “I do not.”

They practiced Occlumency after that, he had given up on looking for her memories of Viktor and was now obsessed with watching memories of himself from the future. When she was doing well at submerging things that resulted in a lot of listening to Harry and Ron insult their Professor and accuse him of all sorts of dastardly deeds. She wasn’t too worried about him seeing anything in particular, though she was careful to hide the memory of him bleeding out in the Shrieking Shack as she didn’t think it would be very pleasant for him to watch himself die. He did manage to tug up the memory of Professor Snape assigning them an essay about werewolves and calling her an insufferable know-it-all though.

He furrowed his brow, “I can’t believe he spoke to you like that.”

“I was being pretty annoying that day. He just wanted us to figure out that Professor Lupin is a werewolf, and it must have been difficult to work with him, not just with your personal history but after the boggart...”

 “What boggart?”

She sighed, “Professor Lupin had our class face a boggart and one of the students’ biggest fears was Professor Snape. The way to defeat a boggart is by making it look ridiculous so that everyone can laugh at it, which is a horrible thing to do to one of your colleagues.”

He scowled, “I know how to defeat a boggart Hermione, I’m not one of your idiot friends. What did they do?”

“Neville dressed the boggart in his grandmother’s dress, including a stupid looking vulture hat.” She laughed but she felt bad about it, “It was funny but it’s also awful and it spread all around the school after, I can’t imagine what that would have been like. It was so unprofessional. If the boggart had been a surprise it would have been one thing but Professor Lupin asked Neville what it would be and it was his idea to put it in a dress.”

“That’s surprising. I dislike Lupin but he hasn’t usually done much to me, I don’t think I would have expected that from him.”

“Yes, I think you were very opposed to his appointment, so he probably wasn’t very happy with you. You were brewing Wolfsbane for him though, which is a lot of extra work, and his only thanks was to humiliate you in front of the students. I didn’t blame you for being in a bad mood, and I should have just shut up and read the chapter on werewolves.”

He looked perplexed, “Hermione I don’t understand how you can be so nice about him all the time. He was always so horrible towards you and yet you were always defending him to your friends. I don’t get it.”

She chewed her lip for a moment, “Professor Snape didn’t like me, but why would he? I respected him more than my friends did because I could at least appreciate his intellect, and after our first year I believed him to be trustworthy, but isn’t that all the more reason for him to dislike me? If I’d really respected him I wouldn’t have… Okay so in my first year I thought he was trying to kill my friend so I lit him on fire, second year my friends caused an explosion in class so that I could steal boomslang skin from his stores to brew Polyjuice potion and-”

“Polyjuice as a second year? That’s advanced.”

“Thanks, but I put a cat hair in mine and ended up in the Hospital Wing, which just made even more work for Professor Snape since he had to consult with Madam Pomfrey to fix it. In third year we didn’t listen to him when he tried to tell us about Sirius Black trying to kill him, we hexed him into a wall and he lost an Order of Merlin because I illegally used my timeturner to rescue Sirius. Professor Snape was really angry and tried to accuse Harry of his escape, which was true, and we just sat there while the Headmaster made jokes about the situation while being perfectly well aware what had happened. It was unkind of him, especially in retrospect. After that I think I was a bit more tolerable but it’s not like he could suddenly start treating me any better, even if he’d wanted to. He was a spy after all.”

“You’re too forgiving, and I know it hurt your feelings.”

She smiled ruefully, “Of course it did. I’m sorry to say I don’t really think you are cut out for teaching, but you did make an excellent spy. I still find it rather funny that you get so offended on my behalf.”

 “I just don’t know how you can be so nice to me after my future self was such a bastard to you.”

“Professor Snape might have made a few nasty comments to me but after going through a war that’s honestly nothing compared to what I know real Death Eaters are capable of. He always tried to protect us. Even that day, he was trying to warn us about Professor Lupin in his own way. He spent his whole life working in the background to keep people safe while those same people derided and mistrusted him, but underneath it all he was a good man, and he did it all for no recognition or thanks, just because it was the right thing.” Thinking of how unfairly Professor Snape had been treated always upset her. She looked to Snape saying softly, “I know that you are a good person.”

He looked away then said awkwardly, “Thanks. You’re a very sufferable know-it-all.”

Hermione laughed, “Thanks, and I really am a know-it-all now that I know the future.” The silence turned awkward for a bit and Hermione decided a change of subject was due, “Can we talk about your hair?”

He tensed, “What about it?”

“You know what. Don’t be difficult. How often do you wash it?”

He scowled at her.

“I noticed it looked better on Sunday and Wednesday, do you only wash it twice per week?”

“I didn’t realise you were examining my hygiene habits.”

“Your hair is on my list of things to fix. Answer my questions, do you shower every day?”

 “I bathe-” he drew the word out as though she were an idiot “-twice per week.”

Hermione hesitated, “I feel like I’m missing something here. Why don’t you shower?”

He looked confused for a moment but then said, “Because there aren’t any showers?”

“The Slytherin bathroom doesn’t have showers? Oh, that makes sense I suppose, probably too modern for all the purebloods. That’s inconvenient.”

“Gryffindor has showers?”

“Yes. Hogwarts: A History said showers were added to the bathrooms in 1952 after a campaign to update the bathrooms by the Muggle Studies Professor of the time. It doesn’t specify that the Slytherin bathroom wasn’t included so I hadn’t realised. Well okay so you bathe twice per week but you really need to wash your hair more often. Couldn’t you just give it a quick wash in the sink?”

He looked annoyed, “It won’t help, do you really think I haven’t tried that? If I wash it every day the soap I use makes it look even worse.”

“Wait, you’re washing your hair with soap? Why don’t use shampoo?”

“Shampoo is expensive.”

Hermione stared at him. “This is another stupid Slytherin thing, right? You’re saying you don’t have shampoo dispensers in your bathroom?”

He looked annoyed, “You have showers and free shampoo?”

“Yes, and free body wash, conditioner, lotion, hand soap, and toothpaste. Each shower even has a different scent.”

“There is nothing in the Slytherin bathroom other than the plumbing. None of the other Slytherins would lower themselves to use free soap so they probably didn’t bother adding it. I suppose you’ll be willing to steal some shampoo for me?”

Hermione smirked, “Sure, would you like to smell of roses, frangipani, jasmine, or lilac?”

“Right, it would be girly shampoo, of course. Can’t you sneak into the boy’s bathroom?”

She said firmly, “I am not going in there. Ask the house elves, they probably supply the bathrooms anyway.”

He stood up, “Fine, I will see you tomorrow then.”

Hermione watched him walk off wondering if he was offended. She felt a little bad but really, no wonder his hair always looked so awful if he was washing his hair with soap.

Chapter Text

Their date at Hogsmeade did not exactly go to plan. While Snape had his meeting with Malfoy, Hermione wandered down a side alley to find a small camping store. When Snape had told her he couldn’t go home for Christmas she’d realised she didn’t have a home anymore either. There wasn’t much she could do about that but she did miss the tent. She hadn’t enjoyed living in the tent per se, but when they’d been at Grimmauld Place she had enjoyed the feeling of preparation, knowing that if they had to leave the house they would have the tent to fall back on. She wanted that again. They’d lost the tent when they were caught by snatchers, and unfortunately it turned out that magical tents were expensive. Even the small ones with tiny, cramped camp beds were pricey. She glared at the stickers, she could afford it, but she really didn’t want to risk a big expense with her money from the future, just in case it was traceable. She left the shop unsatisfied, wondering how difficult it would be to make her own magical tent.

She went to meet Snape at the Apothecary, which was not a popular destination for Hogwarts students on a Hogsmeade weekend so when the four Marauders followed him into the shop she knew it was a bad sign. They loitered around, being quite obvious about it. Snape tensed but there wasn’t anything to be done. They browsed the ingredients and picked out a few things which Slughorn didn’t have in the general store cupboard. They’d discussed the financial arrangements earlier that week while they were brewing and Hermione had finally convinced Snape to let her pay for everything, they had permission from Slughorn to use the more common ingredients from the store cupboard but anything specialised was expected to be funded by the students themselves. It really put the poorer students at a disadvantage when it came to extra credit projects.

Snape hadn’t wanted to accept but Hermione insisted it wasn’t charity, it was an investment. This potion was going to launch his career, the profits from this patent would fund them. They’d argued it back and forth until he agreed with her. Hermione deferred to his expertise, following him around and letting him choose whichever ingredients he thought somehow superior. She wasn’t sure what made one salamander skin better than another, or why he had sniffed a few blazeroots before discarding them until he found some that apparently smelt suitable. They made their purchases and left the shop, the Marauders trailing behind them, and Hermione realised those idiots were going to follow them around all day.

They’d planned to sneak off and apparate to Diagon Alley but clearly that wouldn’t be happening. From Snape’s scowl she guessed he’d figured it out as well. He was angrily marching down the road back towards the main street of the village and she hurried to catch up with him. When she did she grabbed his arm, looping hers through his elbow to slow him down. She whispered at him, “Slow down, your legs are stupidly long, and I can’t walk that fast. So far, you’re a very inconsiderate boyfriend.”

He drawled, “I didn’t realise having a girlfriend would be such an inconvenience. Must we walk at this snail’s pace?”

“Unless you plan to date an Amazon, I suspect you’ll have to get used to it.” She eyed him as they walked and said, “Your hair looks nice by the way.”

He eyed her, “Thank you, as does yours. I like your… thingy.” He was eyeing her headband but his expression was of distaste.

She reached a hand up to touch it, “You don’t like my headband?”

“It’s fine.”

Hermione felt a little panicked, “There’s nothing wrong with my hair, it looks nice today.”

He looked amused, “Exactly what I said.”

“You didn’t mean it though!”

“I did.”

“I’m so confused. What’s wrong with my hairband?”

“Nothing. It’s perfectly suitable.”

She touched it again, “Does it look stupid? It looks stupid, doesn’t it?”

“Hermione, I didn’t mean to send you into a panic. There isn’t anything wrong with your hairband.”

“Why did you look at it like that and call it a thingy then?”

He shrugged, still amused, “I didn’t know what to call it.”

“Oh, you’re a terrible boyfriend.”

 “Sorry. Where are we going, by the way?”

“There’s a small robe shop down one of these alleys. We won’t be able to get as far as we planned to, we’ll just have to make do with the local shops. We can go get your robes tailored and then browse around, we’ll go for a butterbeer, and head back to the castle early. If they are going to ruin our day we may as well ruin theirs as well.”

She’d brought two full sets of the school uniform and Harry’s bottle green dress robes to be tailored for him. She also insisted on purchasing a new Slytherin tie and several new pairs of socks for him. All of his clothing was decidedly shabby. He’d told her the tie he had was once his mothers from when she attended Hogwarts. He did his best with what he had, but he looked poor, especially compared to the Slytherin purebloods who always had the best of everything and prided themselves on their appearance.

The entire time they were shopping the Marauders hovered around making nasty comments, just loud enough to be overheard. They spent a lot of time criticising his looks, speculating about why she would go on a date with him (wanting to was obviously not on the list), and wondering how he had finally gotten the money to buy new robes. Snape ignored them completely, but it felt awful, it made her feel sick that the four of them would insult him like this when he wasn’t even doing anything. It was mostly Black and Potter, Lupin was quiet, and Pettigrew would occasionally chime in but mostly just laughed at the oh so clever quips from the others. The shopkeepers did cow them a little but it wasn’t enough.

They headed to the Three Broomsticks and found a table. It was still fairly early in the trip so there weren’t many students around, which unfortunately made it easy for the boys following them to snag a nearby table and continue their conversation, deliberately loud enough for them to overhear.

Black said, “There’s something fishy going on. No way Snivellus could pull a girl, no matter how much of a prissy bitch she might be.”

Pettigrew agreed, “Totally true Pads. What could she possibly see in him?”

Black grinned, “Perhaps she needs an unlimited supply of grease?”

The boys all snickered. Pettigrew said, “Or she really likes noses, his has to be the biggest in the whole school.”

Potter added, “Maybe she just likes doing charity work, she’s just taking visiting the poor to an all-new level.”

Hermione turned to look at him then, and she laughed legitimately. The idea that she could mock James Potter for insulting Severus Snape the same way she’d once mocked Draco Malfoy for insulting Ronald Weasley was oddly fitting. She asked, “Are you really insulting people for being born into poverty? Proud that you were born into generational wealth Potter, something any baby could have achieved?”

James looked flummoxed for a moment, and he recovered worse than Draco Malfoy had in her time. “He’s not a child anymore, he could buy his own robes.”

“Aww Potty do you buy your own robes? You don’t let mummy and daddy pay for them?”

“That’s- I mean, if I looked as shabby as Snivellus does I’d find a way to.”

Severus said with mock deference, “Oh, I’m sorry Lord Potter, shall we send all the poor children to work in the mines so as to not offend your delicate aesthetic sensibilities?”

Potter ignored him and asked, “Why are you defending him anyway Granger?”

“You mean why is a girl who wears second hand robes offended by some rich prat judging people for not having wealthy parents? Or any parents for that matter?” Hermione’s robes had been new when she purchased them for the start of her sixth year, but he didn’t need to know that.

He looked abashed, “I’m sorry I didn’t realise. Your robes look nice, not like Snivellus’.”

Hermione turned back to Snape and took a swig of her butterbeer but Sirius asked, sounding genuinely perplexed, “Seriously though, why are you going on a date with Snivellus of all people? Is it some kind of statement?”

“It really doesn’t occur to you that I just like him?”

“No.”

She shrugged, “I don’t have to justify my decisions to you, but if I did, I suppose I would say that he has more intelligence, creativity, and talent than all four of you combined. He’s clever, and funny, and a witty conversationalist. He’s also an incredibly powerful wizard, so powerful that all four of you can barely take him down, even when you ambush him.” She added cheekily, “Oh, and Peter was right... I like big noses.”

Peter choked slightly on his butterbeer. Sirius snarled, “He only wins duels against us because he’s into the Dark Arts, you think that’s attractive?”

“I’m not interested in learning Dark Arts personally, though if I had a group of bullies trying to murder me on my way back from Quidditch practice you can bet I’d learn anything I could to defend myself. I suppose you’re such a bastion of light and goodness that you’d just roll over and die instead?”

He scoffed, “We weren’t trying to murder him, it was just a bit of fun. He’s the one who always takes it too far with the nasty hexes.”

Snape sneered, “Yet the four of you did nearly murder me, that you can still describe it as a bit of fun is disconcerting.”

“You threw the first hex Snivellous, don’t blame us if you can’t handle the consequences.”

“Yes, so brave of all four of you to band together to kill me. Your heroism is boundless.”

Potter said conciliatorily, “We just wanted to have a chat, and you did throw the first hex.”

“Black drew his wand first, he would have started the fight if he weren’t so pathetically slow.”

Black said angrily, “You deserved it.” Then his tone turned amused, “I suppose you haven’t told Granger here what we were arguing about have you? I was surprised to hear you asked her out after telling us you had no interest in putting up with that bossy, nightmarish, harpy outside of class, and that she’s not attractive enough to make it worthwhile putting up with her shrill voice long enough to bed her.”

Hermione felt her stomach plummet, knowing he must have said it, or at least something close enough. The Marauders watched her obviously expecting her to react with anger but she wasn’t sure what to do. If Snape had really been her boyfriend she’d probably hex him, but he wasn’t. She hadn’t done anything to deserve his nastiness but they hadn’t really even been friends then. It would be different if he said something like that now. She did wish he’d warned her though.

When it became clear that Hermione wasn’t going to say anything Snape said offhandedly, “My opinion was misinformed, I revised it.”

Hermione eyed him but he didn’t look at her. Black said snidely, “Seriously Granger, he’s really got his hooks into you if you’ll let him insult you without hexing his bollocks off.”

Hermione opened her mouth though she had no idea what to say but Snape interjected, sounding bored, “I didn’t insult her, you did. I only said any of that to discourage you from pursuing her, Black, and you’re the one trying to hurt her with it now.”

“You said it though.”

Snape quirked an eyebrow, “Yes, and then I did exactly what I told you I wouldn’t and asked her out. Clearly, I meant every word.”

Black spat, “You’re a disgusting, lying pig.”

Snape looked amused, “Is that all?”

The four boys turned away from him in disgust, putting their heads together to talk quietly. Hermione let out a breath she hadn’t realised she was holding as the tension left her body. She looked at Snape, “Let’s go.”

He nodded and they abandoned their half finished butterbeers to return to Hogwarts.

He was quiet as they walked back and jumped into one of the Thestral drawn carriages. Once they’d settled in for the trip he said softly, “I’m sorry.”

She looked at him in surprise, “Are you?”

“They only harassed you like that because you were with me.”

She blinked, “You don’t have to apologise for that, it wasn’t your fault. Not apologising for insulting me though, are you?”

His fingers tapped rhythmically against the seat next to him as he gathered his thoughts before he smirked and said, “I suppose I should have told you that duel we fought where they nearly bloody killed me was about you, shouldn’t I?”

“Yeah I sort of gathered that, but why?”

“Hermione you have to understand, at that point you were just some weird girl who I sat with in potions. When Black implies that I’m sniffing after you what am I supposed to say? I knew there’s no way you’d ever be interested in me romantically, I’m not daft, so the easiest thing to do is to pretend disinterest, especially when he tells me I might be able to have you once he’s done with you.”

She shuddered at the idea of Black being done with her, but his thinking that way hardly surprised. “Did you really have to call me a nightmare though?”

“I didn’t think it would matter. Even if you heard what I’d said why would you care when it was the greasy git who said it? At the time I can assure you I had no idea we’d end up on a fake date in Hogsmeade together.”

Hermione laughed, but said seriously, “It’s still a hurtful thing to say, and I had been trying to befriend you.”

He hunched, and he looked younger than his 17 years as he said, “I know, I’m sorry. I just hate the way things they say. If I even look at a girl I’m being creepy, and everyone is quite eager to assure me of the exact degree of their disinterest in me, even if I was never interested in the first place! That’s why I refused to speak to you at first, because even a polite hello and suddenly I’d be accused of stalking you. I didn’t mean it.”

She sighed, “Your insults always hurt because they’re accurate. I am bossy, and shrill.”

His lips quirked, “And a harpy? Your wings are very well hidden.”

She pouted, “That’s not funny.”

“I like that you’re bossy, it’s nice not to have to worry what you’re thinking because you’ll just tell me. You are a little shrill, but nobody is perfect.”

“It’s hardly fair when you have such a lovely voice.”

He flushed slightly, “My one redeeming quality. Black has suggested on occasion that I might be able to get a date with a blind girl.”

“Maybe if you didn’t insult every girl you talk to pre-emptively, you’d have better luck.”

“Perhaps. I’m still more sorry for making you a target. Lily was right that associating with me will just see you scorned.”

She said fiercely, “No! You cannot apologise for that. If people are going to scorn me for associating with you then they are welcome to do so. You haven’t done anything to deserve the way those boys treat you. They are just awful! Gah, I can’t believe them. Imagine if it had been a real date, having them follow you around like that the whole time would have completely ruined it. At least I could spend the whole time refining my plans for revenge.”

“It’s kind of you to say so but I fear you’ll regret it when the whole school is against you.”

“I will not. You’re my friend, the only one I have now. I would rather be friends with only you than friends with everyone else. The only people with regrets in the end will be them when I ruin their lives.”

His dark expression cleared, and he chuckled. “How is the planning coming along then?”

“Excellent, I’ve had a new idea even. I was thinking that if Sirius wants to ruin your dates, then it’s only fair if we ruin his as well.”

“How are we to accomplish that?”

“I don’t know exactly, we may need to do some research, but I have this interesting book…” She pulled her beaded bag out and summoned a book from it, it was one she’d taken from Grimmauld Place written by an ancient Black witch who was definitely a bit on the darker side, it was called ‘Mending your Marriage’. The innocent sounding title had been enough to save it from the Dark Arts purge when the Order had trawled through the library, but the book itself was all about controlling and punishing husbands for poor behaviour. Hermione moved over to sit next to Snape so they could flick through it together.

“I don’t know if you’re aware of this but Black is currently seeing three witches regularly, and even that didn’t stop him from asking me out, the disgusting pig. I remember flicking through this and seeing several options for preventing your wizard from straying. I’m hoping we can adapt one of these to cause him some difficulties.”

It was mostly spells for punishing wandering wizards, including some quite dark spells and potions for dealing with unwanted bastard children, but she paused over a variation on an impotence potion which described itself as causing a ‘wilting of desire upon the touch of any other’.

“Do you think you could brew this?”

Snape read over the ingredients, “We’d need to purchase doxy eggs, they won’t be in the common stores, but we could get everything else. It’s not an expensive brew, and the dosage is quite small, but it only lasts a few hours. I don’t know how you would get him to drink it with the right timing and he’s sure to become suspicious.”

“Yes, I’d prefer if it lasted a bit longer but it won’t matter if the potion only affects him sporadically. He won’t be able to figure out how I’m dosing him.”

Snape stilled, “You know how they slip us potions?”

“What?”

“The Marauders. They have been slipping potions into the Slytherin drinks for a couple of years but we could never prove it was them, Professor Slughorn has investigated but it’s always assumed it must have been another Slytherin student since none of them came anywhere near our table, but I know it was them! We’ve never been able to prove it.”

He looked like he expected that she wouldn’t believe him, as she was sure Lily, and evidently the Professors, hadn’t before her, but she could easily believe they would do such a thing. It was just a matter of how… she’d have to think on it.

“No, I don’t know how they would have managed that sorry. Unless it’s just the invisibility cloak but I doubt that would have been too successful, it would be hard to slip something into someone’s drink without bumping anyone. I’m planning to break into their dorm and dose their food stash.”

He blinked, “If they are all affected they’ll figure it out pretty quickly though, won’t they?”

Hermione smiled, “How would they figure it out though? Pettigrew and Lupin are both hopelessly single, so the only other person who could be affected is Potter, but if we use Lily’s hair in the potion…”

“Huh. Yes, they won’t realise they’ve all been dosed.”

“Exactly, and Black won’t know he’s been dosed until he’s suffering the effects so to speak, the potion has no immediate impact.”

“Brilliant. Can I borrow this? I will look over it and see if I can improve the duration, it should be possible… How will we get the Doxy eggs though? Could you not have thought of this before we visited the Apothecary?”

“The house elves are responsible for pest management. Our Hogsmeade date was ruined but we should still try to enjoy our day, let’s stop by the kitchens and see if the elves will prepare a picnic for us and you can ask them if they could give us some Doxy eggs, then we can go hang out by the lake for the rest of the afternoon.”

“A picnic? Really?”

“Yes, a picnic. It’s romantic, and you don’t want them to think they won by making us give up on our date entirely. You need to get out of the dungeons anyway and get some sun.”

“I feel very hen pecked and we’ve only been dating for an hour.”

Hermione just laughed.

They spent the afternoon according to her plan, she showed him the kitchens, letting him know it wasn’t against the rules to go down there. The Hufflepuffs were told exactly where the kitchens were and frequently visited with the elves, for some reason the other houses weren’t given the same information but were welcome to visit if they found out about it. The elves happily prepared a picnic basket for them but hesitated over the request for Doxy eggs. They usually gave all of them to Slughorn but Snape asked a few questions and then told the house elves that Slughorn wasn’t expecting any particular amount of eggs just whatever the elves managed to scrounge up, so he wouldn’t be disappointed not to receive eggs he didn’t know about. That was convincing enough for them to agree to send some to Snape the next time they located a Doxy next.

They spent the rest of the afternoon lounging by the lake, Hermione conjured some bluebell flames to keep them warm as it was getting a bit chilly but the sun was lovely. Snape looked over the new potion recipe and scratched out a few potential variations he wanted to try, occasionally passing his ideas over to Hermione for her to do some quick arithmancy to check the viability of his ideas. She knew he was quite adept at arithmancy himself, just not quite at her level, and she was very pleased that he was willing to admit that and ask for her input.

She also talked to him about house elf rights, even admitting to her poorly thought out approach the first time around. He laughed hysterically when she told him about S.P.E.W. but it felt less mean spirited than when Harry and Ron had laughed at her idea originally, probably because she was far enough removed from the mistake to see how silly she’d been. She explained that she didn’t regret the idea, just the way it was executed. She still thought it was ridiculous how everyone could just blindly say that house elves liked being enslaved. He didn’t know very much about them, his mother had told him a little but he’d never met one until she’d taken him to the kitchens. He seemed to take her opinions on them seriously though, he wasn’t exactly jumping up and down to lead the house elf revolution, but he was at least listening to her. It was nice. He did look a bit bored though so she kindly suggested they read for a bit, and he happily agreed.

A while later she looked up to observe Snape, who was sprawled out on the blanket with a cushioning charm propping him up so he could read. She looked him over consideringly, it was still so odd to remember Professor Snape. She usually thought of them as being totally different people, because his personality wasn’t anything like the man she once knew. It made her feel sad though sometimes because she knew that her Professor had once been this boy, and all of the horrible things that had befallen him in his life had turned him into that miserable man. She felt as though they were really friends now, they usually only talked about their schoolwork, and occasionally complained about other students, particularly the Marauders, but they couldn’t help getting to know each other quite well through their Occlumency lessons. She liked him.

She also found herself considering his looks. He’d certainly never be called handsome, but she did think he could be attractive. His nose was quite beaky, but the rest of his features weren’t entirely unfortunate. She thought she might describe him as striking, there was an intensity to his expressions which was equal parts exhilarating and terrifying. He was thin and lanky but not unhealthily the way his older self had been towards the end of his life, but she personally preferred that to a bulky frame. Now that he was using shampoo, and with the new robes she’d had tailored for him in the village, he didn’t look too bad. His teeth though…

Her perusal was interrupted by him catching her eye, he sardonically raised an eyebrow and asked, “Is there a reason you are staring at me?”

She blushed a little about being caught but said quickly, “I was just thinking about the progress of your makeover.”

“Oh? And how is that going in your opinion? Am I handsome yet?”

She chuckled, “I think it’s going quite well, but I was just wondering about your teeth.”

“Ahh yes do you have some miraculous future treatment to fix them?”

“Not exactly. As far as I can tell there haven’t been any advancements in magical dentistry for a depressingly long time. I had an idea but it’s a very crazy, experimental, maybe won’t work and you’d be insane to let me try it kind of idea. Very Gryffindor.”

“Wow, you are really selling it.”

“I don’t know if you’ve looked into it much, I did when I was younger because I had buck teeth and wanted to have them fixed, my parents were dentists though and they didn’t like the idea of using magic for it. I did a bit of research into magical dentistry to prove to them that it was perfectly safe, effective, and normal, only to find out that it really isn’t any of those things. My issue just required a permanent shrinking charm which is easy enough, but for misaligned teeth or jaw issues they use transfiguration. That can go really well, or it can go really poorly, depending on the skill of the practitioner, and even the best healers have been known to make mistakes and it’s not always easy to revert when something does go wrong.

“I didn’t understand why it had to be so complicated, we can regrow bones can’t we? It turns out some healers had exactly that idea, they plucked out people’s teeth and regrew them only to find that the teeth grow back the same way they did originally, sometimes even worse. I thought though, that in theory, you could combine that with the muggle method of braces. I don’t know if you know much about it but muggles glue bits of metal onto your teeth then wire it all together and then they tighten the wires in particular ways to encourage the teeth to slowly move into the correct position. It’s painful, takes a long time, and requires a lot of trips to the dentist for adjustments.”

“I did see a dentist as a child, they recommended braces but- my ma didn’t like the idea.”

She knew he was really saying they couldn’t have afforded it. Braces were expensive. “Your future self obviously had his teeth fixed somehow, they were still a bit crooked but not as bad as yours are, but I’m guessing he had them transfigured. I don’t think that’s worth bothering with. I have two options for you, the first is muggle braces. I would loan you the money for it and you’d just have to glamour them so no-one notices. That would probably take about two years though.”

“Right, and the other option? The crazy experimental one?”

“Yes that. Well first we would take a mould of your teeth to see how they’ve grown, then I’d analyse that a bit to see how they should have grown and we’d make a kind of magical retainer in the shape we want your teeth to end up. Next, we would pull all of your teeth, feed you some Skele-Gro, and affix the retainer as a guide so that the teeth would grow back in the correct position. I know it sounds crazy but I can’t think of any reason it wouldn’t work.”

He laughed, “Granger it really sounds like you just want to torture me. You’re going to pluck out my teeth?”

“All dentistry sounds like torture but I’d put you to sleep first, obviously. Also, I’m not honestly sure how I feel about implementing this, when I came up with the theory I wasn’t really expecting to one day be offering to pluck out someone’s teeth, but if you want me to try it I will. It is going to hurt though, as I’m sure you are aware you can’t have pain potions with Skele-Gro.”

“Hmmn, let me think about it and I’ll get back to you.”

“Sure, let me know. If you do want to do it though I think the Christmas break would be the best time, the infirmary won’t be too busy in case anything goes wrong, and you’ll have plenty of time to heal up.”

“I shall consider it.”

He picked up his book again. She bit her lip considering the other topic she wanted to talk about. He looked at her, “Was there something else?”

“Yes, I wanted to ask… have you ever kissed anyone?”

He went rigid and the faintest tinge of a blush hit his cheeks, “I have not. Why do you ask?”

“Well, I was thinking about us being a couple now, we had discussed snogging but…” she trailed off not sure how to say it.

“You don’t wish to, that’s fine I understand.”

“No, it’s not that. I just realised that you probably hadn’t been on a date before, and it occurred to me you might not have kissed anyone, and I wondered if that would be okay with you to have your first kiss with me even though we’re… you know.”

“Oh.” He looked away and his cheeks reddened further, “That would be fine with me. If you are amenable, then I would be grateful for the practice.”

Hermione smiled brightly, “Okay then, that’s great. I was thinking that Slughorn has that party coming up and maybe we could try to sneak off, the Marauders are sure to follow us so we’ll probably have to be ready with shield charms, but that’s the goal, right?”

“Right.”

“If you wanted to, erm, practice beforehand though we could do that in the room next time we meet. That’s if you’d rather try for the first time without an audience and the imminent threat of being hexed.”

He looked rather uncomfortable with the idea and she couldn’t tell if he was reluctant to kiss her or if it was just nerves. She decided she wouldn’t bring it up again in case he really didn’t want to and just wasn’t comfortable saying so. They sat together reading until it was time to head back inside for dinner.

Chapter Text

The next morning James Potter abandoned his friends to slide in next to her at breakfast. “Hey Hermione, how are you today?”

She bristled, they were not on a first names basis, “Good thanks Potter, how are you?”

“Good, listen, I just want you to know we were worried about you. I know we got a little carried away yesterday but we genuinely wanted to keep an eye out for you. Snape can get pretty nasty and we wouldn’t put it past him to try to drag you off somewhere. I am sorry for handling it poorly but you should seriously reconsider associating with him, it’s not safe, you’d be better off staying away from him in the future.”

“Thanks for your concern but I can look after myself, so I’d prefer if you’d stay away from me in the future.”

“You don’t know what he’s like, up to his eyeballs in the Dark Arts the little creep. You know he used to follow Lily around all the time, stalking her? Talk to her if you don’t believe me, she was afraid of him for a while. In fact, whatever he’s said to you is probably just a ploy to get at her again. Nothing against you of course but he has an unhealthy obsession with her, I wouldn’t put it past him to use you like that.”

Hermione stared at him, thinking about how close he was to the actual truth. She only said, “You’re a condescending arse Potter. You really expect me to be grateful to you? What for, for following me around Hogsmeade all day deliberately trying to ruin my date or for implying that I can’t look after myself and am stupid enough to be manipulated like that? Even if I were all of those things it’s not your problem, so thanks, but no thanks.”

“No need to be such a harpy Granger, we were just trying to look out for you. You’ll regret it when Snape screws you over, I hope you haven’t destroyed all your other friendships before that happens.”

He scooted away and Hermione returned to her breakfast. She only managed another mouthful of toast before Lily and Marlene joined her. She’d managed to avoid them so far but both girls eyed her with interest and Marlene asked, “So Hermione, how did the date go?”

 “It was fine, Hogsmeade was a bit boring so we came back early and had a picnic by the lake. It was nice.”

“You had a picnic? With Snape? I find that hard to imagine.”

Hermione shrugged, “He was a little reluctant at first but it was fun in the end.”

Lily said, “Sev used to love going on picnics with me, we used to do that every summer.”

“How nice.”

“Did you kiss him?” Marlene asked with a look of horrified fascination.

Hermione blushed, “No.”

The other girl looked disappointed, “Are you going out with him again?”

“We’re going to the next Slug Club together if that counts? And we’re meeting in the library tonight to study together.”

Lily said, “Of course that counts. So, you’re really dating Snape then.”

Hermione just nodded and took another bite of toast.

“Are you going to kiss him?”

Hermione nearly choked on her toast, “Marlene! What is your obsession with me kissing Snape?”

“I’m just curious about him, you know about what happened at the lake right?” At Hermione’s nod the other girl leaned forward and confided, “Everyone got a look at his bits, and it was impressive, even soft. No-one’s been brave enough to go near him to confirm but we reckon he’s probably pretty big. Shame about him being so ugly, but if you don’t mind that…”

Hermione felt as though she was sinking through the floor. It filled her with horror, the idea that everyone had seen him naked, and that Marlene could talk about it with so much cheerful curiosity, as though she had a right to that knowledge. She hissed, “Marlene, I can’t believe you are talking about him like that! You have no right. He was flipped upside down and forcibly stripped in front of the entire student body, and you saw it as an opportunity to take a look at his bits? How would you like it if someone did that to you and then all the blokes around were talking about the size of your breasts?”

Marlene looked abashed but Lily said dismissively, “She didn’t mean any harm by it, and the blokes talk about us all like that anyway, they don’t have to get our clothes off to speculate.”

Hermione said flatly, “I’m sure their talk would be worse if they did though, and I doubt you’d enjoy it much if someone did to you what your boyfriend and his cronies did to Snape. I’m not very hungry, I think I’ll head to class early.”

Hermione spent the morning furious at them, she couldn’t get out of her head the fact that Lily hadn’t stopped them. She knew Snape had lashed out at her stupidly, and she didn’t blame Lily for being angry at him for that. She’d be angry if he called her a Mudblood, but she would never have left the Marauders to continue tormenting him, no matter what he said. She didn’t like Lily, but she had liked Marlene, and now she wondered, had she had been in the crowd having a good laugh? She couldn’t help looking around and wondering who else had been there? Which of her classmates were the sorts of people who could stand by and watch that happen to someone, to anyone, and not intervene?

She had no wish to talk to Lily and Marlene again that day but the two girls sat down at lunch and offered a very pretty apology, agreeing that what had happened to Snape was awful and that they shouldn’t be talking about it so casually. Hermione sighed and accepted, though she wasn’t really the one who was owed an apology. She wanted to do something about it but there was no fixing it, the lake incident had happened, and she was already doing what she could to punish those responsible. That would have to do.

After classes that day she met Snape in the library and they settled in to work on the Impotence potion, he’d had a few new ideas and was explaining some of his ingredient alterations to her when Lily approached, Lupin following just behind her.

Lily said brightly, “Hi Hermione, Hi Sev, do you mind if we join you?”

Hermione looked at Lily as the girl stared at Snape waiting for his permission. Hermione had mentioned meeting him in the library that morning in the context of whether they were dating or not, so did Lily see this as an opportunity to prove that Snape would give up being on a date with Hermione to spend time with her? Snape probably didn’t think of this as a date, but if Lily had been an actual friend she would have asked Hermione if it was okay for her to join them, rather than turning up publicly and asking. Snape hadn’t said anything, he’d been quiet for too long, but Hermione could only assume his answer would be yes when he came up with one, even if Lily required an emotional support werewolf to be able to approach, so she took the opportunity to gracefully welcome them to sit.

“What are you two working on?” Lily asked curiously.

Snape packed his potions notes away quickly and said, “We were just about to start on our Charms essay.”

Lily nodded, “Oh, I haven’t done that one either, why don’t we all work on it together?”

Hermione dutifully began working on her essay, the group occasionally quietly discussing the assignment. It was nice, even though she didn’t like Lily and found Lupin rather disappointing, they were all very studious and intelligent. It was the first time she’d really had a good study group of like-minded students, and she found herself enjoying it.

She’d just asked Snape if he had her Charms notes when Lily cocked her head and asked, “How come you still call him Snape and not Severus?”

Hermione smiled, “Oh we don’t know each other well enough to be on a first name basis yet.”

Lily sounded offended, “Really? You’re going out though!”

“That just means I get to take liberties with his surname and call him Snapey.”

Snape grumbled, “That’s atrocious.”

“Oh, sorry Snapey-poo.”

Snape glared at her as Lily and Remus snickered, though his lips twitched with a hint of amusement for a moment. “If it will spare me from that then you may use my first name in future, Hermione.”

He said her name slowly, letting the syllables roll deliciously off his tongue. It sent a shiver down her spine but when she’d recovered from that she only grinned and said, “Thanks Sevvy-poo.”

He said with utmost seriousness, “You’re welcome Hermy-poo.”

She laughed out loud for a moment before covering her mouth to suppress the noise before Madam Pince could shush them. Remus looked amused, but Lily just looked annoyed. Snape turned back to his essay and Hermione did the same but after a while she was ready for a break. She pulled out a fresh piece of parchment and wrote ‘Sevvy-poo & Hermy-poo forever’ on it, in lovely calligraphic letters, then trimmed the paper into a heart shape with a charm. She nudged Snape with her foot and passed it to him. He looked at it in dismay for a moment, but as soon as he saw the amused expression on her face he cracked a small grin at her.

He looked at it again and said, “If we weren’t in the library I would Incendio this.”

“You’re so mean to me, I really thought you’d treasure it forever.”

Lily, annoyed at being excluded asked, “Hey Sev would you mind looking this over for me? I’m not sure if I quite understood the part about directional charms.”

Snape immediately rose and walked over to look at her essay and Lily shot Hermione a nasty little look to see if she’d noticed. Hermione just ignored it and continued working. It was hardly a surprise that he’d be eager to get back on Lily’s good side the first chance he got, and she had no reason to feel disappointed. None at all.

Chapter Text

The first Quidditch match of the season was on the first Saturday in November, and Hermione headed down to the pitch feeling somewhat conflicted about what result she was hoping for, for the first time ever. She was used to cheering for the Slytherin team to be slaughtered, but now that her fake boyfriend was on the team, while the Gryffindor team contained Potter and Black who she didn’t like at all, her loyalties were quite murky. Snape was adorably excited about the match, particularly with his new broom. It was a bit slower than the newest model but much better than anything he could borrow from the broom shed, or so he told her. She settled into the stands with Lily, Remus, and Peter to watch the game. Lily was particularly cheerful about it being Marlene’s first match as chaser.

The match started and it became immediately apparent that Sirius Black was targeting Snape. He was a beater on the Gryffindor team and he didn’t hit a single bludger at anyone other than Snape, exclusively targeting him. This was actually to the Slytherin teams’ advantage, every time Snape got the quaffle he focused more on dodging bludgers than on scoring goals, passing it immediately back to his team mates. This put a lot less pressure on the other two chasers who quickly secured a lead for Slytherin. They were ahead by 90 points by the time Black finally managed to get a hit, the other Gryffindor beater co-ordinating with him to send two bludgers towards Snape at the same time while he didn’t even have the quaffle. He dodged the first but that put him in the path of the other which hit his arm with a sickening crunch and sent him careening towards the ground. Hermione gasped, watching in terror as he just managed to level out before he hit the ground, though he dropped off his broom to lay on the grass unmoving.

Hermione raced down the stairs, jogging until she caught up to him and Professor Slughorn who was taking him off the pitch on a stretcher. She heard Ffion Jones, who was doing the commentary, update the score – Slytherin had just scored again, and the penalty for attacking Snape had just put them 110 points ahead. Velia Travers was called to replace Snape as chaser and the match continued. When he saw her Snape grimaced but didn’t seem too displeased to have company.

Soon enough he was settled into a bed, with Madam Pomfrey tutting over him, “The bone is completely shattered. I’m going to have to vanish it and regrow the humerus entirely.”

After he was given a dose of Skele-Gro, Hermione settled into a chair beside him, holding the hand on his unbroken side until Slughorn left. She gave it a quick squeeze then pulled back. “Sorry you got injured.”

He just grinned at her, “I lasted way longer than I did last year on a Silver Arrow. The Cleansweep is way better for dodging.”

She shook her head bemused, “Boys. You played last year then?”

“I always play against Gryffindor. You saw what Black was like, he targets me specifically. Even on a school broom it’s worth putting me out there as bait. He’s their best beater so having him so focused is to our advantage.”

“Yes, I’m no expert at Quidditch strategy but I did notice that. How long have you been playing?”

“Since Fourth year, but as a reserve. There are always injuries when we play against Gryffindor, and as soon as I was on the field Black began to target me. I wasn’t expecting it and got taken out pretty quick that first time, but the following year I was ready for him and managed to dodge. Last year Avery made captain and basically turned it into our strategy, the others are supposed to pass me the quaffle and I’m to immediately throw it back then dodge. We thought he’d be smart enough to change tactics this year but luckily for us he’s thicker than a steel cauldron.”

Hermione giggled, “He’s not the smartest. He did manage to break your arm though.”

“I’ve had worse, and it was worth it for all the points we scored. Hopefully Regulus will get the snitch, Potter is unfortunately talented.”

“Yes, Harry inherited his skill, people were always talking about it.”

“Wait, do you know who will win the Quidditch cup this year?”

She smiled, “Well it was going to be Gryffindor, Harry told me he saw the trophies when he had detention and his dad won the cup every year he was seeker, but who knows what I might have changed by finding a new broom for you.”

“I’m glad you came back in time.”

“Just so I could help you win at Quidditch, of course.”

“Obviously.”

She smiled and pulled out a book to read for a bit. After a while she paused, “Oh, I meant to ask you how things went with Lucius Malfoy in Hogsmeade, any issues?”

“No that was fine, and it was good in the end that everyone already knew we’d be on a date. He invited me to stay with him over the holidays, I wasn’t expecting it but I told him I already planned to stay at the castle. Rosier said something snide about me hanging around now that I have a girlfriend and it gave me the opportunity to counter that I had plans to work on a potion, and I indicated that Malfoy would be pleased with the results of my work.”

“Will he?”

“His father Abraxas has Dragon Pox.”

“Oh, I forgot about him. Oops. Well, that’s nice I suppose.” She nibbled on her lip.

“You’d rather he die?”

“No, it’s not that. He is a Death Eater though and he had died in my timeline. I’ve been feeling satisfied about all of the people I’ll save, but what if I save someone evil and they go on to commit crimes they wouldn’t have been able to perpetrate in my time? It’s not really my fault, and yet in a way I’m responsible.”

“You’re ridiculous. I can’t believe how much time you spend worrying over ridiculous ethical problems like that.”

Hermione said stiffly, “Maybe if you spent more time worrying about ethics you wouldn’t have ended up an evil Death Eater regretting all of your choices in my timeline.”

He huffed and crossed his arm over his chest, obviously offended. Hermione returned to her book. They sat in silence for the next half an hour until a commotion in the hall announced the arrival of a few more people. Potter entered first, escorting Marlene who was limping with a sprained ankle. She settled into a bed to wait for Madam Pomfrey to come and fix her up. Behind her was Avery, who had brought Rosier up with a concussion. After settling Rosier into the bed next to Snape he grinned and said, “We won. Nice work on the dodging, you did well.”

Snape perked up, smiling slightly, “What happened?”

“It was back and forth for another hour until we took a 150 point lead. The snitch was spotted but Gryffindor had the Quaffle and Potter delayed the catch, hoping his team would score, but by the time they did it disappeared again. We scored immediately again after, and with a bit more back and forth we ended up ahead by 210 points before the snitch was spotted again. Potter just beat Reg out to grab it, but we won by 60 points. It was a good outcome.”

Snape grinned, “Excellent.”

Hermione smiled as well, “Congratulations.”

Potter muttered angrily, “Don’t you have any house pride Granger?”

Hermione turned in surprise, “Oh, not really no. I don’t care for Quidditch, I only went to support Snape.”

He sneered, “How cute.”

She shrugged and turned back to smile at Snape, who took her hand. She looked at him in surprise, she’d thought he was still mad at her. Avery said, “Well that’s very sweet but you don’t look terribly supportive Miss Granger. Shouldn’t you be wearing Slytherin colours?”

“That’s a good point, maybe I should get a scarf or something for next time.”

“Definitely. Now that Sev has his own broom he’ll be playing every match.”

Snape looked like this was news to him, but welcome. Madam Pomfrey came over and treated Rosier’s concussion, then quickly mended Marlene’s ankle and sent her off. Avery left the two injured snakes to recover as he went off to celebrate his team’s victory. Hermione stuck around until curfew, knowing she wouldn’t receive much of a welcome in the Gryffindor common room now. She was right, Sirius had obviously been waiting for her because as soon as she entered he sneered, “How’s your little boyfriend? Enjoying the broken arm?”

She responded, “He actually is, he seemed to think it was worth it. I’m off to bed, goodnight.”

“You should ask the hat to resort you; you’re clearly meant for the dungeons Granger.”

Hermione ignored him and headed up to her dorm room.

She was surprised the next day at breakfast when Potter sat down next to her to apologise. He told her he could clearly see she was enamoured with Snape, and though he couldn’t understand it that was no reason to be nasty to her and he hoped they could still be on good terms. Hermione just sighed and agreed to it, not that she particularly wanted to be on good terms with him but it was easier than openly being enemies. She didn’t think he was sincere, and wondered if he was just worried that Lily was now talking to Snape again. She suspected he was just being civil for the sake of keeping an eye on them all, she only agreed because she thought that if he was pretending to be polite it might prevent him from engaging in so much overt bullying in her presence which could only be to her benefit.

Chapter Text

They’d met for the past two Thursdays to work on their Dragon Pox experiments, and now that was all planned out so they were continuing their discussions about the Impotence potion. He’d grown impatient and done the arithmantic calculations for himself but he gave it all to her to look over. They weren’t in a hurry to brew the potion since they’d just missed the full moon anyway, but Snape seemed to quite enjoy the idea of causing such problems for Sirius Black so was eager to improve the potion. Slughorn had popped in to observe their experiments and was happy with their progress, even though they weren’t quite brewing the correct recipe just yet.

They met next on Saturday in the Room of Requirement, first thing in the morning while the Marauders would all still be in bed. They wanted to test if they’d be able to use the Room of Requirement as a potions laboratory since they probably wouldn’t be able to brew the Impotence potion without Slughorn inquiring about it as it would need to simmer for at least a week. She wasn’t sure if the room could accommodate them, so they’d taken the ingredients for a simple headache remedy and summoned the room with a small brewing area just off their usual sitting room. They brewed the potion which would need to simmer for an hour, then both left the room, watching as the door disappeared. They took a stroll and returned about 10 minutes later to summon the room again, pleased to find their potion still bubbling away as though the room hadn’t disappeared temporarily into nothingness.

Severus was ecstatic and quickly figured out that he could access ingredients from the store cupboard. Hermione watched him for a bit as he chopped and stirred, making several potions at once. He looked happy and very in his element, it was obvious he really loved brewing. They practiced Occlumency for a bit, both had improved a great deal and practiced until they needed some of that headache remedy they’d just created. They sat quietly for a while after that until Severus cleared his through and said, “You said something about practicing. For later?”

Hermione blinked for a moment before she caught what he was saying. Practicing. For kissing. Right. She nodded awkwardly and knew her voice was a little higher than usual as she said, “Yes sure. Erm, right. Let’s stand up, presumably we’ll just be finding an alcove or something.”

She rose and then looked towards him as he stood too. He looked tense and awkward, but she decided he was surely just being shy. He’d brought it up so she knew he must have thought about it and wanted to, and of course he’d be nervous. She gathered her determination then walked up to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. Looking up at him she couldn’t help but think he was even taller than she’d thought, and he looked terribly like Professor Snape right now. She lost her courage for a moment and looked away.

He obviously took it as a rejection because he said sharply, “It’s fine if you’ve changed your mind, you can just say so.”

She winced but didn’t let go of him. “It’s not that, sorry, it’s just that you looked so much like Professor Snape just then I thought you were about to take 100 points from Gryffindor for inappropriate behaviour.”

He leaned closer and said softly, “Oh. Detention Miss Granger for fraternising with the staff.”

She shivered, “Oh my god, that’s terrifying. Just when I’m about to kiss you too.”

She looked at him again and reminded herself that he was just Severus, not the scary Potions Master of her future. She pulled on the back of his neck until he bent down slightly so that she could reach his lips and pressed hers softly against them. She’d decided that if she was going to kiss him, and it being his first kiss as well, she was going to make it a good one. She ran her fingers up through his hair as she pressed her lips more firmly against his before parting them slightly, not bringing her tongue into play yet but letting him feel the slight wetness of the inside of her lip. His lips moved slowly against hers and she encouraged him, parting hers further and then darting her tongue out to trace his lower lip. He responded immediately and she slipped her tongue into his mouth as his lips parted, causing him to groan. She stroked her tongue against his, caressing him, and then pressed herself closer to him. The moment their bodies touched he pulled away. He looked embarrassed and she realised it was because he had an erection. His cheeks were flushed and his black eyes glittered as he looked at her.

He looked away uncomfortably and said, “I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have anything to apologise for.”

“Oh, but… No?”

“No.”

“That was alright then?”

“Very alright.”

He nodded stiffly. She smiled at how adorable he was being and retook her seat, then watched as he awkwardly settled himself into a chair. She thought she’d done a good job and he’d seemed to enjoy it, though she’d been too focused on the technical aspects to really do so herself. An awkward silence had settled over them but she got up and went to make tea, she’d added a little tea station to the room in addition to the potions lab and there were even biscuits in the cupboard. The room couldn’t create food but it could summon it from elsewhere, and Gilly had insisted on baking a bunch of sweets for her which could seemingly be accessed here.

They had their tea and gradually the awkwardness faded, Severus told her about the potions he wanted to experiment with and how excited he was about the little potions lab, how he’d tried finding places to brew but people always sabotaged his work and now he’d have a safe place to really work. It made her sad, no-one should be so excited about basic safety but also pleased that she could give that to him. She loved the childlike joy he occasionally showed for the things he enjoyed and was determined to make sure he wouldn’t lose that the way Professor Snape obviously had.

They left the room to go down to lunch and then spent the afternoon by the lake practicing Occlumency. She was managing to divert him from memories about Professor Snape by redirecting to memories of Draco Malfoy which so far was working well, since her mind easily associated them with each other. Severus pulled out of her mind and asked, “What was that last memory?”

“Which one? Malfoy complaining about his perfectly healed arm?”

“No, you were riding a Hippogriff”

“Oh. I didn’t see that.”

“It was just a brief flash. You hate flying, why would you be riding a Hippogriff?”

The disbelief in his tone was a little offensive, “I am a Gryffindor. Bravery and all that. A Hippogriff isn’t the worst thing I’ve ridden.”

“What was worse than riding a Hippogriff?”

“Hmmn, how to rate this. Thestrals are more comfortable but riding something invisible is unnerving. It’s even worse when the Thestral appears mid-flight because you just saw someone die. Now that I can see them though I think I’d rather ride a Thestral than a broomstick. Dragons are the worst though-”

“You are having me on. You have not ridden a dragon.”

Hermione laughed, “I have actually. Maybe you should look for that memory next.”

“You make no sense.”

“I make perfect sense, why is this so hard to believe?”

“You’re so boring. All you care about is books and studying, you aren’t the kind of girl who runs off to ride dragons.”

“You think I’m boring? Wow, rude. Well, being a boring bookworm just means that I can perfectly identify the species of dragon as a Ukrainian Iron belly and know exactly how it will eat us when we dismount. It does take away from the daring somewhat when the choice is ride the dragon or die though.”

“I didn’t mean to offend you.”

“You didn’t mean to offend me by calling me boring?”

“I didn’t mean boring, I just... Hadn’t imagined you riding dragons.” He looked a little sheepish.

She laughed, “Well I hadn’t imagined it before I did it.”

“So how did you end up in a ride or die circumstance involving a dragon?”

She grinned and said casually, “We broke into Gringotts and stole something from one of the vaults. We set the dragon free and rode it to escape the goblins.”

“Broke into Gringotts, of course you did.”

“If you don’t believe me you can look for the memories later.”

“I do believe you I just forget sometimes. You spend so much time worrying about revision schedules and fixing my petty life problems that I forget you are just taking a break from your usual world saving heroics. Now please tell me more about the Hippogriff.”

“Let’s see, it was my third year and I’d been given a time turner because I wanted to take every elective.”

“Naturally.”

“Well, Buckbeak, the Hippogriff, had been condemned by the Ministry and was set to be executed. Sirius Black had been captured and was going to be kissed by Dementor’s, so the obvious solution was to go back in time to rescue Buckbeak and then fly him up to the window where Sirius was being held so they could escape together, and that’s how I came to fly a Hippogriff.”

“You always seem like such a rule following little swot but that’s all an illusion, isn’t it? In reality you’re robbing banks and aiding escaped convicts. And not just laws, are there even any school rules you haven’t broken?”

She cocked her head, “Hexed another student, and a teacher. Stolen from a teacher. Out after curfew, and out of bounds. Founded an illegal student group. Misuse of a time turner. Brewed a restricted potion in a bathroom stall. Interfered in Quidditch try outs, I’ve never interfered in a match but helping Harry in the Triwizard Tournament would probably count for interfering in a sporting activity. I have left the school grounds during term time, and I think there is a rule against riding the Thestrals. I hadn’t ever dosed anyone with a potion before, though I plan to do just that to Sirius Black. I may survive to the end of N.E.W.T.s with the only rule I’ve not broken yet being the one about sleeping in another student’s bed.”

He shook his head, bemused, “You’re just a little troublemaker, no wonder my future self-disliked you so much.”

“Hermione, Sev!” They turned to see Lily approaching them. “I’ve been looking all over for you Herms, come and get ready for the Slug Club party with me.”

Hermione frowned, “I thought we didn’t have to dress up for the monthly meetings.”

“You don’t have to, but he often has guests and you don’t want to make a bad impression.”

She could feel the other girls gaze lingering on her hair and sighed, “Alright, I’ll see you later Severus.”

The Slug Club party was predictably boring. It was just a gathering of all of his favourite students and he went around the room talking with each of them about various things, usually their more famous relatives, and gossiping. He asked them how their potion was coming along and Hermione told him it was going well, they had a new recipe to try in their next session which they thought might be viable. Slughorn happily began telling the room, “Yes, Miss Granger and Mister Snape are quite ambitious, they’ve come up with a very clever idea, but they’ve sworn me to secrecy for the moment. Very promising students though.”

Hermione could see Lily, Potter, and Black eyeing them with suspicion over this. She was pleased Professor Slughorn was keeping to his promise not to reveal what they were working on, as she hadn’t been sure how reliable he’d be with regards to that. They endured the rest of the dinner, the food at least was good, the house elves were pulling out fancier fare for Slughorn’s party and there was a lovely chocolate mousse for dessert which she eagerly devoured. As soon as the last course was cleared away everyone began to rise, most people lingered to chat a bit longer but she dragged Snape towards the doorway. Slughorn was distracting Black and Potter giving them the chance to slip away. She pulled him down a side corridor that led to the Potions classrooms, not the direction either of them needed to head in, and pulled a tapestry aside to reveal a small passageway. They stepped inside together and Hermione pulled out the map to check.

They waited, watching the little dots until they saw the others leaving the party. Hermione packed the map away and then looked up at Severus, “Ready? I figured we would just snog until they get here to interrupt us so it’s more convincing, if that’s agreeable?”

He gulped, “Yes, sure.”

Hermione smiled then pressed herself against him, wrapping her arms around his neck again and kissing him. He tasted like passion fruit, and she realised she’d been so caught up in her mousse she hadn’t even noticed him picking a dessert, but his must have been delicious. She’d noticed during their practice kiss earlier that he’d been stiff and kept his arms by his sides the entire time, and the same thing was true now. She temporarily unwound herself from around his neck so she could grab his arms and wrap them around her body. She gently pressed herself against him and could feel his body responding to her closeness but he didn’t pull away this time.

She could feel his erection against her belly and wondered about Marlene’s speculations as to his size; she couldn’t really tell though so put it out of her mind. She was just starting to enjoy the kiss when the tapestry was pulled apart and they turned, blinking, to find Sirius Black staring at them with James Potter and Lily Evans behind him. Black made a horrified face and said, “Oh my god that’s disgusting, Granger how could you? Kissing him can’t possibly be anything but gross.”

Hermione said happily, “Actually he’s quite delicious. Can we help you with something?”

Potter said quickly, “We thought we’d escort you back to Gryffindor Tower with us, but you ran off so quickly.”

“Oh, that’s quite nice of you actually. Yes, I’m ready. Goodnight Severus.”

She looked at Severus then and couldn’t help grinning at how awkwardly adorable he looked. His cheeks were flushed and his hair was messy on one side where she’d run her fingers through it. Despite this he was standing quite stiffly and staring daggers at Black for interrupting them. She stood on tip toe to press a soft kiss to his cheek before leaving him behind the tapestry to walk back with the others. She made a good attempt at small talk on the way back, asking Potter more about his family and enquiring about the things he’d discussed with Slughorn at dinner. Potter was still making an attempt to get along with her so they carried the discussion all the way up to the common room. She went to sleep feeling quite pleased with how the whole day had gone, and if the fact that she’d kissed Severus twice sent a little thrill through her, well, no-one else needed to know about that.

Chapter Text

She’d continued her weekly tutoring sessions with Alfie, he paid her a galleon per week which she pretended to actually care about, and he’d asked her a lot of personal questions. She’d gradually told him that she didn’t know who her father was, and all about her horrible made-up mother. He was obviously convinced they were related and wanted to find out how. She also thought that at least one of his parents must be interested in finding out more about her based on some of the questions he’d asked. She pretended not to notice it as anything suspicious and told him what he wanted to know. Alfie was absolutely horrified when she’d told him about her homeschooling situation and she felt terrible for lying to him but she couldn’t trust him with the truth and she’d come up with that story for a reason. She tried to reassure herself that lying was in the best interest of everyone, and not something she should feel guilty for.

On this particular Tuesday she greeted him and settled down to look over his latest Charms essay when he suddenly asked, “Are you seriously dating Severus Snape?”

She looked up in surprise, “Yes, I am.”

“Everyone has been asking me about you, whether we’re related, if I know you, and if I know why on earth you’d want to go out with him. It’s the biggest gossip in Hogwarts right now.”

“Really? What are people saying?”

“It’s not very nice.”

“I didn’t expect it would be, tell me anyway.”

“He threatened to murder your family unless you went to Hogsmeade with him, which I at least know is nonsense since you don’t have a family to murder. Jenkins said he’s been giving you love potions, but Reid said it’s the Imperius curse. The girls were all saying it’s got to be something because apparently you were kissing him after Slughorn’s party and your hands were covered in grease from his hair and they all agreed that no-one in their right mind would touch him. Anderson thought we should go and tell Professor Flitwick about it but Jenkins said the Seventh year Gryffindor boys are going to protect you from him somehow and that we don’t need to worry about it.”

“Merlin. I haven’t been hearing the rumours myself since no-one will talk to me anymore, but I can’t say I’m surprised.”

“You’re really dating him though? Why?” Alfie sounded really bewildered.

Hermione smiled, “I like him, that’s why.”

“He’s so ugly though, and isn’t he, you know, evil?”

Hermione pursed her lips, “Ugliness is completely subjective, and people who think a 17-year-old boy is evil just because he knows a few dark curses have no idea what true evil really is.”

“Isn’t he part of the group who all want to become Death Eaters though?”

“Do you agree with every single thing your dorm mates say or do? If he does become a Death Eater then I’ll break up with him, but for now he isn’t one and he’s not evil, no matter what the stupid Marauders say. They are the ones spreading all these rumours.”

Alfie said quietly, “I hate them. Last year at Halloween they put something in the punch that turned everyone’s teeth soft as a prank. It was horrible.”

“They’ve targeted Snape since they were all first years. They harass him terribly, if he did turn into a dark wizard it would be their fault.”

“Why do you like him?”

“He’s intelligent and funny. He’s also quite nice once you get to know him. We are working on an extra credit potions project and he agreed to help me with it so we ended up spending a bit of time together from that. He doesn’t have the best social skills though and with the Marauders constantly bullying him it’s hardly a surprise that he’s so unpopular.”

“I remember a couple of years ago when they attacked him by the edge of the lake and vanished his clothes. It was horrible but then he called that other girl a Mud- slur and everyone said he deserved it.”

“No-one deserves that, even if he’d said it before they attacked him which he didn’t. Anyway, yes, he is my boyfriend, yes, I like him, and no, I am not under the Imperius curse, or affected by love potions, or compelled in any other way. I’m just a weird swotty girl who likes a weird swotty boy and that’s that.”

Hermione wondered if Alfie would be put off by her new association with Snape but they ended the lesson on a good note and he cheerfully said he’d see her next week so she hoped not.

On Thursday they brewed their first batch of a viable treatment. It was an inferior version which they would improve on with the final recipe from the future, which wasn’t even their final version because Severus bloody Snape had managed to improve even that. For now though they wanted to test this one and then appear to continue work on refining the recipe. They settled down on stools to watch the potion as it simmered, it was a gorgeous crimson with sparks of yellow and orange in it. It almost looked like liquid fire. She kept an eye on her watch until she saw a black dot approaching which could only be their Professor coming to check on them. As soon as he’d reached the doorway she said excitedly, “I think we’ve done it! This may actually work.”

Snape shot her a curious look but then he saw Slughorn coming into the room. The Professor inspected the potion, “This looks very promising, very promising indeed. You’re ready to test it then?”

“Yes sir, we’ll need your assistance organising a trial.”

“Oh, that won’t be a problem.” He clapped his hands and called out, “Henny.”

A house elf appeared, it was thin and sickly, with a green tinge to it’s skin and the trademark pockmarks of Dragon Pox.

“How can Henny serve sir?”

Professor Slughorn beamed at the elf, “We need you to drink this Henny, Miss Granger if you could prepare a dosage?”

“Sir! House elves have completely different physiology to humans. I have no idea what the correct dosage would be for an elf, I will need to recalculate it all, and we might even need to change the recipe entirely. Surely you wouldn’t normally test potions crafted for a human on an elf? I certainly haven’t read about that in any potions trials.”

“No, Miss Granger, you’re right I hadn’t thought on it. I just thought of Henny because I knew he had Dragon Pox.”

She asked shrilly, “How did a house elf even get Dragon Pox?”

The elf said pitifully, “Henny is proud to serve. Henny helps with the ingredients.”

Hermione blinked, looking at Professor Slughorn who looked a little abashed. She wanted to yell at him, she felt herself tremble as rage flooded through her but she pushed it down to say with a reasonable facsimile of calm, “Right. Is Henny the only one?”

“No, there were two other elves who came into contact with that batch of infected scales, quite unfortunate.”

Hermione seethed at that but said calmly, “We will check to see if the recipe is suitable for the elves and determine the appropriate dosage for them but success or failure treating an elf won’t be any indication of the potions efficacy in a human trial. We would appreciate if you could reach out to someone from St Mungo’s and assist us to organise that, we will write up a paper with the recipe and all of the arithmancy calculations this weekend.”

Professor Slughorn hastily agreed then fled the room. Hermione looked at Henny and said, “Henny I will call on you when we are ready with the potion.” The little elf bowed and then disappeared with a crack. Hermione put her head in her hands thinking about how much she hated Professor Slughorn. He was just so lazy and useless!

After a moment Snape asked, “Are you okay?”

“The poor elves! They are Hogwarts elves, dragon scales aren’t used in even N.E.W.T level potions so he’s using them to help him with ingredient preparation for his private research, and then he wants to use them to test our potion! Without even thinking about what sort of side effects there might be. He probably wouldn’t even care if we had just given Henny a full dosage calculated for a human and killed him.”

Snape said quietly, “We can’t do anything about house elf rights just now, but we can at least make a treatment for the ones who have Dragon Pox. We still have some lab time left, do you want to make a start on the calculations? If we make a plan we can split the work between us.”

Hermione blinked tears from her eyes and looked up at him, he’d said ‘we’ as though he was going to help her with house elf rights. He probably didn’t really mean that but it was sweet all the same, and he was offering to help her with the work to adapt this potion for house elves. She hadn’t thought about it yet, but if she had she could have imagined him saying it would be too much work to bother with, or only reluctantly agreeing to help her, and instead he was coming up with a plan. Feeling overwhelmed, and rather happy, Hermione threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around him in a tight hug. She whispered, “Thank you.”

He patted her awkwardly on the back then said gruffly, “Come on, stop crying, the arithmancy won’t solve itself.”

She giggled and straightened up, beaming at him, then pulled out some parchment and started writing a list of things they would need to calculate. Because Severus Snape was going to help her adapt their treatment for the house elves.

On Saturday at breakfast Hermione looked up from her Daily Prophet to find Severus standing at the Gryffindor table grinning broadly at her and showing off his crooked teeth. She was surprised at his obvious good mood but smiled back.

He gallantly offered her his hand, saying, “Come, I have something for you.”

Intrigued she folded her paper and took his hand, abandoning her breakfast and letting him lead her out of the room. It was raining so they headed for the Charms classroom where Hermione transfigured a couple of cushions into comfy little beanbags, green and red of course, and they settled into them.

He immediately handed her a silver bracelet with a single charm on it, a greyhound which was running just below the chain as though it was a circuit. Hermione tilted her head to look at it until he said, “It’s a Fidelity charm.”

“Where did you get this? It looks like a Black family heirloom.”

“It is, I borrowed it from Regulus Black.”

“Borrowed?”

“It’s expensive, I’m sort of renting it from him. You know I tutor him? He heard about us dating and I told him my concerns about his brother so he agreed to let me borrow this, he sent home for it. I told him I’d give it back after we graduate.”

She bit her lip, “Severus what do you do with your money? I know other students pay you to brew potions for them sometimes, and you tutor Regulus and your dormmates…”

He looked annoyed, “It’s none of your business.” She looked away feeling chastened and a moment later he sighed, “My parents don’t pay for much. They did when I was younger but my father isn’t good with money and he’s refused to pay for any of my school things for a while now. I had to borrow money from Avery for my textbooks, I’ve spent some on potions ingredients for things I’ve been working on, and I’ve tried to save a bit but I’ve had to send money home to my mother a few times.”

She looked at the bracelet again, “Can you afford this? I’ve only managed to swap 23 galleons with Potter so far and we spent most of that on ingredients, but Alfie is giving me a galleon per week for tutoring if you need it.”

“It will be fine. Let me put this on, how do you want to wear it? The chain is enchanted to adjust the length so it could be a necklace if you’d rather?”

She considered then slipped her shoe off and offered him her foot, “How about an anklet? That way I can hide it in my shoe and no-one will see it. Don’t want them questioning who gave it to me and the greyhound is very distinctively Black.”

“Good point.” His fingers brushed against her as he circled the chain around her ankle before doing up the clasp then sitting back. She felt his magic wash over her as he did and shuddered slightly, it wasn’t exactly unpleasant, just strange. She watched the greyhound run around for a few loops then slipped her shoe back on. After she tucked the chain inside her sock she was satisfied, no-one would notice it there.

Severus looked at it then said, smirking, “I’m a little surprised you let me put it on you actually. Aren’t you worried I might refuse to take it off later?”

She smiled sweetly, “You know that spell book we got the Impotence potion from? It has a lot of really fun spells, I was particularly interested in one for shrivelling the genitalia of your lover in exchange for a broken promise. I promise if you don’t take this off me when I ask you to, you will live to regret it.”

He shuddered, “Brilliant, but scary. Your friend was right about that.”

She poked her tongue out at him, “Don’t forget it.”

A couple of hours later Hermione was engrossed in a text about packing charms when Severus handed her an arithmancy problem for a new recipe he’d developed for the Impotence potion. She set her book aside and was about half way through working on it when her watch buzzed. She immediately felt herself panic. She couldn’t see them yet but the Marauders must be just around the corner, and she couldn’t let them know about the potion they were working on. Also weren’t they supposed to get caught kissing? She rolled until she was on her knees on her beanbag and leant her upper body over and pressed her lips against Severus’. He stiffened immediately, and she felt mortified, what was she doing? A moment later though his hand slid up into her hair and he kissed her back, his lips whispering softly against hers as his hand tightened in her curls. She relaxed into the kiss until he suddenly grunted and moved, pulling his wand out.

His movement shifted the beanbag and Hermione fell forward awkwardly, landing halfway across him before she could right herself to turn and see Black and Potter in the doorway laughing at them. Black had his wand out and Severus was rubbing at his leg, but didn’t escalate the fight futher. She settled herself back into her seat and tried to ignore everyone. She felt incredibly embarrassed about kissing him, she wasn’t even sure why she had, it’s not like either of them would have been able to understand her arithmancy even if she gave them the bloody parchment. Instead, she’d just distracted Severus and gotten him hexed. She thought Black had hit him with a Stinging jinx, which wasn’t too bad, but she still felt guilty about it. They settled into an awkward silence, Black and Potter settling down onto some cushions and obviously watching them.

Severus glared at them and Hermione whispered, “I’m sorry.”

He turned and eyed her speculatively for a moment, “It’s not your fault.”

“I shouldn’t have… I panicked, I’m not sure why I did that.” She felt butterflies fluttering in her stomach at the admission.

“That’s fine, I had no objections, I was merely surprised. We did discuss being caught like that so anytime you are comfortable with it is fine.” His cheeks were pink and he didn’t quite meet her eyes as he spoke so she smiled and took his hand.

It was hard to relax properly with the Marauders around, and they couldn’t really make them leave, the Charms classrooms were open for anyone who wanted to practice. She didn’t want to leave either as that would mean admitting defeat. Instead, she decided to interfere with their tormentors. The two Marauders were practicing the Aguamenti charm, working on filling a large goblet instantaneously rather waiting for water to flow into it. Hermione waited until they’d nearly filled it all the way before subtly casting a Banishing charm, sending the goblet grinding across the floor until it hit a rough patch in the stone and tipped over, splashing Sirius Black with the contents. It was only water, but the stupid expression on his face after it happened made it worthwhile.

Black cast a nonverbal jinx towards Severus but Hermione was ready with a Protego, and he paused to glare at them. Severus pulled his wand out but he’d had both of his hands on the book he was reading so it became quickly obvious that he wasn’t the culprit, Black flushed and looked to Hermione, his face still covered in water droplets and the front of his robes saturated. After a moment he gave her a winning smile then shook himself like a dog, sprinkling Potter with drops of water as they flew off his hair, making the other boy laugh. She just shook her head and returned to her own book, and they remained in awkward silence until it was finally time to go down for lunch.  

Chapter Text

Next Thursday they were in the lab when Hermione said, “Can we talk about Lily for a moment?”

Severus stilled, “What about her?”

“You are supposed to be my boyfriend, not hers.”

He scowled, “I am.”

“Yes, except every week in the library when we study with Lily where you abandon me at the drop of a hat. We were in the middle of our runic translation and suddenly it’s all ‘Oh, Sev, can you come look at this?’ and you’re off.”

He grimaced, “I didn’t mean to. I was just pleased she’s talking to me again.”

“So, be pleased, but not at my expense.”

He was silent for a while, “I don’t understand why you dislike her so much, she’s always nice to you.”

“She’s nice to me where everyone can see her being such a lovely Head Girl and helping out the poor new transfer student. She doesn’t like me. And I don’t like the way she treats you.”

“She’s been perfectly nice to me.”

“Right, that’s why she refused to speak to you for over a year?”

“You know why she stopped being friends with me.”

“Yes, I do, and I’ve told you before I think it’s unfair.”

He sounded frustrated, “You don’t know what it’s like for her, to be called that. I did and I should have known better.”

She stared at him, “Snape, I’m a Mudblood.”

 “What?”

“I know exactly what it’s like to be called a Mudblood. Slytherins used to hiss it at me in the corridors all the time. Didn’t I tell you my parents were dentists?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t know.”

“Well, now you do. She doesn’t have to forgive you if she doesn’t want to but that doesn’t mean I can’t have an opinion on it, and I think she’s being unreasonable. If you hadn’t apologised for it, fine, and if you called her that again? No. But you did, and you won’t. I will put up with her, I’ll even play nice, but you have to be more circumspect about your feelings. Alright?”

He look a little perturbed but said nothing to that.

Soon after Slughorn came into the lab to inform them they would be going to St Mungo’s on Friday afternoon to meet with a healer who would help them organise their potions trial. That was a free period for the Professor and they’d be excused from Herbology for the afternoon. Hermione asked if she could speak to him privately and he took her back to his office.

“Professor Slughorn this is somewhat of a delicate matter, I’m not sure how people will be chosen to participate in the trial, but I was hoping we would be able to include Edgar Dagworth-Granger. As you are no doubt aware he’s a Potions master who contracted Dragon Pox, I’m friends with his son Alfie and I have my own personal reasons for wanting him to receive treatment.”

Professor Slughorn considered her for a moment, “Is he your father Miss Granger?”

Hermione pretended to hesitate, “I believe so sir, but I don’t think he knows about me. I don’t know for sure it’s just a few things my mother had told me over the years, I’m sure she knew him and the resemblance between myself and Alfie is rather striking.”

“Would you like me to arrange an introduction to the family for you? They have inquired about you, you know?”

“I’m not sure, sir, I have no idea how they would feel about it. They probably wouldn’t even want to meet me but if they did, I suppose that would be alright. Mostly I was just hoping to help him for Alfie’s sake, he’s a very sweet boy.”

“I will speak to Edgar about it, I was going to ask him to participate anyway and you’ll need to meet with anyone in the trial regardless. Now as to that, I’m sure you are already prepared to deal with this but I’ll expect you to cover for Mister Snape’s lack of manners. You do so admirably and I am pleased to see you taking him so in hand but do teach him to introduce himself properly as it will reflect poorly on you if he doesn’t.”

Hermione smiled, “I’m sure he’ll be fine sir, he just doesn’t like to talk much and luckily for him I am more than happy to pick up the slack.”

“Yes, you do work well together. Some of the other staff have expressed concerns about your relationship, as I’m his Head of House, but I told them all you’re a smart girl and perfectly capable of deciding who to associate with. I look forward to telling them about this project, it will certainly make them rethink some of the things they’ve been implying about Mister Snape. I suppose you won’t mind if I tell people what we are working on as soon as the healer approves our trial?”

She smiled genuinely, “No sir, that would be quite alright. As soon as we have the trial going we’ll have our temporary patent so we won’t have to be so secretive then.”

“Yes, good thinking Miss Granger, quite a shame you didn’t end up in my house, very ambitious.”

“No sir, but I am in your club after all, and I’m much closer with you than I am with my own Head of House thanks to my interest in potions.”

Slughorn was obviously pleased with this praise though Hermione considered it more a condemnation of Professor McGonagall than anything else. He dismissed her and she returned to the lab to continue brewing. So far, their experiments for the house elves weren’t working out but they still had a few ideas to test.

On Friday they met with Professor Slughorn in the entrance hall, and Hermione was pleased to see Severus in the new travelling cloak she’d given him. They wore their school uniforms but with the black cloak she’d given him (which had once belonged to Harry) he looked quite good. His hair was shiny and clean, obviously freshly washed, and she was quite pleased with his little makeover. It was crazy how much of an improvement a few small changes could make. Slughorn directed them through St Mungo’s towards the infectious diseases area and they met with the healer, Angus Abbot.

He was a very cheerful man with a loud booming voice and greeted them all warmly. Slughorn had sent their paper ahead and he had obviously read it but he asked them to tell him about it. Hermione did all of the talking and after she’d given her pitch he said happily, “Very good my dear, this is exceptional work, very clever. And you’re still a student, very impressive.”

Worried he was attributing too much credit to her since she’d done all of the talking she quickly said, “It was Severus really. He’s brilliant at Potions, I never could have done it all on my own.”

Snape scowled at her, “The whole thing was your idea in the first place, and I never could have managed all of the Arithmancy.”

“Yes, but you knew all about the ingredients, you’re so intuitive. I never could have done this on my own.”

Healer Abbott intervened, “Okay children, no need to argue about who deserves credit. Clearly, you’re both equally genius. Now Professor Slughorn and I have been working on a list of people to include in the trial initially, we will want you along for the initial consultation, so we’ll all be seeing each other on Friday afternoons for the next few weeks. You’ll meet the patients and just be warned, many of them are Potions Masters so they are likely to ask you a few questions, be prepared for that.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Alright, now your Professor and I have both brewed your recipe and confirmed the results are as expected so we’ll be filing the temporary patent for you, did you have a name for the potion in mind?”

Hermione looked at Snape, the researchers in the future had just called it Dragon Pox Treatment, and it hadn’t occurred to her it would need a name. Snape said hesitantly, “Calor Fortitudo?”

“Whatever you’d like to call it is fine.”

Hermione didn’t have any ideas, so she agreed with his suggestion. After that they visited their first patient, May Miller worked as an Apothecary assistant and was a bit more expendable than all of the prominent Potions Masters so she was getting the first dose. It felt awkward, being introduced by Healer Abbott and then watching as he cast diagnostics on the girl then observed her as she drank the first dose of the potion. It was odd that there were traditions in place for potioneers to observe treatments with new healing potions and be on hand in case something went wrong and they needed to advise the healers about ingredient interactions. As they were students they wouldn’t be expected to do that, Professor Slughorn would step in as their faculty advisor, but students almost never came up with healing potions that were valuable enough to warrant a full trial like this so it was still traditional to include them. It was convenient as they’d get to meet her father, but right now it felt awkward.

Thankfully there were no adverse reactions, Miss Miller would stay overnight for observation, but they knew the potion was going to work and the girl reported that she was beginning to feel better almost immediately. Her temperature was rising but the changes to her physiology from the potion should accommodate it. Everyone was feeling very optimistic but they still had to remain on call for the night. They spent the time in a small staff room in St. Mungo’s drinking coffee and working on adapting their potion for the house elves. Healer Abbott had rounds and Professor Slughorn took a nap on one of the cots in the room but they both provided assistance and advice occasionally and by the end of the night they had a viable recipe that would likely prove effective for a house elf. Hermione softened a little towards Professor Slughorn when he expressed a genuine willingness to help.

They returned to the school in the very early hours of the morning and Hermione noted the Marauders were still out in the shack, it had been a full moon that night. She snuck into their dorm room quickly, feeling terribly nervous. Hermione wasn’t made for breaking and entering. She quickly located Potters bag of Galleons and swapped them out, then dosed their food with the newly improved Impotence potion Severus had brewed for Sirius Black. She felt gleeful at first but then it was rather anti-climactic, she had no idea how long it would take either of these plans to come to fruition. Still, that was why she had multiple avenues of attack, she wasn’t going to put all her eggs in one basket. The Marauders would certainly get what was coming to them, one way or another.

The following day was the next Quidditch match of the season, Hufflepuff vs Ravenclaw. Hermione had always attended Gryffindor matches in the past, but she wouldn’t normally bother to go when her team wasn’t playing. Harry and Ron attended every match, most people who liked the game did, but there were a few people like her who would only show up if their house was playing. She was in the somewhat bewildering position of realising that every single person she befriended was Quidditch mad. She had been surprised at first to realise Severus played. She wasn’t sure why but from what she had known of Professor Snape in the future she just hadn’t imagined it, even though he’d refereed that one time. She’d thought him more like her, bookish and nerdy, but no, he loved flying and throwing quaffles around, which meant this year she would have to attend the Slytherin matches to support her new boyfriend.

She had thought the Hufflepuff vs Ravenclaw match would be the only match she’d be allowed to sit out until Alfie had adorably begged her to come and watch him play. She hadn’t even known he was on the team but hadn’t been able to resist his enthusiasm when he invited her to watch his debut as keeper, which is how she found herself sitting in the Gryffindor stands with Marlene and Lily, cheering for Hufflepuff. Alfie seemed to be doing an excellent job as keeper, he'd only let two goals through, while his team just kept scoring and scoring. The Ravenclaw team were clearly outmatched, and Hufflepuff quickly took an outrageous lead, though they only managed to win by 30 points in the end as Ravenclaw caught the snitch.

When the match ended she ducked through the crowd, making her way over to where the Slytherins were coming out of the stands. As soon as he saw her Severus made his way over to her, waving the other Slytherins off as they headed up towards the castle. She took his hand and they followed the crowd up towards the castle. Hermione took them down towards the kitchens to a small alcove near the Hufflepuff common room. Severus quirked an eyebrow at her in question but she just smiled and pulled her map out, checking it. She could see the Marauders were at lunch and she was a little disappointed, she’d been expecting them to pay more attention, but it didn’t take too long before they were on the move again. She watched until they began travelling down the stairs before folding the map and asking, “Care for a snog?”

“Am I going to get hexed again?”

“Nope, stay alert and as soon as you hear them we’ll spin and you can use my body as a shield. Then we’ll fight them, but you should use defensive spells only, shield and disarm them if you can and I will play offense.” She tried to sound more confident than she felt.

He looked aghast, “I’m not going to use you as a bloody shield, that’s hardly chivalrous.”

“I’ll be fine, trust me I’m a much more sympathetic target than you are. This will all work out.”

He contemplated her for a moment, “I don’t know, I don’t like the idea of letting you be hexed deliberately.”

“It’s necessary. Just be ready with a Shield Charm, this isn’t a great spot for us for a fight.”

“Why are we here then?”

“We want Professor Sprout to intervene, she likes us but is tougher than Slughorn, and Hufflepuff’s make the best witnesses.”

He huffed, “You are so conniving. Alright then, but I’m not happy about it.”

“Noted. May I kiss you now?”

His lips twitched, “You may.”

Hermione shifted him so that his back was to the opening of the alcove then wrapped her arms around him. She encouraged him to practice spinning around a couple of times and then leant up to kiss him. She was frustrated that this was their fourth kiss and they had all been so awkward. She really wanted to blow his socks off, but knowing she was about to be hexed made it difficult to focus on the kissing, as nice as it was. They’d been faffing about for so long that they’d barely pressed their lips together before she felt her watch buzz, feeling his through his pocket at the same time. She tensed, waiting, and then a whisper of sound behind them and she spun, immediately crying out in pain as a burning sensation hit her in the back. Severus’ wand was in his hand and a flash of red light later sent a wand spinning past them as one of their attackers was disarmed. She turned, and the first thing she did was send a loud blast of sound out of her wand to draw attention. She followed that up with a stunner in the direction of their attackers, and then, processing that whatever they had hit her with was a lot worse than the stinging hex she’d been anticipating, she sent an Incendio, which she was satisfied to see set Potters robes on fire.

Severus continued flinging up shields as Black and Pettigrew threw spells at them while Potter attempted to get out of the way as he had lost his wand. She had no idea if Lupin was there but didn’t worry about it. They blocked another stunning spell she sent out but she followed it up with a slug vomiting hex against Pettigrew which hit it’s target as Black was distracted by another Expelliarmus from Severus. She was about to try the same against Black when Professor Sprout called out, “Stop,” and disarmed Sirius Black herself.

Hermione immediately lowered her wand and then sagged against the wall. Her back was burning and she couldn’t help herself as tears flooded her eyes. Severus touched her, not realising, and she cried out. Professor Sprout rounded the corner and asked kindly, “Miss Granger, are you alright?”

She felt her lower lip trembling and said, “No Professor. They-” She broke off with a sob, she wanted to explain further but couldn’t get the words out.

Severus took her arm and said, “They just attacked us out of nowhere Professor. They hit Hermione with something; I didn’t hear the incantation though. May I take her up to the Hospital Wing?”

Professor Sprout agreed and then dragged the Marauders up to see their Head of House, conjuring a bucket for Pettigrew to vomit his slugs into.

In the Hospital Wing she stripped out of her uniform so Madam Pomfrey could examine her, Black had hit her with some kind of Burning hex, and she was given a tub of burn paste she’d have to apply for a couple of weeks before it would clear up entirely. Professors McGonagall, Slughorn, and Sprout were all waiting for her when she emerged from behind the curtains, and after Madam Pomfrey told them what she’d been hit with they all looked furiously towards the Marauders who were awaiting judgement. In the end Black lost 50 points and was given detention for his unprovoked hex. He’d tried to claim not to have started the fight but there were too many curious Hufflepuff witnesses, and Professor Sprout made the point that even if he hadn’t started it, his hex had escalated the fight. Pettigrew, Severus, and Hermione all lost 20 points each for participating in the fight, so although Potter and Lupin had managed to get out of the way before they were caught it was still a big loss for Gryffindor. Hermione and Severus were given a warning about sneaking off together but didn’t lose points for snogging since no teachers or prefects had spotted that part.

After Professor McGonagall escorted them all back to the tower Black growled, “90 points! I hope you’re happy Granger.”

“Delighted, I hope you’ve learned your lesson Black. Don’t hex us again, Gryffindor vs Gryffindor duels in the corridors are just going to lose us house points.”

“Bloody traitorous little skank!”

She ignored him and made her way up to the dormitory. Despite the pain she was in she was satisfied with this outcome. She suspected that in previous duels Severus had done enough damage that the teachers felt comfortable painting him as the antagonist, even if he hadn’t been. That’s when they didn’t just hex him and then run off, which she suspected had been their plan today if she and Severus hadn’t been so quick to engage with them. Though she wasn’t pleased about being hit with that Burning hex it did shine a different light on things, and she expected Black would be a little more careful about their confrontations in the future, and hopefully the staff might be reconsidering their stances on the matter.

Chapter Text

Lily and Remus now joined her and Severus in the library every Monday night. They usually worked on their Charms essays but would occasionally go over other subjects as well. Lily had hinted a couple of times that she’d love to have Severus’ help for Potions again as she’d missed working on it with him but to Hermione’s surprise and pleasure Severus had told her that he and Hermione usually did most of their essays on Thursdays in between brewing steps. He did agree to look over her work for her and give suggestions, and in practice that meant he was basically letting her copy their work, but it was still nice that he wasn’t willing to just rearrange their plans for the other girl, so she didn’t complain.

It was now less than a month until Christmas and Lily was taking the opportunity to bemoan that she didn’t know what to get James as a gift, pointing out that him being so rich made it hard to shop for him. Severus looked very sour, and Hermione thought it was quite cruel of Lily to rub it in this way, but she couldn’t help taking the opportunity to say, “It is hard, he’s wealthy enough that he can just buy anything he likes for himself. Have you considered making him something?”

 “Of course, but I have no idea what.”

Hermione said quite seriously, “He was complaining about his coin purse being too heavy the other day, perhaps you could make him a new one with a Feather Light Charm on it?” Snape’s head turned sharply to look at her, wondering what she was up to. James had been complaining about that in fact, loudly while they were in Hogsmeade, but it wasn’t a true complaint. He’d just been bragging about how wealthy he was while she and Severus were discussing the cost of ingredients in the Apothecary.

“Was he?” Lily asked.

Hermione looked at Lupin until he confirmed, uncomfortably, “I’m sure I recall him saying something like that.”

Lily pondered, “I don’t even know how to make something like that though.”

“You could ask Hagrid to help you. I bet he could even provide the leather for it, and I’m sure he’d know how to do the stitching and could teach you to emboss it if you don’t mind doing it the Muggle way. You could do all the Charms work yourself.”

“Oh, I don’t really know him, do you think so?”

“Why don’t you come visit him with me? I go down to his hut for tea every Sunday and I’m sure he’d be glad to meet you, he really isn’t as scary as he looks. It will be fun.”

Lily didn’t look very excited about the idea but she agreed to go. Remus asked if he could come along as well, and Hermione accepted. The Marauders knew Hagrid well enough to say hi whenever they ran across him on the grounds but they weren’t friends with him. Hermione had made a point of befriending Hagrid again, she’d always liked him even though they didn’t always see eye to eye. She hadn’t entirely approved of his appointment to the Care of Magical Creatures post but he was a very competent Groundskeeper, and he was useful to know just for the random creature ingredients he was always collecting. She’d told him about her tent idea and he’d just casually handed her a tanned Graphorn skin, she’d tried to refuse as it was incredibly valuable, but Hagrid had absolutely insisted and called it a late birthday present since he didn’t know when hers was. He was incredibly sweet so she had no doubt he’d be able to help Lily make a coin purse.

Everyone was looking at Snape, obviously expecting him to ask to be included as well.

He noticed and sneered at them, “Of course I will come too, now could we focus on this essay? It isn’t going to write itself.”

Hermione smiled. He was in such a bad mood, and she could tell he was curious to know why she was encouraging Lily to give this specific gift to James Potter.

On Saturday she met Severus by the lake for another picnic. He grumbled about it but she told him sternly that it was romantic, and if he wanted to be a good boyfriend he’d suffer through it. They were working on suppressing emotions entirely so would project a feeling to each other and then try to quickly submerge it, showing each other completely unrelated memories, or sometimes memories stripped of the associated emotion.

They took a break from that for a bit and Severus asked, “You’re not planning to get Lily in trouble with this coin purse thing are you?”

“No, of course not.”

“What’s the plan then?”

“I wanted to add a Linking Charm to his current coin purse but it’s completely non magical so it would stand out. We’ll encourage Lily to put as many Charms on this one as possible and after she gives it to him I’ll be able to add to it without anyone noticing, that way we can continue swapping coins with him even after graduation. Aurors have spells that will give them a rough idea of when an object was enchanted so if it’s noticed they’ll be able to tell it wasn’t like that when she gifted it to him.”

“Alright. How do you know Hagrid?”

“We were friends in the future, and I made an effort to befriend him again now.”

“I got the impression from your memories about his Hippogriff lessons that you didn’t like him much.”

“Oh, it’s not like that. I didn’t think he was a very good teacher, that doesn’t mean I don’t like him as a person though, and he really is a good Groundskeeper. He was appointed as the Care of Magical Creatures Professor in my third year but he refused to follow any kind of reasonable curriculum and then would get upset when it got him into trouble. It was Dumbledore’s fault really, Hagrid had no qualifications for the post beyond an unhealthy fixation with monstrous creatures, it was the Headmaster’s usual favouritism that got him the job. Harry and Ron loved Hagrid and thought it was a betrayal to say that he was a bad teacher, it didn’t stop them dropping his classes as soon as they could, but I was a bad person for trying to help.”

“What did he do that offended you so terribly?”

“Well let’s see, in my first year he won a dragon egg from a stranger in a pub and tried to raise it in his wooden hut. He was barely keeping up with his duties while he tried to play mummy to little Norbert the Norwegian Ridgeback. Malfoy found out about it and we had to come up with a plan to sneak the dragon out of the castle before he could get Hagrid fired.”

“What was he planning to do with it when it got too big to live in the hut? Assuming it didn’t burn the place down of course.”

“Put it in the Forbidden Forest where he stores all his other monsters of course. We sent Norbert to a dragon sanctuary in Romania. During my second year while I was petrified by the Basilisk Hagrid told Harry and Ron to follow the spiders, knowing they would be led to his pet Acromantula Aragog who he hid in a cupboard back when he was a student. He thought Aragog was lonely so he later got him a wife and there’s now an entire colony of Acromantula living in the Forbidden Forest. In a few years they will start encroaching on the Centaur’s territory and causing problems. Harry and Ron were nearly eaten by Aragog’s relatives and were only saved by a sentient Ford Anglia which happened to be roaming the forest.”

He smirked, “So Norbert was his attempt to balance out the ecosystem. He would have eaten some of the Acromantula and solved the issue if only you hadn’t sent him off to Romania.”

Hermione laughed, “Yes, and burned down half the forest, a perfect solution. You saw his first class, showing Hippogriffs to a bunch of third years, it was a disaster, and then the next year he decided to illegally breed Manticores and Fire Crabs together to create Blast-Ended Skrewts, which were the worst things I’ve ever seen. Even their genitals were somehow weaponised. Instead of learning about Unicorns, Krups, Nifflers, or anything else that might have been on our exams we were expected to risk our limbs learning to keep his hideous experiments alive.”

He chuckled, “Why do I get the feeling you would have been fine with risking life and limb if only the topic had been relevant to exams?”

“Well, if it was in the Ministry approved curriculum...”

He chuckled, “I thought that Mastiff he has was bad enough, and all it tried to do is slobber on me, compares rather favourably to a dragon.”

“He had a boarhound named Fang in my time. Rocky is actually better behaved. I didn’t know you knew Hagrid?”

“He invited me to tea and fed me something he called rock cakes which I thought might be a rather poor assassination attempt.”

Hermione laughed, “Yes, his tea is alright, but his food can’t be trusted. When did he invite you for tea?”

Severus looked a little uncomfortable, “He was the one who intervened, by the lake. I went for tea with him once after that.”

“I never knew that.”

“I thought you knew all about it.”

“No, the memory I saw of it cut off right after your disagreement with Lily. I didn’t see how it ended.”

“I hadn’t realised. Well shortly after Lily… left, Hagrid came stomping up and yelled at Black and Potter then dragged us all off to see the Headmaster. He’s a bit of an oaf but not a bad sort.”

She smiled, “Yes, he's a very lovely oaf.”

They returned to their Occlumency practice after that, and although Hermione had been doing well with it there was a point where Severus sent a feeling of admiration and she lost control of her memories, recalling herself beaming at Professor Lockhart as he praised her for getting perfect marks on his start of term quiz.

Severus withdrew and preceded to laugh hysterically, asking, “Lockhart? Seriously, that little ponce?”

She felt her cheeks heat with embarrassment, “Shut up, I was 12!”

He laughed harder, “You had a crush on Gilderoy bloody Lockhart, that’s hilarious.”

“It’s not funny and if you keep laughing I’m going to hex you.”

He eyed her, “I feel as though you’ve been threatening to hex me an awful lot lately.”

“Only because you’ve been a git. I thought we agreed not to make fun of each other if we saw anything embarrassing.”

“You’re right, I’m sorry I was just surprised. I thought you said you didn’t fall for handsome wizards?”

“Once again, I was 12! I learned my lesson, and you’ll learn yours about making fun of me unless you want to be vomiting slugs for the next hour.”

“You’re no fun. Fine.”

“I think I’ve had enough Occlumency for today. Let’s canoodle, we should let other students see us being affectionate.”

“Canoodle? Who says that.”

“I do. Fine come and cuddle with me, is that better?”

He shook his head, “You were just threatening to hex me and now you want to cuddle. Girls are so bizarre.” He moved over to sit next to her regardless though.

An hour later she was resting her back against a tree with a Cushioning Charm cast on it, a book floating in front of her, and Severus’ head in her lap, his own book floating above him. It was cosy and comfortable, and exactly what she’d like to do with a real boyfriend if she had one. She’d had to encourage Severus into the position, he’d been very uncomfortable initially, but as soon as she’d begun scraping her fingers through his hair he seemed to relax into it.

They’d been reading for a while when Lily came over to say hello. When Hermione looked up at the other girl the first thing she noticed was the slight expression of disgust on her face as she looked to where Hermione’s fingers were stroking through Severus’ hair. He stiffened but didn’t move and she could see his cheeks flush. Hermione’s heart squeezed but she just scratched his scalp a little more firmly with her nails in an attempt at reassurance. They made small talk for a bit but as soon as Lily was gone he sat up and scooted away from her. She waited, wondering if he would say anything, but he just sat there morosely.

“Are you alright?”

He looked up bleakly, “She looked at me the exact way she looked at Professor Slughorn when he taught us how to stroke Nigri slugs to collect their secretions in Potions. I’ve been using that stupid shampoo, even though it smells gross, and my hair is still greasy. I can’t believe you were even willing to touch me.” He’d shifted over to the edge of their picnic blanket and as he spoke he was tearing up tufts of grass and tossing them aside.

“Your hair isn’t that bad. Seriously. Sure, it’s still a little bit oily but it’s not slug secretions.”

He just continued his assault on the grass.

“If it bothers you then do something about it. If the school shampoo isn’t working for you then why don’t you brew your own? Muggles have different shampoos for different hair types, I used to buy one that was specifically designed for curly hair and I’m sure they had some specifically for oily hair types. I think it was supposed to dry your skin out? I’m not sure, I never looked into it but you’re brilliant at Potions, surely you could figure it out.”

“Shampoo isn’t a potion.”

She snorted, “Fine, make yourself a hair potion to treat oily hair. You don’t have to call it shampoo if you don’t want to.”

He considered for a moment but said rather petulantly, “I’m a serious potion maker. I don’t make frivolous hair potions.”

“Well stop complaining about your frivolous hair problems then.” He scowled at her, but she was almost sure he would develop something for this. She smiled, “Let me know if you need any help with the arithmancy.”

He threw a tuft of grass at her. She yelped but was pleased to see he looked a little more cheerful after that.

The following day was Sunday and they all walked down to Hagrid’s for tea, eagerly bundling themselves into his hut to get out of the snow. Hagrid was quite pleased to be introduced to her friends, and they all sat down for tea and rock cakes (she had warned the others about those in advance). He was quite pleased to help with Lily’s present and offered her some dried Mooncalf hide, explaining he never killed any creatures, only collected their remains if the others of their kind didn’t mind. He could see Lily wasn’t going to have much luck fashioning it into a coin purse so kindly offered to sew it for her if she could tell him what she’d like embossed on it.

Lily hesitated over it until Hermione suggested, “What about a stag and a doe? It was quite impressive when the two of you produced those matching Patronuses in class the other day.” It really had been. They’d been taught the charm in Defence Against the Dark Arts with the expectation they’d all be able to maintain an amorphous shield, the Professor had explained how uncommon it was to produce a corporeal Patronus but Potter had quickly accomplished it, and Lily had promptly followed with her doe. There had been a lot of oohing and ahhing over how romantic it was. Hermione had deliberately just produced mist as she didn’t want to reveal her own abilities for her classmates to see.

Lily was instantly enthusiastic over the suggestion, but Hagrid wanted a drawing and Lily was no artist. She looked at Severus and said, “Sev, would you mind?”

Severus looked at her as though she’d lost her mind as he asked, “Seriously Lils? You want me to help you make a gift for Potter?”

She tried a compliment, “It’s just I remember you used to be so good at drawing.”

Severus looked at Hermione, obviously reminding himself that she had a nefarious plan for the coin purse before he agreed. Hermione was quite interested to find out that Severus could draw. She asked about it and Lily told her that when they were younger he used to steal all of her art supplies to make sketches. They all watched as he drew a stag and a doe, overlapping each other with the doe in the foreground. He’d had Hagrid explain the embossing process and he kept the drawing simple with a few nice clean lines. It was quite good when he’d finished and he blushed slightly under their praise.

At one point Hagrid started telling Hermione about the progress he’d made on her project until she cut him off, “Let’s talk about this some other time Hagrid.”

He immediately realised his mistake, looking at Snape and saying, “Right ye are Mione, sorry ‘bout that. Forgot meself fer a sec there. No trouble.”

Severus turned to look at her, obviously having gathered that she’d asked for Hagrid’s help with a present for him too, but Hermione forcibly moved the conversation onwards. On the way back to the castle Severus hung back to ask her quietly, “I gather you are going to be giving me something for Christmas, I suppose I’m expected to give you a gift as well?”

“Unless you want everyone to know you’re a terrible boyfriend then yes, you absolutely need to give your girlfriend of two months a Christmas present.”

He raised an eyebrow, “Since she’s only a fake girlfriend though can I expect some assistance with gift ideas? I have no idea what to get you, and as you know my coin purse isn’t too heavy.”

She chuckled, “You don’t have to buy me anything, why don’t you make me something? You could draw something for me? I never knew you were so artistic.”

“It’s hardly something to advertise, but yes, what should I draw for you?”

“I don’t know, whatever you feel like. I can’t think of anything I’d particularly like.”

He scowled at her but she just smiled and patted him on the shoulder, “You can’t expect me to do all of the thinking for you.”

“Yes, but please help me. Now that I’m friends with Lily again I’ll need to give her something, can I give you both a drawing? Or is it tacky not to give something special to my girlfriend? Also, does this stupid study group mean that I’m friendly enough with Lupin that I need to give him a gift as well?”

“Well, yes, I think you could give drawings to everyone, but you should probably make mine nicer than Lily’s somehow. I don’t know anything about art though, make mine bigger, I guess? Lupin is so easy I can’t believe you even need to ask me, of course you should give him something and it should obviously be a drawing of the moon.”

Severus snorted, then chuckled darkly, “Yes perfectly fitting, and then everyone can laugh at me for this as well.”

“Who cares if they do? You’re very talented, you should be proud of yourself, I certainly am.”

He blushed slightly but just said, “Let’s just hope I can think of something to make for you.”

The first potion trial had gone extremely well. May Miller was responding perfectly to the treatment, feeling better than ever, and reported no side effects. They’d provided their updated recipe to Slughorn and Healer Abbott was so pleased with the efficacy he’d moved up the timing for the trials and organised several new people to start taking their modified potion. It turned out that Professor Slughorn was arranging for all his closest friends to participate in their trial, nepotism at its finest, and Severus was displeased to find they would be treating both of Potters parents. Hermione would get her introduction to Edgar Dagworth-Granger, and Arnold Bones would be their final patient for the day, a current potions apprentice at St Mungo’s who also happened to be a nephew of Healer Abbott.

When Abbott introduced them to the Potters they visibly started at Snape’s name. Lady Potter asked, “Severus Snape? You’re acquainted with our son I believe.”

Severus, not much for politeness, sneered and said, “Indeed.”

Lord Potter looked over to Healer Abbott, “You’re quite sure this potion is safe Angus? Could we maybe have a quick look over the recipe?”

Healer Abbott was surprised by their obvious mistrust, “Certainly, do you have reason to think it may not be?”

After another look towards Severus he replied rather unconvincingly, “I’m sure it’s fine but we’ll just have a quick look. Were the students involved in brewing this batch or was it made here at St. Mungo’s?”

Healer Abbott sounded slightly offended himself now, “It was made here of course. The students are brilliant, but they don’t exactly have an industrial laboratory. We’ll move on to the next patient and leave you for now.”

Edgar Dagworth-Granger was much more pleasant. When they were introduced to him he said, “Ahh Miss Granger, my son Alfie highly recommends you. His grades in Charms have improved since you took over his tutoring. I hadn’t realised that in addition to being a Charms expert you were also a budding Potioneer.”

“Thank you sir, that’s very kind, but I’m not. I’m a competent brewer but Severus here is the one with the real talent for Potions, I’ve mostly assisted him with Arithmancy.”

“Hmmn, Severus Snape? Not a wizarding name is it?”

Severus said, “No sir, my mother was a Prince but my father is a muggle.”

“Oh, a Prince? Might your mother be Eileen then?”

“Indeed, sir.”

“Well, I knew her in school, not well of course but we played gobstones together. Quiet girl. She had a talent for Potions as well if I recall?”

Severus nodded. Edgar turned to Hermione again, “Miss Granger, Alfie tells me your mother was Alicia Ryerson? I knew her as well back in the day, I’m sorry to say we lost contact.”

“She wasn’t in contact with anyone from the wizarding world, quite reclusive really. I grew up in the Muggle world with her though she taught me magic at home.”

“You seem quite accomplished for someone who was taught at home. A treatment for Dragon Pox under your belt at eighteen? Quite the achievement.”

“Thank you, sir, I’ve always been studious, I love to read and I’m rather good at learning things even without the benefit of a teacher, though I am enjoying being at school this year.”

“And you don’t know who your father is?”

“My mother never said but I suspect he was a wizard.”

He eyed her contemplatively after that as Healer Abbott regained their attention and administered the first dose. The potion was to be taken daily but the patients were all required to stay overnight when they took it for the first time in case they had an unusual reaction to one of the ingredients. There were no issues with Arnold Bones and they returned to the Potters room to see if they were satisfied yet.

The Potters asked to speak to Healer Abbott alone at first, so Hermione and Severus waited in the corridor outside their door. Hermione pulled an Extendable Ear from her bag so they could listen in, which Severus eyed with interest, and they heard the Potters expound on how evil and vile they knew Snape to be, and their worry that he might have interfered with the potion using the Dark Arts in an attempt to harm them in some way. Hermione could hardly believe it, even if Severus was as evil as they seemed to think him he’d have to be an idiot to try to harm them as part of an official medical trial. Severus looked furious but they heard Healer Abbott approach the door and by the time Hermione had tucked the Extendable Ear away his expression was blank again.

As they entered the room Healer Abbott quietly asked, “Miss Granger dear, would you mind explaining to the Potters that this treatment was your idea initially? They seem to have some unfortunate ideas about our Mister Snape here and suspect him of some duplicity but perhaps if you could tell them how it all came about we can set their minds at ease.”

Hermione considered for a moment, but it didn’t take her long to decide that she didn’t mind offending the Potters, especially if not doing so came at Severus’ expense, so she said loudly, “I’m sorry Healer Abbott but I think that would be a waste of time. We had no idea they had been chosen as patients for the trial but their son James has a history of bullying Severus and spreading nasty rumours about him. Obviously, they believe their son, to the extent that they think we would what? Invent a treatment for Dragon Pox as some sort of horrible plot to harm them, when they were already dying from the disease anyway? Sabotage our own trial? Whatever suspicions they have must be ridiculous and based on nothing but their son’s opinion of Severus, and though I’m sure we could talk them around I don’t see the point. Their mistrust of the potion could affect the trials results, and it’s not like we couldn’t find other patients to replace them with.”

Lady Potter said sharply, “Our son is not a bully.”

Hermione eyed her cooly, then turned to address Healer Abbott again, “Regardless of the truth of the matter I don’t think it wise to let their bias affect our trial.”

Lord Potter said quickly, “We have no wish to withdraw our participation, clearly we’ve had a misunderstanding but let’s not be hasty.”

Hermione smirked, unsurprised. This strain of Dragon Pox was particularly debilitating, and the Potters would have to be insane not to get early access to their treatment especially when they knew Healer Abbott and Professor Slughorn were both vouching for it, and Severus and Hermione were only responsible for the recipe and wouldn’t be directly brewing the potion. Healer Abbott gave Hermione an assessing look for a moment, obviously realising she’d anticipated this. The Potters were wealthy, well known, powerful purebloods and it would be rare for anyone to deny them anything, particularly not two half-blood students. Normally Hermione would agree that it would be a bad idea to make enemies of them, except she’d already thrown her lot in with Severus and his relationship with James Potter meant it would be pointless to try to curry favour with the Potters.

They spent the night in the little staff room again and after Slughorn drifted off to sleep in one of the cots Severus whispered to her, “Hermione you are insane. I can’t believe you insulted the Potters like that.” He was pretending to disapprove but his tone was obviously pleased.

Hermione snorted, “They were being ridiculous. I can’t imagine what Potter has told them about you but imagine thinking you’d really try something in the middle of St. Mungos. If they’d been polite I wouldn’t have insulted them but if they are going to be dunderheads then that’s their own problem. Besides I’ve pretty much declared myself with you, even if I’d scraped and bowed to them it wouldn’t have gotten us anywhere, we won’t ever be on their good side.”

“It’s still hard to believe that you’d insult the entire Potter family just for me but I can’t say I’m not grateful.” He grinned at her.

Hermione grinned back, “I’d insult a lot of people for you Snape, you are my only friend you know.”

He bumped his shoulder against hers, and Hermione grinned wider. He only rarely initiated physical contact with her. She would occasionally touch him, bumping shoulders or linking arms with him as they walked, or sometimes holding his hand, but he wasn’t often affectionate that way. It pleased her that he was opening up and becoming more comfortable with her. Everything went smoothly enough and Healer Abbott let them know they wouldn’t be needed any further. He would send them regular updates through Slughorn and if everything went well they’d finalise the patent in six months and make the potion available to other patients. Slughorn had handled the financial arrangements, including setting up a Gringotts account for Hermione, and had negotiated their potioneers fee with the Ministry, and the whole plan was coming together quite nicely.

Chapter Text

The next day was Saturday and in the evening there was another Slug Club event, this time a Christmas party before school let out the following weekend. Apparently, while most people usually just wore their school robes to a normal dinner, for Christmas everyone would dress up. Hermione had tried to get the stain out of the red dress robes she’d found in the Room of Requirement but it wouldn’t budge, it was on the back of the dress though so she thought she could make it work. She did a temporary transfiguration on her brown corduroy jacket to turn it into a shimmery golden outer robe, hopefully no-one would throw a Finite Incantatem at her but as long as she didn’t end up naked she wouldn’t complain too much, even if she wound up looking very Muggle and unfashionable.

She applied about a bucket full of Sleekeazy’s to her hair until it was smooth and straight, appearing much longer than usual without her curls, and then conjured some tinsel to turn into a headband. Lily let her borrow some makeup as Hermione only had mascara and lip gloss of her own, but some shimmery gold powder and a quick lesson in applying eyeliner later and she was feeling quite pretty. Lily was wearing a green dress and had charmed herself to look somewhat like a Christmas tree with tinsel and baubles draped around her in a spiralling pattern. She looked gorgeous of course but Hermione didn’t love the overall effect, it was a bit gimmicky and not particularly elegant. She complimented her though, and they headed down to meet James and Sirius in the common room. When they arrived in Slughorn’s rooms Severus’ eyes passed over her dismissively, looked to Lily who waved at him, and then flicked back to Hermione in a very obvious double take. The entire group of Gryffindor’s walked up to Severus who was wearing Harry’s old dress robes and had tied his hair back.

He gave Hermione an amused look and said, “I didn’t recognise you, your dress is lovely.”

Hermione smiled, “Your obvious surprise is insulting you know.”

Lily agreed quickly, “Yeah Sev you shouldn’t be surprised that your girlfriend is pretty. What do you think of my dress?”

He raised an eyebrow, “Fishing for compliments Lily? You look nice, but did something happen? Did you go into the Great Hall while Flitwick was decorating the Christmas trees and get caught in the crossfire?”

She smacked him, “Sev! I spent ages working on this.”

Severus looked amused, “Oh I see it’s deliberate then? Yes, well you do look like a Christmas tree so if that’s the effect you were trying for then well done.”

Potter said quickly, “Ignore him Lils everyone knows you look gorgeous of course.”

“Indeed, do ignore me, you know I’m always a grinch at Christmas, and you have done well on the charms. Honestly, the tinsel looks so realistic I doubt we could tell it apart from one of Flitwick’s trees.”

Lily’s mouth dropped open at the compliment, “Oh, thanks Sev. What do you think of Hermione? She transfigured her outer robe.”

His dark eyes swept over her and he said softly, “You truly do look lovely, and that isn’t what surprised me because of course you’re beautiful, but what on earth have you done to your hair?”

Hermione gaped at him, “My hair? My horrible, uncontrollable, rats nest hair? I spent an hour and several bottles of Sleekeazy’s taming it.”

Severus shook his head, “How terribly wasteful. I don’t even know who you are without your hair. It’s not horrible at all, it is wild and untameable, unapologetically boisterous, proudly unmanageable. It’s a shame to subdue it like this.”

Hermione gaped at him. She realised he had planned this, he’d done what she’d recommended for Lily, dismissing her appearance but complimenting her on her abilities, and Lily had obviously been pleased by his comment on her charms skills. They hadn’t discussed whether he should compliment Hermione’s appearance, but he’d obviously decided to do so, and to compliment her hair of all things! People never had anything nice to say about her hair and she normally received endless compliments on it when she went to the effort to subdue it, yet he seemed so sincere.

She smiled softly, “Well I didn’t realise you liked it so much, or I would have left it alone. You look nice too by the way; I like your hair pulled back like this.”

His cheeks pinked a little, but he offered her his arm, “Come, Slughorn wanted to speak to us as soon as you arrived.”

Hermione waved to the others as they walked over to greet the Professor. Hermione whispered to Severus, “I’m glad to see you’re wearing the dress robes, I wasn’t entirely convinced that you would. I thought you might be allergic to colour.”

“What are you talking about silly witch? I wear a green tie every day and you’ve never seen me out of my school robes before.”

“Professor Snape wore black and only black. In fact, he once came to a Slug Club party wearing his teaching robes.”

“Well, I do prefer to wear black in general, and I am pleased you happened to have green robes. Not sure how you managed that considering all your friends are Gryffindors.”

“My friend Harry had Lily’s eyes. There’s a reason she’s wearing green tonight.”

“Ahh of course.”

Slughorn noticed them and said loudly, “Ahh here’s Miss Granger then, don’t you just look lovely my dear, your hair is wonderful like that you should style it more often. Ahem, could I have everyone’s attention for a moment? Just a quick announcement to let you know that our very own Mister Snape and Miss Granger have just begun a medical trial for a potion they invented which so far looks like a very promising treatment for Dragon Pox. It’s likely to be very successful and quite impressive for both of them, I hope you’ll all join me in congratulating them.”

People clapped for them and then drifted off again. Lily rushed over tugging James along with her, “Sev, Mione, why didn’t you tell me? A treatment for Dragon Pox? That’s amazing. You know James’ parents are sick, are you going to treat them?”

Hermione smiled, “Of course Lily, they are already in the trial, we met with them yesterday. We’re very hopeful that it will help, the first person to test it is reporting very positive results.”

Lily looked at James, “Isn’t that amazing?”

James said, “Yes, very amazing.” He did not look amazed at all.

Lily looked at Severus a little sulkily, “I wish you’d told me, I bet I could have helped, and it would have been loads of fun. Remember back when we used to discuss potions theories?”

Before he could answer they were interrupted by Alfie who bounced up to hug Hermione saying happily, “Hermione! I was just talking to Professor Slughorn and he said your potion is going to save my father. I can’t believe it; you’re like an angel or something! And Mister Snape! We’ve not been introduced but Hermione told me all about you, so nice to meet you finally. She said you are brilliant at Potions but a cure for Dragon Pox, that’s insane! My father was working on it, and he couldn’t come up with anything.”

Hermione grinned, “Alfie you’ve forgotten your manners. Everyone this is Alfred Dagworth-Granger, I tutor him in Charms sometimes. Alfie you already know who Severus Snape is, and I’m sure you’ve met James Potter before, but you might not know Lily Evans?”

Alfie grinned looking slightly abashed, “Sorry, I was just so excited by the news about my father, I’ve been so worried about him. Lovely to meet you all. Hermione you have to tell me all about your potion; I want to be able to talk to father about it over Christmas.”

Hermione smiled and prepared to tell the story she’d made up about being inspired to create their potion. “It was sort of your fault Alfie, after you told me about your father I was curious. I’d heard about the new strain of Dragon Pox not responding to treatment and I ended up reading a few journal articles about it and started wondering about how odd it is that Dragons don’t really get sick, they only carry the disease. I read an article which said that people with Dragon Pox are far more likely to pass away from the disease during the colder months and that got me thinking about how my mum used to say that a fever is a good sign because it means your body is fighting off the virus. Muggles are always careful if your fever goes too high because your body can’t handle it. I thought that if Dragon Pox is a virus then maybe inducing a really high fever would help fight it off, but since we have the advantage of magic it might be possible to adapt a person’s body to cope with a higher fever. I think that may be why Dragons don’t get very sick at all; they have a much higher internal temperature than we do. Our treatment doesn’t attack the virus directly at all, it just makes the environment less habitable to slow it down so the existing cure has time to work.”

Alfie looked amazed, “Hermione, you did that for me?”

“Oh, no. Sorry I didn’t mean to make it sound that way, it’s not like I could have cured any disease, and I picked that one for you. You just started me thinking about it and then I had an idea. Really though it wouldn’t have gone anywhere without Severus, I’m seriously astonished by him. The more time I spend with him the more brilliant I realise he is. I had a crazy idea but he’s the one who made it a reality.”

Severus sniffed, “Hermione you must stop doing that. I’m sick of having arguments with you about how much credit you deserve, if you really insist on continuing to disclaim your own efforts then next time I will agree and publicly question what your name is even doing on our patent.”

Hermione smiled, “I wasn’t saying I don’t deserve any credit, it’s just that people seem to forget about you because you’re so quiet. I have to make sure your efforts are recognised.”

Alfie laughed, “Well I’m certainly glad the two of you managed to collaborate. I can’t wait to see my parents at Christmas, it’s going to be fantastic. Are you working on anything else?”

“Yes a few of the Hogwarts house elves have Dragon Pox as well, we’re trying to adapt our potion to treat them. After that I’ll hope to have another crazy idea I guess, or maybe we’ll just find time to catch up on our classes. We’ve missed a few weeks of Herbology and Defence.”

Alfie began talking to Hermione about how pleased his parents were with his improved grades in Charms, and Potter and Lily excused themselves to go and talk to Black. There was no formal dinner tonight, instead house elves were wandering around with plates of canapes. After Alfie had exhausted every topic he could think of he wandered off and Severus took her around to meet some of the Slytherins.

He introduced her to Regulus Black who smirked at her and said, “I heard you had the good sense to turn my brother down, only to then questionably end up with Severus here. How did that happen?”

Hermione smiled, “Not sure, perhaps Sirius was so awful I would have gone out with whoever asked me next?”

Severus elbowed her. Regulus winked, “That sounds like a logical response to my brother and if Severus benefits from it then all the better.”

After that they were surrounded by Severus’ dormmates who were rather intimidating, she knew they would all become Death Eaters and she wasn’t sure what was worse; Avery and Rosier looking down their noses, or Mulciber being surprisingly friendly. They mingled for a while, none of them taking much pleasure in it, until Hermione expressed a desire to get some air and had Severus escort her outside. For this party Slughorn had opened up the doors onto a courtyard and some party goers were mingling outside. The courtyard contained a small, hedged garden with benches scattered throughout it, and a fountain in the centre. It wasn’t a maze since it was straightforward and perfectly symmetrical, but it did create a few nooks and crannies for students to sneak away to. She thought Slughorn must know what use would be made of his garden but she supposed as long as no-one was too indecent he probably thought it a nice indulgence for his favourite couples, of which Severus and Hermione were now one.

It had been 3 weeks since they had been caught snogging in that alcove and lost a bunch of points for Gryffindor. They’d snuck off a few times since then, slipping into alcoves or behind tapestries between classes, but Black was obviously keeping an eye on them and kept catching them, so quickly that they hadn’t even gotten to the snogging part again. He’d refrained from hexing them again but was intent on interrupting. For now, she could see that he was in conversation with Professor Slughorn so, assuming they’d have a bit of time as he’d have to hunt them down amongst the hedges, she grabbed Severus by the hand and pulled him into the garden. They found a bench and sat down together.

“I have no idea how long Sirius will be stuck in there before he tries to look for us, do you want to wait for a bit or just start snogging?”

He contemplated her for a moment before saying, “Let’s start, he’s been quick to interrupt us recently.”

Hermione leaned forward, a little eagerly, and pressed her lips against his. She could no longer deny that her feelings for him were more than friendly. Sometimes she suspected he returned her sentiments but then she’d see him with Lily, he had taken her latest reprimand to heart but he still seemed to defer to the other girl and had never said anything to indicate he was no longer interested in her. Surely if Hermione managed to supplant Lily in his affections he would say something to indicate he was over her. She tried not to think about that while they were kissing though. Whatever his feelings were he seemed happy to make out with her, and she could only hope that would lead to him feeling more for her eventually.

His tongue was gently stroking hers and he had one hand wrapped around her shoulders and the other gently holding the side of her face. Hermione suckled lightly on his tongue and he groaned, the sound shooting straight to her core. Her neck was already beginning to hurt from the angle they were kissing at so she pivoted her body, moving to straddle him on the bench. He groaned again as she pressed herself against him, feeling his erection through their robes. She slid one hand up into his hair, then tugged the ribbon from his hair to let it loose, running her fingers through the silky tresses. She liked his hair, even when it was a bit oily, but he’d washed it especially for the party tonight so right now it was just soft and silky. She scraped her nails along his scalp as they continued to kiss, her other hand running over his shoulder. She wanted to do more, and she thought he’d probably go along with it, but she had to restrain herself. Not only did she not want to progress a physical relationship with someone who had feelings for another girl, but she didn’t want to be walked in on by Sirius Black while doing so. She decided to pull back but ground herself against him once more, just to tease him a bit.

When she did he groaned, his hips jerking against her, and then he stilled and panted, “Stop, too much.” She thought he sounded angry and found herself feeling a little confused, and slightly offended, but she whispered an apology as she untangled herself from him. He said, “I need a minute, go back inside, I’ll catch up soon.”

She eyed him, sitting stiffly on the bench with his flushed cheeks and scowling expression and wondered why he was upset with her. She didn’t ask though, just turned and headed back inside to grab a butterbeer. Severus joined her shortly after that but acted as though nothing had happened and she followed his lead, though things were a little stilted between them. She found herself feeling relieved when the evening was over and fell into her bed rather gratefully at the end of the night.

Chapter Text

Hermione had never before been in a position of needing to purchase Christmas gifts for people she cared for so little. She hadn’t been close enough with Parvati and Lavendar to bother exchanging gifts with them but Lily and Marlene often included her in things, much to her chagrin, so she felt obliged to get them something. Something for Remus as well. She’d already organised gifts for the people she liked, she’d been working on Severus’ for almost two months and hoped he would appreciate it. Alfie had been oddly impressed by her Muggle post it notes so she’d purchased some for him and charmed them to fold themselves up into butterflies and flutter around to deliver notes, similar to the Ministries use of airplane memos but cuter. She wanted to curry favour with Slughorn, so recalling his liking of crystallised pineapple and any kind of alcohol she had used the Room of Requirement to brew pineapple beer which they’d bottled into some fancy looking bottles as a combined gift from her and Severus. Severus, upon realising how easy it was to brew alcohol had decided to make mead for all of his roommates, as it was much more difficult to sneak alcohol into the school than it was to get brewing yeast from the kitchens and make your own.

She found herself in Hogsmeade wandering around while Severus was meeting with Lucius Malfoy and the other Death Eater recruits looking for inspiration. She didn’t want to be cheap as she’d feel bad if the others got her something nice, but she also wasn’t particularly keen to spend a lot of money on them. She didn’t end up buying anything though in the end. She saw some pretty butterfly clips that fluttered their wings but they were far too expensive and she could easily make those herself with some Transfiguration and Animation Charms, so that was Marlene and Lily sorted, she would just make them both a set. At the Apothecary she saw a charmed journal that showed the phases of the moon at the top and recommended the best time to harvest potions ingredients based on time of day and the season and she couldn’t resist the idea. Remus had been talking about having trouble remembering the timing for some plants in Herbology so it wouldn’t be overtly suspicious. She could charm a journal like that herself though and thought it might be worthwhile to make one for herself and for Severus, so she finished her Hogsmeade shopping with no purchases, but a lot more homework for herself.

She made her way to the Three Broomsticks, waving at Severus where he was sitting with all of his Slytherin friends, though the sight of Lucius Malfoy made her shudder. He was in charge of recruiting amongst the younger generation which made sense considering how charming he could be when he wanted to. She ordered a warm butterbeer for herself and then settled in at a small table, pulling out some blank journals to start working on Remus’ gift, grabbing her Herbology textbook to cross reference some of the plants. When Severus finally joined her he asked, “What are you up to?”

“Creating a potion ingredient harvesting guide complete with seasonal information and moon cycles. It’s going to be a gift for Remus.”

“Hmmn, that sounds quite useful, and I’m sure he’ll appreciate the reminder of the moon phases.”

“I’m making you one as well, I got the idea at the apothecary but can you believe they wanted 8 galleons for one of these?”

“I can actually, you realise not that many people are good enough at Charms, Arithmancy, and have the knowledge of Herbology to be able to embed that level of information into a journal?”

“Sure, but once you create one you can copy the arithmantic array for the next journal so it’s really not that difficult to create multiples, it’s only the first one that’s hard. Take a look at this list of plants, have I missed anything?”

He borrowed her textbook and flipped through it, checking a few things. “Knotgrass can be harvested before the full moon as long as it is left out once cut, and Gillyweed has some rarer uses that require it to be harvested at dawn, you should include that for completeness’ sake.”

She smiled and pulled the book back to add the information, scribbling happily. Severus asked, “Did you fail to notice that I was supposed to meet you 40 minutes ago?”

She looked at her watch, “Oh, so you were.”

He smiled, “You were too absorbed in your latest project to even notice my absence. Lucius pulled me aside after the meeting to thank me, he has heard about our Dragon Pox treatment and although his father is pulling strings to try to receive the potion early he hasn’t had any luck yet. His gratitude did seem a little forced and I’m not sure how pleased he really is at his fathers improved prognosis but Lucius has asked me to brew the potion privately for him. He has opened an account for me to purchase ingredients and told me I’m welcome to order whatever I like on the side so long as I get the potion to him before Christmas.”

“I suppose you don’t have much of a choice. I imagine that when a Malfoy isn’t having much luck at procuring something they won’t hesitate to resort to less savoury methods so it’s probably best to go along with it.”

“Yes, I thought so as well, I agreed of course but I need to go and purchase ingredients now, if I’m to have the potion ready in time I will have to start brewing today. Would you mind terribly if I stand you up, or would you perhaps like to accompany me to the apothecary?”

She began packing her things immediately, “I’ll come with you and then we can head back to the castle, I have other Christmas presents to work on so I’ll do that while you start brewing.”

He smiled fondly at her and offered his arm to escort her to the apothecary, and then back to school. When they entered the Room of Requirement Hermione settled down on the settee to finish the journals and began working on the hairclips for Lily and Marlene, making some butterflies that slowly flapped their wings and flowers that would open and close their petals. That didn’t take her very long, so she wandered over to Severus’ brewing station to observe him for a bit. She noticed he had two cauldrons going, one was the Dragon Pox treatment but the other looked slightly different and she asked, “What’s this one?”

“Lucius Malfoy is kindly funding the development of a treatment for house elves. We have three recipes to try but that’s the most promising.”

Hermione blinked back tears as she realised that Lucius Malfoy had just given Severus permission to purchase whatever ingredients he’d like, and he’d used that to buy what they needed to develop a treatment for the house elves. Professor Slughorn had promised to discuss the issue with the Headmaster and get funds from him because most of the ingredients for their recipe weren’t cheap but he was taking his time on it, which she had complained to Severus about several times, so he’d just gone ahead and bought them. She said seriously, “Thank you Severus, that is really kind of you.”

He rolled his eyes, “Don’t thank me, I’m going to force Slughorn to reimburse me if he ever gets approval for it, and if this works it will just mean those poor elves will be well enough to work over the Christmas break.”

“Thank you anyway, I really appreciate it and I’m sure they will too.”

He turned away to return to chopping ingredients, looking a little embarrassed, and she left it to him. She pulled her tent out to assess her progress on that. After she’d seen the prices on them in Hogsmeade she’d decided to make her own, and although Professor Flitwick had warned her about how complicated it would be, she’d been determined. She was beginning to regret it a little if she was honest with herself. She’d needed something for an extra credit Charms project though and it seemed like a good idea. Space Expansion Charms were so complex that it was sure to earn her a good grade if she could master it and had the added benefit that she could practice on other objects meaning that in addition to the beaded bag she’d brought with her from the future she now had another extended bag that was perfectly legal. The problem with the tent was that it involved so many other disciplines.

She needed to transfigure all of the furniture that would go inside the tent, and they would all need to be permanent, stable transfigurations, because if they began to deteriorate then the Packing Charm that would shrink the furniture would no longer work. Transfiguring something into a bed that would last for a couple of hours was one thing, but to do so permanently was difficult and took a lot of magical power. Once she’d figured out her floor plan and what furniture she would have in her tent she had realised it would count as an extra credit project for Transfiguration and she’d reluctantly approached Professor McGonagall to get her sign off.

Next, she’d considered the half a year she spent living in a tent and how annoying it was that you could never change anything. The Packing Charm was so precise that you couldn’t just transfigure a bed to be a bit wider or move the couch to create more floor space when you needed it. Everything was locked into place, and you couldn’t add anything bulky to the space, small belongings would pack away easily enough but that was all. It should be possible to create changes though, and she knew how to do it, with Arithmancy. You could map the space mathematically, a numerical representation of the space, and alter that array for any changes. That was how the charm worked, but there was no reason the arithmantic array couldn’t be updated if you decided to make the bed a little wider or had a sudden desire to add a lamp or something.

Professor Perkins had given her a very sceptical look when she told him she’d like to do another extra credit project for Arithmancy but when she showed him that she’d already done the calculations he just sighed and signed off on it. He was annoyed with her, but it was a tired kind of annoyed. He didn’t want the extra work of students doing extra credit projects at all, and she had to go and do two because she was such an overachiever. The Dragon Pox treatment counted as Potions and Arithmancy for both her and Severus already. He’d already been working on a project to update the textbook recipes, since he wouldn’t have to pay for ingredients as they were all available in the store cupboard for any potions that were in the curriculum. He was doing two extra credit projects for Potions and Slughorn hadn’t complained.

That gave her five. Most people only did one extra credit project, in one subject. It didn’t help with N.E.W.T. scores since they were graded by the Ministry, it was something to do in a subject you planned to achieve Mastery in, to improve your desirability as a candidate. She knew she was already overdoing it. The tent was almost finished. The Graphorn hide Hagrid had given her had been carefully stretched and expanded with a clever combination of transfiguration and charms and it’s innate properties would provide a lot of protection. It was probably enough already, and yet she couldn’t help think how nice it would be to embed some warding spells into the tent itself. It would have been great while she was on the run if she hadn’t had to ward their campsite every time they moved. She told herself it was unnecessary, but Voldemort was still out there. What if she needed to hide again?

Warding spells would need to be anchored into an artifact using Ancient Runes though, so with Defence for the wards she would be adding another two subjects to her project. It was insane. It was also the Christmas holidays. The basics of the tent were finished. She had two weeks of no classes. She wasn’t sure why she was trying to talk herself out of this, she knew she was going to do it. The idea of having seven extra credit projects on her resume, as insane as it sounded, was appealing. There was no reason for it. She wouldn’t be pursuing a Mastery in Defence Against the Dark Arts, or Transfiguration, or Ancient Runes, but she just couldn’t help herself. She wanted more academic achievements, and she could make time. She glared at her study schedule for a bit before she began to adjust it.

That was how Severus found her, sitting inside the tent shifting things around in her schedule. He asked, “Should I be concerned that your holiday schedule looks just as busy as your term schedule?”

“I can’t help it. I had an idea to embed some warding spells into the tent and I can’t get it out of me head and if I’m going to do it anyway I may as well get extra credit for it right? I need to find time to write up a research proposal for that over the holidays.”

“You don’t think you might be overdoing it, just a little?”

“I know but that tent saved our lives while we were on the run and yet it was always so nerve wracking whenever we’d move camp and we’d be in the open while we set the new wards. Imagine if the wards were just embedded into the tent and as soon as you erected it they would activate. It’s just so convenient, even if it was just the basic concealment wards and then you could set more over the campsite if you needed to. Plus, we were caught by snatchers because the Taboo stripped our wards but that might not have happened if the wards had been anchored like this, maybe they wouldn’t have found us. I just… I just want to feel safe.”

He sat down next to her and tugged her notebook out of her hands to read her notes on what she wanted to add to the tent, then said, “What if we do this as another joint project? We can each make a ward stone, you’ll have the extra hassle of figuring out how to embed it into your tent but I’ll help you with the research and figuring out how to make the wards mobile.”

She blinked, “You’re going to make me cry again. Don’t you want to spend the Christmas break relaxing?”

“Sounds boring, besides I would like to do an extra credit project for Defence I just hadn’t thought of one yet, and Ancient Runes is a good choice too.”

“Thank you, Severus.”

“You’re welcome, now come on lets go down to dinner you can update my holiday schedule later.”

Chapter Text

On Friday the students who were going home for the holidays left to catch the train after breakfast, Hermione was on her way out of the hall when Professor Slughorn waved her over. Severus was with her, and the Professor beamed at them both.

“Miss Granger, Mister Snape, the Dagworth-Granger’s have asked to have us all visit for Christmas Eve dinner to thank you for your work on the Dragon Pox treatment. Edgar is doing very well and the whole family is very grateful. Wear your best robes, we will meet in my office at 5.30pm tomorrow to Floo over.”

Hermione was pleased but nervous about the invitation, and not quite sure what she should hope for. The next day she dressed carefully in her periwinkle dress robes, despaired over her hair for a while before splitting it into two braids and spiralling the end of the plaits into a bun at the base of her neck. She wasn’t sure how dressy they were supposed to be but charmed some snowflakes into her hair and put her mums old pearl earrings on. She didn’t bother with any makeup beyond mascara and a bit of chapstick.

They met Slughorn in his office and he gave them a quick lecture about pureblood customs, and told them to follow his example when it came to table manners as he didn’t have time to go over everything. They both agreed and soon found themselves dusting themselves off and looking around an opulent, marble entry hall, and suddenly being greeted by a house elf named Tippy. Tippy led them to a sitting area where they found Edgar Dagworth-Granger, were introduced to his wife Louisa, and were both hugged by Alfie. Edgar was friendly but a bit stiff, Alfie was unapologetically enthusiastic, and Louisa was quiet and stand-offish.

After they were all welcomed Edgar said politely, “Miss Granger might I have a quick word with you in my study before dinner?”

She acquiesced and followed him, settling into the seat in front of his desk feeling distinctly awkward and not sure at all how this conversation was going to go. It had been much easier to talk to him when he’d been unwell and in the hospital. His skin was still faintly green, a reminder of his illness, but he was obviously feeling much better.

She waited for a moment until he said, “I’m not sure where to begin Miss Granger. You came to my attention first via my son’s letters months ago as he thought you might be a cousin, you have the right look for it and half of the name. He told us of the dubious circumstances of your birth, and we wondered about you. Then Professor Slughorn contacted me about participating in a trial for a miraculous new Dragon Pox treatment, created by two of his students, and I found it was the same Miss Granger I had been wondering about who was responsible for returning me to health. Now Alfie is telling me that after the Slug Club party last week rumours abound that you are in fact his sister, my bastard child, and I am not sure what to think of that. Have you anything to say about it, girl?”

She wasn’t sure if he was trying to accuse her of something but he seemed far more friendly than she would have expected for such a conversation. She responded, “I’m not sure what you want me to say sir. Alfie did make the assumption that we were cousins and I concealed nothing from him, telling him of my ‘dubious birth’. I’m glad to hear that your treatment is going well, and though I hadn’t heard the rumours myself it doesn’t surprise me. I’ve drawn too much attention to myself at school and there is a lot of concern amongst some students over blood status, and as a talented witch with a mysterious history I’m subject to a lot of speculation. Some groups claim that my abilities prove my father must have been a pureblood, and I am stuck telling them only that my mother never named my father.”

“Professor Slughorn told me you specifically asked to have me included in your trial. Why?”

“For Alfie. I was already quite fond of him by then.”

“And for yourself. You believe me to be your father, do you not?”

“I think you are the most likely candidate, yes.”

He nodded, “And what is it you would like from me Miss Granger? Do you expect to be recognised, is that why you included me in your trail?”

“I don’t want anything from you. Honestly. I like Alfie, and I’ve come to think of him like a little brother, and if we are related, I wouldn’t want to find out you’d died when I could have fixed it. I don’t expect anything.”

He considered for a moment, “You’d be pleased if I did offer to officially recognise you though? My entire family owe you a debt of gratitude, if I named you as my daughter would you be satisfied?”

She paused. He sounded as though he was considering it, though it was more than she’d expected. “I am already satisfied, sir, please don’t feel that you own me anything. As to being recognised as your daughter, it would depend on what your expectations are. I’ve lived my life under enough restrictions and now that I have some degree of freedom, I am greatly enjoying my independence. It would be nice to have a family but if it would interfere with my plans then I am afraid I would have to decline.”

He gave her a bemused look, “You’re a very unusual young lady Miss Granger. Professor Slughorn did tell me to be prepared for that but I must admit myself surprised. You do realise that if I recognised you as my daughter I would be honour bound to provide for you? A place to live, financial support, a dowry to help you attract a husband. I would introduce you to society. You would refuse all of that if it interfered with your plans?”

She smiled, “I would sir. I’m an adult now and I don’t need anyone else to provide for me, though I thank you for the kind offer. It’s the attracting a husband part that I worry most about, I would never submit to a husband not of my choosing, however well intentioned.”

“Where are you living currently Miss Granger? Professor Slughorn said you do not have an address on file.”

“Oh, I have a magical tent. It’s not currently pitched anywhere, so no address.”

He asked seriously, “You are practically homeless, living in a tent, and you would refuse my offer of a home?”

“I know it sounds bad but it’s quite a nice tent, and I do like being able to move around whenever I feel like it.”

He looked sad for a moment, “Alicia was a stubborn girl as well, I remember her fondly. If I promised not to arrange any marriages for you, would you agree to live here during the summer?”

“Yes sir, with the condition that if I didn’t like it I would leave.”

He smiled, “To go and live in your tent I presume?”

“Precisely.”

“Very well then.”

Hermione hesitated for a moment, before asking, “Sir, were you offering to give me something because you believe me to be your daughter, or because you are grateful for the Dragon Pox treatment?”

“Both, Miss Granger, why do you ask?”

“I wondered if you would offer Mister Snape something, he has no claim to being your daughter obviously but shares equal responsibility with me in the second thing.”

He said jokingly, “Ahh now we are finally getting somewhere. You want nothing for yourself, but you have a favour to ask for your friend?”

“Yes, sir. He’s brilliant at Potions, he has an incredible, innate talent for the craft. He is hoping for an apprenticeship, and I’d like to recommend him to you.”

“You wish me to apprentice a young man who has already proved himself to be an exceptionally talented potion maker? That’s all? I should be asking you to recommend me to him.”

She laughed, “I’m glad you think so, sir, and I believe I will do so, but you must understand his family is quite poor and, although he is related to the Princes, his branch of the family is disowned. He has only his skills to recommend him and his reputation in general is not good. He’s surly, sarcastic, and sometimes disagreeable, but underneath it all he’s a good person, he just doesn’t always present well.”

“I shall consider your recommendation then Miss Granger. Tippy could you please escort our guest back to the lounge and then let Louisa know I’d like to speak with her?”

Alfie pounced on her as soon as she returned to the lounge, wanting to know what they had talked about. Hermione had no idea how much he might know already so simply said he had wanted to say thanks for the treatment. Alfie could not be deterred though and asked, “Are you my sister now?”

She hedged, “Why are you asking me that?”

“I overheard my parents talking about it last night. My dad said he thinks you might be his, and he wanted to adopt you, my mum argued with him about it because you might be a bad sort. She said he should just offer to pay you off and avoid the scandal. He disagreed and decided to invite you to dinner and question you to see if you’re the sort of girl he might like to have as a daughter, and I knew you would be, so I’m sure he asked you.”

“Goodness Alfie, take a deep breath. If your father did ask me that then I’m quite sure he would want to inform everyone himself and not find out that you’d eavesdropped and then repeated his private conversation in front of Severus and Professor Slughorn.”

The Professor chuckled, “Indeed, Miss Granger is quite right to be circumspect, that is a very delicate topic young man.”

Alfie looked abashed but recovered quickly, “Well, theoretically if my father had asked you to be his daughter what would you have said?”

Hermione smiled, “Theoretically I would have made him promise not to give me a dowry, made clear that I’m a modern, independent witch, and then agreed to trial living with him next summer.”

Alfie hugged her happily, “I always wished for a younger sister, but having an older one who can help me with Charms homework is even better.”

“Alfie you should really wait for your father to announce it before saying such things. He might change his mind, or I might.”

He shook his head, “Nope too late, I’ve adopted you already.”

They were summoned through to dinner then and met their hosts in the room. They were asked quite a lot of questions throughout the meal, mostly about their progress in classes. Slughorn would occasionally interject with anecdotes, telling them that Professor Flitwick had said the skeleton Hermione had charmed to tap dance for Halloween had the best routine he’d ever seen, and that Professor Sprout claimed Severus’ intervention during a scuffle had saved her entire stock of Sopophorous plants. Alfie eagerly told everyone how fantastic Hermione was as a tutor, and Professor Slughorn talked about their skill in Potions, particularly for Severus. She told them how much she enjoyed attending classes and answered a few questions about her false history of homeschooling, pretending to be uncomfortable about it. Severus was equally cagey about his own homelife, and the conversation grew stilted for a while until Alfie distracted them all.

Hermione found herself pleased, she liked the Dagworth-Grangers far more than she’d expected to, and they seemed very welcoming of her. Of course, she had saved Edgar’s life with her treatment so it probably wasn’t too much of a surprise, but she hadn’t expected him to want to adopt her, or to do so without any conditions. She felt a little guilty for making him believe she was his daughter but it was for the best, and it’s not like she could tell him the truth.

Chapter Text

On Christmas morning the Gryffindor seventh years who were staying at the castle for the holidays all gathered in the common room together to open their gifts. The five of them, Hermione, Lily, Marlene, Remus, and Peter, settled in and took turns opening their gifts. Hermione had the fewest which was hardly a surprise. Lily happily showed off James Potters gift to her, an expensive, very sparkly, ruby bracelet. It was quite pretty, and Marlene admired it greatly. Hermione opened an unfamiliar parcel which turned out to be from the Dagworth-Grangers and contained a lovely little jewellery box with two hair combs in it, made of gold with pearls and small diamonds embedded in them. They were quite pretty, and not too gaudy for her taste. They looked expensive, but not uncomfortably so. She received perfume from Lily, an eye-shadow palette from Marlene, and a large box of chocolates as a group present from the Marauder boys.

Remus was the first to open his gift from Severus. He, Hermione, and Lily had all received a flat package wrapped simply in brown paper with a note that just said ‘From: Severus Snape’. Remus eyed it with mistrust, looking as though he’d like to check it for jinxes.

Hermione laughed at him, “It isn’t cursed Remus, just open it.”

He did and then stared at it for a long moment before turning it around for the others to see. It was a drawing of a wolf, but it was terrifying and ominous. It had been done in charcoal, the background giving a hint of mountains and trees, but in the foreground was a wolf that was simply menacing. It was awkwardly hunched, the fur bristling, and there was a faint impression of snarling, sharp teeth. It was a beautiful drawing, but Hermione wouldn’t want to look at it late at night for fear of having nightmares.

Lily said, “Wow, that’s from Sev? It’s a bit dark but quite good, do you think?”

Remus looked at the picture again and said blankly, “Yes, it’s quite good. I’ll have to thank him.”

Lily looked through her pile until she found her own present from Severus, the exact same size and with the same wrapping and straightforward label as Remus’. She opened it and gasped, “Oh my god this is beautiful, look.”

She turned it around to show them, and Hermione stared at the beautiful image, the same one Hagrid had embossed onto a coin purse as a present for James Potter. Their study group had gone down to the hut to visit Hagrid on Monday since they’d missed their regular Sunday tea meeting due to the Hogsmeade visit, and Hagrid had shown them that he’d added Pixie dust to the leather when he embossed it, adding a faint blue glow to the outline of the two Patroni. It had been beautiful, and Severus had asked Hagrid if he had any more of it.

Hagrid had quickly become fond of Severus, not because he ever talked much when they came to tea but because he was practical and helpful. Hagrid didn’t always enjoy people who were talkative and charming, Hermione remembered that he never had really, and so Severus’ little acts of service endeared him to the man far more than Lily’s effusive compliments did. When Hagrid mentioned the gnome problem he was having Severus turned up the following week with freshly brewed gnome repellent. When he told them that one of the young unicorns had been found caught up in a patch of poison ivy and the rash wasn’t healing Severus brought him a paste he’d brewed to help with the problem. So, when Hagrid had found that Severus wanted a bit of Pixie dust he had begun foisting all sorts of things off on him, without even asking what he wanted it for. It had been amusing watching Severus, obviously overwhelmed, as Hagrid offered him all sorts of random things he’d collected from the forest.

They now knew what the Pixie dust was for. She had no idea how Severus had made this picture, was it drawn, painted, magicked into existence somehow? The picture of the stag and doe appeared to be made of smoke and mist, it was visibly puffing from the paper, faintly shimmering blue from the Pixie dust but also appearing cloudy and amorphous. The outline of the animals was visible but they really almost looked like actual Patroni. It was beautiful, and Hermione wondered how on earth he could possibly have topped that with what he had given her. She could tell from her package that she was getting a picture as well, though hers was a little larger than the others, more like an A3 than an A4. Everyone exclaimed over the beautiful piece of art and then Lily turned to Hermione, looking smug and asking her what Severus had drawn for her. Lily obviously assumed that her picture would be the most masterful and Hermione hoped she would be proved wrong.

She nervously unwrapped the boring brown paper and then stared at the image inside. Her brain almost couldn’t compute it for a moment. The picture was her, but her if she were some kind of beautiful goddess of warmth and light. It was ridiculous, and yet there wasn’t anything about it that she could point to which was inaccurate, it just highlighted and displayed all of her best attributes. The Hermione in the image was laughing, lying in the grass and looking up towards her. She was upside down from this perspective, and the first thing her eye was drawn to was the perfect, white, smile. The rest of the image was all in warm colours, browns, reds, oranges, and pinks, but the teeth stood out. Then it was the smattering of freckles across her nose, which had been rendered perfectly, an exact replica of the actual pattern on her face. Her eyes were full of warmth and humour, and beautifully detailed. She usually thought of her eyes as being brown, that’s how they looked from a distance, but they were in fact hazel, and Severus had captured the flecks of gold, but had made them look as though light shone through them.

Her hair too looked magnificent. Her curls tumbled wildly around her and seemed to literally pour off the page, and he’d done something to make the image move so that her hair seemed to drift around slightly as though being tossed around by a light breeze. It was mostly light brown but there were strands of other colours mixed through it, the sun highlighting patches and turning them golden or copper, and shadowy areas showing a deep rich mahogany. The Hermione in the picture was lying in the sun but there were shadows from the leaves of the great tree by the lake playing over her hair and skin, the shadows seemed to move as well, the leaves shifting about in the same light breeze that caused her curls to tumble about. Hermione didn’t have words for this picture; it shone with glee and playfulness, and she couldn’t have anticipated it. Mutely she turned it around so the others could see.

Marlene gasped, and Lily was practically green with envy. Hermione knew immediately that Lily wished he had drawn her, as beautiful as the picture of her Patronus standing with James’ was, she would have preferred a portrait. If Severus could make Hermione look like this then what could he have done with Lily’s milky skin, gorgeously silky red hair, and bright green eyes? Yet Hermione wondered. She couldn’t imagine a picture of Lily, no matter how beautiful, could ever look so joyful and happy. It felt like he’d captured her essence in this image, something that few people ever saw about her. She was always just boring, swotty, bookworm Hermione, with the study schedules and serious talks, but that wasn’t her entire personality. She could be fun and playful, her Patronus was an otter for goodness sake, she was just constantly surrounded by people who refused to take their responsibilities seriously. Until now, with Severus, who agreed with her that they should get their essays and homework done first. She turned the picture back to look at it again and felt giddy.

She grinned at the others, “Our first date, we didn’t have a very good time in Hogsmeade so we came back to the castle and picnicked by the lake. This is from then, I don’t know how he remembered it well enough to draw but I was reading when he said something snarky and I looked up at him and laughed. I didn’t even know he was an artist, I’m so glad you forced him to reveal that, Lily.”

Lily forced a smile, “Me too really, I’m sure James is probably pleased with my present to him, and I couldn’t be happier.” She tinkled the bracelet on her wrist to remind them both that James’ present was a lot more expensive than Severus’ but Hermione just grinned. Clearly, they both had their preferred present from their preferred boyfriend, Lily was just being greedy and wanting too much.

Hermione noted that she had another gift from Severus as well and when she opened that she found two glass bottles with labels on them saying ‘shampoo’ and ‘conditioner’ written in his spiky scrawl. She opened them and sniffed finding that they smelled like coconut, with a hint of something a little darker and spicier. She wasn’t sure why he had given her shampoo, he was supposed to be making some for himself, but she didn’t have oily hair. It smelled nice though and she decided she’d try it out later.

They went down to breakfast and after it was over Severus approached the Gryffindor table. He greeted them all and then said, “Hermione I am here to collect my present.”

She smiled at him. She’d sent him a small note, wrapped in silvery paper with a white bow explaining that she would accompany him to Hagrid’s Hut to collect his present after breakfast. She hadn’t explained but it was too large to send to him. She hopped up immediately and took his hand but Lily called, “Wait up,” and they ended up with the entire party of Gryffindor’s following them, much to both their chagrin.

Lily asked her, “What’s going on?”

“I’m taking Severus to see his Christmas present; it’s down at Hagrid’s.”

“Ooh exciting, let’s all go and we can visit Hagrid too, he won’t mind if Peter and Marlene come along, will he?”

Hermione thought Hagrid might mind actually but didn’t bother to say so. They found Hagrid outside digging up weeds in the garden and he called out a Merry Christmas as Lily introduced him to the newcomers. Hermione led Severus around the back of the hut where Hagrid had a kind of shanty that he used as a workshop. Just outside of it was her gift for Severus, she’d put a large red and green bow on it in an attempt at wrapping and she led him just in front of it then began to explain.

“I’ve been coming down to visit Hagrid all year and sometimes I go out into the forest with him while he checks on things. We came across a fallen yew tree and it was so beautiful, my first thought when we saw it was that it would make a lovely potions bench. I mentioned it to Hagrid and he told me he makes all his own furniture and agreed to help me with it. He did most of the labour but I spent hours charming it. The cupboards are both extended but also have two storage spaces, if you turn the handles on the doors it opens another space so you can put empty vials in one and completed potions in another. The bench itself is charmed against all kinds of damage, it should be so impervious by now that you’d need Fiendfyre to destroy the thing.”

She cut off then to just look at the bench, which she was very proud of and hoped Severus would like. The wood had been polished and stained a dark ashy colour. The front of the bench had two cupboards with sliding doors which magically could open the entire way to reveal a set of shelves on the inside. She’d transfigured the handles herself from crystal forming them into the shape of two potion vials, and the handles could be twisted sideways to open the secondary cupboard space. She’d filled the handles with a Rainbow Potion, a rather simple brew they all learned as first years which created a liquid that would slowly shift through the colour spectrum, but she’d stolen the recipe from Severus’ potions book which was a bit more complicated and created a potion which shimmered slightly and let off a soft glow.

For the top of the workbench they had surprisingly used the worst pieces of timber from the tree, the ones with cracks, knots, interesting whorls and gaps in the wood. To make the surface smooth she had filled those gaps with the same Rainbow Potion, sealing it with glass, but she had blackened the glass giving it a smoky, burnt look, making it a bit darker. The shifting colour from the potion still shone through but it wasn’t as bright and vibrant, and she was quite happy with how it had turned out. She never would have thought of finishing it this way until the revelation about Severus’ drawing, but that had made her realise he might appreciate something that wasn’t just practical but also beautiful. Severus stared at the bench for a very long time, inspecting it from all angles, sliding the cupboards open and placing a small rock inside before closing it, twisting the handle, and opening it again to see it now empty. When he turned the handle upright again the rock reappeared.

Suddenly Severus turned and grabbed her, hoisting her into the air and spinning her around in a hug. Hermione squeaked as the air left her lungs but she was pleased by his reaction. He put her back down on the ground and squeezed her tightly in a hug, whispering softly into her ear, aware of their audience, “Thank you Hermione, I don’t have words for this, it’s beyond anything… I have no idea how to express myself but thank you, I love it, I appreciate it, I’m beyond grateful.”

Hermione kissed him on the cheek and whispered, “I loved my gift as well Severus, it was the best thing I’ve ever received.”

He squeezed her tightly in response and then let her go, they turned back to the others who complimented the gift, though Hermione tensed at the calculating expression in Pettigrew’s eyes. They went in for tea with Hagrid, though they all had to squeeze in rather uncomfortably and there weren’t enough seats. Everyone had a good time though and soon they were walking up towards the castle again. It was cold and had started snowing as they made their way back, and when they reached the castle Lily said unhappily, “It’s so beautiful out here, I wish we could go sit in the snow.”

Marlene giggled, “Why don’t we?”

“It’s too bloody cold,” Lily moaned.

Hermione smirked, “Are you a witch or not? We can bend the elements to our will. Why don’t we go and have a picnic in the snow for lunch today?”

Remus looked thoughtful, “Even with Warming and Impervious Charms it can still be a bit uncomfortable when it’s this cold.”

“Trust me, it will be great you’ll all see. Let’s go get a basket of food from the elves.”

They did so and Hermione led the group outside into the snow again, it was snowing so heavily that visibility was extremely poor, so they didn’t bother going very far. Hermione stopped and ordered the others to put their blankets down then began stomping her way through the snow forming a circle around their chosen spot. Everyone watched her, asking each other what she was up to, but she just ordered them, “Make the snow inside the circle impervious”.

Once she’d stomped a ring into the snow she pulled her wand out and began casting a warding spell, it was one she’d found while they were on the run and it warded out the weather. It created a dome of protected space which provided perfectly fresh air but didn’t allow rain, snow, wind, or anything else to get through. It did nothing for the temperature, so it was still cold, and Hermione thought it was rather like being in a snow globe, even though it was actually the opposite since the snow was outside not inside, but it was quite pretty regardless.

As soon as the snow stopped falling everyone looked around. Hermione started conjuring blue bell flames and placing them around the area for warmth, the others had made the snow inside their little dome impervious so the warm flames wouldn’t melt it into a sticky puddle. Happy with the results Hermione settled herself in to snuggle up to Severus and grinned at the others. Severus squeezed her hand as she started explaining how the spell worked to Remus and Lily who were both interested. It was a lovely way to spend Christmas, although she could have done without Pettigrew leering at her.

Hermione was sprawled out on the blankets with her head resting on Severus’ lap, he had one hand twined into her curls, playing with her hair. He liked picking up a curl and then tugging it straight before letting it spring back into its coil, and she found it nice. He genuinely seemed to like her hair, even with all of its craziness. She’d been drifting, not paying much attention to the conversation around them when Lily asked, “What are you planning to do when you finish Hogwarts Sev?”

“Potions apprenticeship.”

“Yeah, we know but what about after that? You used to talk about opening your own apothecary, are you still going to do that?”

“Hmmn, I’m not sure. Hermione what are my long-term career goals?”

Hermione laughed, “I told you I’ve only planned your life to the end of your Mastery. After that you can open an apothecary, or a mail-order brewery, or even become a turnip farmer! Whatever you like, the future is your oyster.”

“Where would I grow turnips Hermione?”

“I don’t know, I didn’t promise you’d be a very successful turnip farmer!”

He laughed, “Seriously though what shall I do? I need your vision of the future to guide me.”

She smiled, “Do not become a teacher.”

He smirked, “Definitely not.”

Lily pouted, “Sev would make a great teacher. You know he tutors Sirius’ little brother?”

Hermione ignored her and said seriously, “You have plenty of options. You could take a position with the Ministry or St Mungo’s if you want to be a little worker drone, or you could set up your own space to brew somewhere and sell to the apothecaries, they take a good portion of the profits though and you have to negotiate with the different shop owners individually. You can open your own apothecary but then you’re stuck deciding if you want to negotiate with others to provide stock or brew all the basic potions yourself. If you develop your own patents you have to decide if you want to sell your own goods exclusively or if you’ll distribute to other shops. I don’t know, I’m sure you just want to set up a cauldron somewhere and brew but if you want it to be profitable you have to concern yourself with logistics.”

“Silly witch, how about I set up my cauldron and force you to deal with the logistics?”

Hermione opened her eyes and said, “Hey Remus, do you want a job? You can be our business manager. I am not going to deal with the logistics.”

Remus smiled good naturedly, “Sure thing, what kind of potions are you brewing?”

Severus sighed, “There are too many options, it’s too hard. I’m sure Hermione will tell me what to do when the time comes. Didn’t you promise to make me wealthy?”

Hermione smiled, “Sure, but you know the way to become really wealthy is to brew cosmetics.”

“Ugh. I will be the ugliest beauty shop owner ever, who would even buy my products?”

“Don’t be silly, we’d hide you out the back and hire someone pretty to work in the shop.”

He tugged on her hair then smirked when she said, “Oww.”

“Well what beauty product shall I make first? Have you already been inspired?”

“Hair colour potion. Basically, the equivalent of muggle hair dye but with magic. I don’t know how to make it work though and each colour would have to be brewed individually. I have a recipe for black using giant squid ink, and I think you could do something with moonstone to make it so that people’s hair would glow in the moonlight, and we could probably get other effects as well.”

Marlene perked up, “That sounds really fun, I’d love to change my hair colour. How long would it last?”

“No idea, can we count on you as a tester when Severus comes up with a recipe? It wouldn’t be permanent, that’s all I can say for now. I do think we could probably do really temporary potions, like imagine Christmas themed ones that might give you a party look.”

Remus chuckled, “I can just see it, Severus Snape’s Shifting Shades.”

Severus rolled his eyes, but he smiled at her and she knew he’d ask for her notes on the potion later, and he’d probably help her brew all kinds of colours for it. Hermione had drifted off when Severus nudged her awake and said softly, “This is getting uncomfortable, I need to move.”

Hermione nodded and sat up, “Sure, your turn then,” she patted her lap. He looked at her for a moment and then they switched positions. She carded her fingers through his hair, scraping her nails lightly on his scalp causing him to stretch, leaning into her hands like a cat. She smiled at him and they spent the rest of the afternoon like that. Just as everyone was getting ready to head back to the castle she said to Marlene and Lily, “We’re still planning to dress up for Christmas dinner tonight, right? Shall we all head into the showers now and get ready together?”

The other girls agreed, and Hermione smiled as Peter looked over, catching her words.

Hermione had planned her capture of Peter perfectly. She’d first spotted him creeping on them in the girls’ bathroom towards the end of October and had carefully laid the groundwork for her trap since then. It had made her feel ill when she first thought of it, that she would have to pretend not to know anything was amiss, but Occlumency helped. When she saw him now she pushed all of her memories of Peter Pettigrew being the rat under her shields, and the idea that rats were a bit creepy and disgusting was submerged as well, until all she really had in her mind was the idea that she should try to befriend this rat. She pretended he was just someone’s familiar who had been abandoned (because he was far too clever to just be a regular rat) and felt sorry for him having to live in the walls.

She always pointed him out to the other girls, who were used to it by now, and greeted little Scabbers. She complimented him, telling him he was so clever to live in the walls and avoid the cats, that he must be so crafty to be able to find food, that he was a very handsome rat and she was sure his owner must be missing him. She’d started bringing him food and praising him when he ate it. Peter never let her pat him, which when she brought all of her memories back into her conscious mind she was glad of, but he did eat her food, and he clearly enjoyed basking in her praise. It was in the eyes of the boy too, his glee that he was tricking her, that he thought she had no idea he was the rat who she called a good boy, pranced around naked in front of, and fed bits of cheese. She had to occlude around Peter in his human form now as well.

His forays into the bathroom had originally been to spy on Lily. Not that he wouldn’t look at any girl who happened to be there, he wasn’t so picky, but she had been his preference. Not anymore though. He wanted Hermione’s praise, and he felt so smugly superior about his own trickery. Not for long though. Peter had come deliberately to watch them as they showered and cast grooming charms on themselves in preparation for Christmas dinner, and he’d happily accepted Hermione’s latest offering of cheese. Unfortunately for poor little Peter this time she had laced the food with a Sleeping Draught. He thought he was so clever but really he was an idiot. He hadn’t trusted the food at first, but she’d worn him down and he’d grown complacent.

She said nothing to the other girls as she summoned the unconscious rat and took him back to their dorm. She placed him into the enclosure she had prepared for him. It was unbreakable of course, so he wouldn’t be able to transform. It was a rat paradise, a wheel, a slide, a little pool of water for him to paddle around in. She grinned evilly; he was going to love his new accommodations. She placed him in her bed and continued getting ready for dinner. She wore her red dress again but transfigured a fluffy white outer robe. She’d liked the gold better but this would do. Recalling Severus’ comments about her hair she put it into a messy braid, messy being the only kind of braid she could manage, as her curls would spill out all over the place.

Hermione smiled at her calendar as they went downstairs, tonight was both Christmas and the Full Moon. In the common room one of the younger students was waiting to inform them that Remus was feeling unwell and had gone to the infirmary, he wouldn’t be coming to dinner. Marlene and Lily assumed that Peter must have gone to keep him company, the sweet boy wouldn’t want his friend to be all alone on Christmas night. Hermione just smiled. When Lily informed Severus that Remus had taken ill and Peter had gone to the infirmary with him Severus looked to her and she grinned, nodding in confirmation that her plan had worked. Severus shot her a relaxed grin in return.

Nothing eventful happened at dinner and they all went back to Gryffindor tower. Hermione offered the other girls some sherry bonbons she had spiked with a Drowsiness Draught and as soon as they’d both decided to have an early night she escaped to meet Severus at the Room of Requirement. She was more nervous about the plan to fix his teeth than she was about capturing Peter, but she knew it would make Severus happy so she was determined to go through with it. He was already there since he didn’t have any dormmates to drug, they’d all gone home for the holidays, but she kicked him out so she could recreate the room to look like her parents’ dental surgery.

She pointed Severus to the chair, and he squeezed her hand, “I know you’re nervous, but I have complete faith in you.”

She sighed, “I’ll do my best, I promise. Time for you to sleep now.”

*** Content Warning: Hermione playing dentist ***

They’d brewed Draught of the Living Death to give to him while she pulled his teeth, since that wouldn’t interfere with the Skele-Gro and would reduce the bleeding. He swallowed it down and quickly stilled, his breathing ceased, his pulse slowed until it was undetectable. Hermione stared at him for a moment, and although she knew he wasn’t dead she disliked seeing him like this intensely. The sooner she got this done though the better. She pointed her wand at one of his teeth and cast a spell to extract it, the tooth following her wand tip as she pulled it up, neatly sliding out of his gum. She stared at the tooth, hideous things really, particularly with the bloody root attached, and promptly turned and vomited.

She’d had terrible nightmares as a child, funny the daughter of two dentists being afraid of dentistry, but she’d always been afraid of losing her teeth. It felt like such a permanent thing, she’d been afraid when she began losing her baby teeth but her parents explained to her that they were temporary, it was only when she gained her adult teeth that she would have to worry because they weren’t replaceable. They’d meant it to comfort her but it had horrified instead. She hated the feeling of losing her teeth, and to find out she’d only have one more chance with them and then if she lost any more she’d have to suffer that horrible gap in her mouth forever! She couldn’t help but run her tongue over the holes even though it made her feel ill. Those feelings all came back to her now as she looked at the tooth she’d just pulled from Severus. What if it didn’t work? What if he woke up with no teeth and then hated her forever? This had been a terrible idea. It was too late though, she’d just pulled one of his front teeth out so there was no choice but to go on. She submerged her horror, vanished her vomit, and then proceeded with the rest of his teeth, yanking them out one after the other.

It felt like it took forever and no time at all until she was looking at a Severus who was all gums. Terrible. She suppressed it and used a spell to coat his entire mouth in Brew of Benumbing, they couldn’t use a Pain Potion as it was contraindicated with the Skele-Gro but numbing the area locally would not be a problem. She then dribbled the Wiggenweld potion into his mouth and waited for him to wake up. It didn’t take long and then he was groaning. His mouth was filling with blood and Hermione quickly siphoned it away with Tergeo. “It’s okay Severus, bend forward.” She placed a bucket under him so the blood could drain out then grabbed the Skele-Gro. “I have the Skele-Gro here, you’ll need to swallow it down but you’re going to get a mouthful of blood. I will try to catch as much as I can but don’t throw up, okay? Ready?” She bent him back pouring the potion into his mouth as she began pulling the blood from his mouth with her spell. As soon as he swallowed he bent forward again.

He made a noise in his throat and she said, “Please don’t talk right now. I’m barely holding it together but it’s going to be okay. I’m putting the guide in place now.” She grabbed the retainer they’d created to force his teeth to grow back in the correct positions into his mouth and stuck it in place. This was better, it had a designated area at the front for the blood to pool and made it easier to clean it up. He looked at her rather pitifully and she felt such sympathy for him. He shouldn’t be in any pain but she imagined it was probably still rather uncomfortable. She stroked his hair to try to reassure him as she kept her wand pointed at his mouth filling the bucket with blood. It took a while for the bleeding to slow, Hermione was monitoring it carefully and was relieved when it stopped pouring out of his mouth. She gave him a Blood Replenisher Potion, he wouldn’t need one but it couldn’t hurt, and then let him lean back into the chair and relax.

He continued to bleed a little, the new teeth he was growing clearing the clots that had finally formed, but the torrent from before had stopped. Hermione wheeled her chair closer to cuddle up to him until he finally drifted off. She tried to stay up to keep an eye on him just in case something went wrong but when she woke early in the morning to Severus’ alarm realised she’d accidentally fallen asleep. She carefully removed the retainer from Severus’ mouth to reveal his perfect new teeth. It had worked exactly how they’d planned, his teeth were now straight, and since they were all freshly grown were clean and unstained. Severus stared at the mirror for a while after thoroughly washing his mouth out, running his teeth over them and smiling.

*** End Warning: Severus’ teeth are fixed now ***

Hermione grinned at him, “It’s quite a difference.”

“It feels so strange. My tongue knows where my teeth used to be and it’s confusing to encounter them in this unfamiliar configuration.”

“I remember when I had my teeth shrunk how odd it was, and that was only the front two. You’ll grow used to it soon enough though.”

His eyes met hers and he said sincerely, “Thank you.”

“I’m just glad it worked, I’m never doing that again.”

He laughed.

She returned to her dorm before anyone could notice she’d been gone but rather than going back to sleep she pulled her new rat out of her backpack. Scabbers was awake now and squeaked at her, wanting to be let out. Hermione grinned at him, “Hello Scabbers, welcome to your new home. Isn’t it lovely? Look you’ve got this wonderful little wheel you can run around in all day, and no cats can eat you! Perfectly safe. Don’t worry little guy I will look after you.”

Scabbers squeaked more insistently.

“Do you want some cheese handsome boy? Yummy, delicious cheese. You love it don’t you?”

He ignored the cheese. Hermione smiled and decided she should let him get a bit hungry and he might be more willing to participate. She set him at the foot of her bed and covered his enclosure with a blanket then had a nap.

Remus spent the next two days in the infirmary recovering from his shift. They weren’t allowed in to see him. Hermione spent the time depriving Peter of food and then forcing him to perform tricks when he grew hungry enough. She occasionally felt guilty but then she’d remember the way he’d smirked at her when he thought he had her fooled and ruthlessly suppressed her sympathy for him. On Wednesday Remus was released from the infirmary, though he was still feeling a little unwell, and Lily suggested they have another picnic to help him feel better. Hermione encouraged the idea and went off to fetch Severus. They grabbed Marlene and then went outside to set up camp. Hermione told everyone she wasn’t sure where Peter was but had left a message for him with some of the third years who were in the common room playing exploding snap to let him know where they’d be.

Once they were done and Remus was propped up a bunch of pillows Hermione settled herself next to Severus and said, “I have another present for you.” She pulled Scabbers’ enclosure out of her bag and set it in front of him.

Severus looked at it sceptically, “What do I want with a rat? Shall I harvest its spleen for ingredients?”

Hermione smacked him, “Don’t be ridiculous. He’s a pet, his name is Scabbers. He’s your new familiar.”

“I don’t want a familiar, and if I did I wouldn’t want a rat.”

Hermione pouted at him, “He’s a very clever rat though, just wait until you get to know him. Watch. Scabbers? Spin.”

Scabbers ignored her and continued crazily squeaking at Remus Lupin who was looking on with horror, completely unsure what to do.

Hermione turned the enclosure and hissed at the rat, “Come on Scabbers you’re making me look stupid. You don’t want Severus to harvest your organs do you? Show him how smart you are, who’s a good little rat? Spin.”

The rat spun. She gave him a treat, then got him to jump, and to use the wheel. Severus was smirking down at the rat. Remus said, “Hermione if Severus doesn’t want the rat I’d love to take him. I could use a familiar.”

Hermione laughed, “Severus is just being silly, he does want him. Don’t you?”

Severus sighed sounding put upon, “Of course. I know what you are up to little witch, you’ve grown attached to this rat and want me to look after him for you.”

“I can’t keep him, I already have a familiar, but he’d be perfect for you. Look how clever he is!”

Severus tapped the glass and smiled menacingly at the rat who cowered away from him.

Lily eventually said, “That’s the rat that’s been living in our bathroom, isn’t it?”

“Yes. He nearly got eaten by Crooksy the other day, so I thought I’d better catch him, and I thought he’d be a great pet for Sev. He’s obviously very intelligent.”

Remus looked horrified, “The rat has been living in your bathroom?”

Marlene nodded, “He always comes in when we are showering. Hermione’s been feeding him.”

Remus stared at Peter. He said nothing. Hermione avoided Severus’ eyes for fear she’d burst out laughing. Conversation turned to other topics though after a while Severus started trying to get Peter to perform tricks, eventually succeeded by whispering threateningly, “You don’t really need a spleen you know?”

When they were done with their picnic Hermione dragged Severus off to go and find Slughorn to register his new familiar, though Remus tried to make another bid for the rat. Everyone frowned at his rudeness and Severus told him he was warming up to the idea of having this rat for a pet already. Slughorn obviously wasn’t particularly pleased to see them but they were currently his favourites so he agreed to add Severus’ new familiar to the register for them. They found their way to an alcove to finally let out their laughter over the situation, careful not to let Peter overhear their mirth. Hermione patted Severus fondly on the shoulder and said, “Don’t torture him too badly.”

Chapter Text

Included with the Christmas present she had received from the Dagworth-Granger family had been a short letter from Hermione’s new father, who had invited her to call him Edgar. In it he expressed how pleased he had been to meet her, reiterated his offer for her to live with him for the summer, and invited her to spend the Easter holidays with him. The sneaky man told her that after her visit on Christmas Eve he had brewed a potion to test their familial magic and had confirmed that she was his relation. He expressed sorrow about not knowing of her existence previously but determination to take responsibility for her now and told her she was welcome to inform anyone she wished of the family connection. In the letter he had also suggested that she attend the Potters New Year’s Eve ball as her formal introduction, inviting Severus to attend with them as well. Hermione was surprised. It was far more than she had expected from him, and it seemed he was opening himself up to public scrutiny with no promises from her. She must have impressed him at dinner, and she thought Severus must have made a good impression also.

She found herself curious about the ball. They’d both received individual invitations, the Potters could hardly get away with not inviting them after they’d saved both their lives, however they certainly wouldn’t have expected them to actually intend. Poor half-blood students wouldn’t have the means to dress themselves for a ball so the invitation wasn’t really the show of gratitude it pretended it to be, but they would be travelling over to the Dagworth-Granger manor in the afternoon to get ready for the ball and both would be provided with a set of robes suitable for the occasion. Edgar had also invited Professor Slughorn to chaperone them so Hermione showed Severus the letter and then dragged him off to confirm the details with their Professor. He happily accepted, congratulated her heartily on impressing the Dagworth-Grangers so thoroughly that they’d decided to adopt her formally, while praising himself for making the introduction and informing her his recommendation had probably weighed heavily in their decision. Hermione agreed to it all, thanked him, and then wandered off to find a private alcove to talk to Severus in.

“This is good, but also a bit scary. I think my new father likes you, he’ll probably offer you an apprenticeship.”

“Was this always the plan? For you to get adopted?”

“No, I thought he’d be grateful to us for saving him and offer to train you, and that everyone would assume I was his daughter, but it would be all hush hush and scandalous. I didn’t expect a public acknowledgement; it does make life easier though.”

“How weird will I be if I bring my pet rat to a ball?”

She laughed, “Too weird, we’ll be staying over night at my new father’s house though and it should be okay to bring him there. Has he stopped hissing at you yet?”

Severus smirked, “I’ve started feeding him pellets dosed with Amortentia. He adores me now.”

She cackled, “That’s perfect. Yes, bring Scabbers, it might be a bit weird, but we can’t risk leaving him behind.”

The day of the ball Hermione tried out the shampoo and conditioner Severus had given her for Christmas and was amazed by the results. Not only did it smell divine, but her hair came out soft and silky, and separated easily into springy little curls. This was something she could achieve for herself if she spent enough time on it, but he’d made it so easy! She met up with Severus after breakfast and hugged him, squeaking, “Look at my hair.”

He raised an eyebrow, “What about it?”

“My curls! Don’t you think they look nice?”

“Oh, you used the shampoo. Very nice, and it didn’t make your hair fall out. Perfect.”

She gaped at him, then realised he was joking. “You’re a prat.”

He reached up and wrapped a curl around one of his fingers, smiling at her.

“You made some for yourself as well, didn’t you?”

“Yes, and you were right it has helped. I still don’t particularly like the smell, too much tea tree oil, but it works.”

“I knew you could do it. Thanks for making some for me too, it’s thoughtful.”

“Just trying to be a good fake boyfriend.”

They met Professor Slughorn in his office and Flooed over to the Manor. They were shown their rooms for the evening, and then an elf was sent to assist Hermione to get dressed for the ball. She’d been provided with a set of dress robes in a soft, muted gold with a pattern of embossed palm leaves on it. It had three quarter sleeves and a large bow that tied around the waist, and it suited her much better than her periwinkle robes did. The house elf, Pipsy, tutted over her lack of makeup products and went off to ask her Mistress if she could borrow some. She ended up with a full face of makeup, her cheeks bronzed, smokey eyeshadow in deep brown shades, and her hair in a partial up do, pinned with the pearl hair combs she’d been gifted for Christmas but with some curls allowed to tumble down around her shoulders.

Pipsy declared her ready, and she was escorted to the same sitting room where she found Alfie and Severus chatting, and she grinned. Alfie wore deep blue robes embossed with golden dragonflies that fluttered their wings occasionally, and Severus had been given a set in a dark charcoal brocade with a subtle pattern of silver leaves. They were both the same style as the old-fashioned set Ron had for the Yule Ball, with lace ruffles and a bow tie, but much more handsome. Severus was far taller than Alfie, and more severe in his colouring, but she did think he looked rather good. He raised an eyebrow at her perusal, and Alfie asked, “What do you think sister, do we look good?”

She grinned, “Yes Alfie dear you look incredibly handsome.”

Alfie nudged her, “What about Severus? Don’t you think he’s handsome too?”

“I don’t want to give my opinion of Severus in front of you little brother for fear of scandalising you.”

“Ooh la la. Would you like some wine?”

She accepted a glass and sat down to watch them play wizarding chess until the adults all joined them. When they did Edgar said, “Now, Hermione, I’ve completed the paperwork for your adoption and will file it with the Ministry next week. Formally you are my daughter, and I will introduce you as such this evening. It would be uncouth for anyone to ask about the circumstances but if they do we will all say I was not aware of your existence, which is true, but that we are all very happy to have each other now, hopefully also true. Nothing is required from you, of course. The room that you were showed to for this evening will be yours for as long as you wish to stay here, Pipsy will be your personal elf, and I will provide for your reasonable financial expenses. I’ve set your dowry at 8,000 galleons, a standard daughter’s portion, but you won’t inherit anything else from me, and if I die you’ll have to stay on Alfie’s good side or he may kick you out of the house as he pleases.”

Hermione stuttered, “Wh-what? I thought we agreed there would be no dowry.”

He grinned, “No my dear, I agreed I wouldn’t try to find you a husband, but should you choose one that I approve of then I have promised to settle a sum of money on you. If you don’t marry at all you’ll receive an annuity for your maintenance, and if I, or Alfie, should something unfortunate happen to me, don’t approve your choice you’ll get nothing.”

“Oh well thank you. I feel very awkward but hope I won’t let you down or give you cause to regret it.”

Alfie said, “Nothing will happen to you father, and even if you get another weird, deadly disease, hopefully we’ll have these two around to fix it.”

He laughed, “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. Now let’s get this ball over with, everyone will only judge our family for the next 6 months or so until someone else causes a new scandal.”

The ball itself was rather boring. It had been fun to dress up but she quickly found that her feet hurt as she was dragged around for introductions to people she didn’t really care to meet. Edgar told everyone she was his daughter and they all pretended not to be surprised. It was clear they would politely ignore the fact she was obviously an older, bastard child to their faces, but would gossip privately later. He also introduced her companion, Severus Snape, and then told people about the Dragon Pox treatment. She told the same story about how she’d come up with the idea because of what she knew about Muggle medicine, and many purebloods openly expressed their astonishment that Muggles knew anything about anything. It was tiresome, and annoying.

She danced twice with Severus, once with Alfie, once with Edgar, and then twice more with older unmarried sons of people she’d been introduced to. Edgar had promised not to marry her off, but she was apparently considered to be on the marriage market by others. Severus reluctantly mustered up the politeness to ask Louisa for one dance after she poked him but resolutely refused to ask anyone else. When he couldn’t stand silently and glower next to her, he did so next to Alfie. It pleased her to see Alfie cheerfully chat away to the sombre Severus, he’d made it his mission to extract smiles from the older boy and he succeeded several times.

Potter and Black were there obviously, since it was the Potters party and Black lived with them. The two boys spent most of the night glaring at Severus. There was a moment of tension when they approached and Black asked belligerently, “Snivellus. Seen Pettigrew lately?”

Severus played it absolutely perfectly, he looked briefly puzzled before sneering, “Pettigrew? Surely that pathetic little waste of magic didn’t warrant an invitation to this event.”

Potter asked, “Oh, and you did?”

He smirked, “You don’t think so? I only saved your parents from a horrific, debilitating disease that would have resulted in both their untimely deaths. Should I save myself the bother next time?”

Potter opened his mouth and then closed it again, looking stumped.

Black sneered, “Whatever you’re up to we won’t let you get away with it.”

Severus raised an eyebrow, “You won’t let me get away with developing and brewing lifesaving potions? That’s an interesting stance to take.”

Hermione laughed and Black turned to look at her, eyeing her suspiciously, “Are you really so heartless that you don’t care about Pettigrew at all?”

“Wait, why? What’s wrong with him?” He narrowed his eyes, trying to decide whether to believe her unaware or not, and in the face of his silence she asked, “Seriously, is he okay? I haven’t been spending much time with the other Gryffindors this week and Remus was ill for a few days, I thought they were together. Is everything alright?” Her occlumency allowed her to easily lie through her teeth and so she managed a perfectly credible pretence of concern.

Potter said, “He’s fine, his mother is ill. Might I have this dance, Hermione?”

She acquiesced and he led her out onto the dance floor. She looked back hesitantly, worrying about leaving Severus with Black and only Alfie as a buffer, but it would have been rude to decline, especially since this was his ball.

Potter launched into it immediately, “I heard you caught a rat over the holidays?”

She pretended surprise at the direction of the conversation, “Oh you mean Scabbers? Yes, he’s really sweet, and very smart for a rat.”

“Would you consider giving him to Remus? He said Snape wasn’t particularly keen on him, and Remus would really like a pet rat. He’s always wanted one.”

“Has he? He never said. I sort of gave him to Severus because I wanted to keep him for myself, I thought he’d give him back when we graduate but now I’m not so sure. Severus has grown rather fond of him.”

“Really? And are you sure Scabbers will be okay with Snape? I mean no offence, genuinely, but he doesn’t seem like he’d be a very caring pet owner. Remus would definitely take care of him for you if you wanted.”

“Oh no Severus is great with him. I gave him very detailed instructions, all the foods he can and can’t have, that sort of thing. I was a little wary at first to be honest, Severus has never had a pet before, but he’s wonderful. Scabbers has a lovely little enclosure, I’m a little jealous honestly, it’s like rat heaven. He’s even expanded it since I gave it to him, he added a little slide and watching Scabbers use it is so funny, you should see him sliding down on his little belly.”

He looked confused and hesitated for a while about how to continue the discussion. Eventually he asked, “So Scabbers is getting along okay with Snape then? I thought Remus said he disliked him.”

“Yes, he did at first but you should see them together now, they’ve really bonded. I’ve never seen a more cuddly pet. Sometimes he sits on Severus’ shoulder and nibbles on his hair, it’s the cutest thing.”

His face looked disgusted at that visual and she couldn’t help but giggle.

He immediately asked, “What’s funny?”

“Your face. I take it you don’t like rats?”

“Hmmn, something like that.”

He looked thoughtful. It hadn’t occurred to her before, but the Marauders would not hear that Scabbers was being a good pet and immediately connect it with a love potion. They might think he was staying deliberately to spy or something. She was sure they’d figure it out eventually, but that conclusion might delay their rescue attempt somewhat. Over his shoulder she spotted Severus glaring at her, looking as though he wanted to murder someone, and she cocked her head in concern. He met her gaze and seemed to snap out of it. She could see Sirius smirking and saying something to him, no doubt taunting him somehow, but he ignored the other boy. When their dance was over they made their way back over and Severus immediately grabbed her arm, pulling her into his side.

Hermione didn’t want to take the risk that Sirius might ask her to dance so she immediately said, “I’m in need of refreshment, let’s go get drinks.”

She dragged Severus off, and Alfie followed along saying, “I’m so glad you came back when you did, that was awful. They were just insulting each other, and Black kept going on and on about a rat. What was all that about?”

“Hermione gave me a rat for Christmas.”

“Well Sirius Black doesn’t seem happy about it. What a weirdo. I pretended to think he was interested in pets and started telling him about all the different kinds of animals we have at home, including all of mother’s rare butterflies, but I was running out of things to talk about so I’m glad you came back when you did, I thought they were going to murder each other.”

“It can’t have been that bad surely?”

“Severus pulled his wand out when Black said something about you liking James Potter.”

Hermione looked askance at Severus, “You did not!”

He twitched slightly but said nothing.

Alfie laughed, “I stepped between them to show Black the sleeve of my robes, just in case he didn’t already know what a dragonfly looks like.”

She smiled, “Thanks Alfie, you’re the greatest.”

“I really am, aren’t I.”

Breakfast in the morning was a quiet affair with Slughorn and Edgar talking over the Daily Prophet while Alfie made a pitch for Severus to begin tutoring him for Potions. After breakfast they were shown around the grounds, the Dagworth-Grangers had a lovely greenhouse full of rare plants, several stables and kennels where they kept creatures, and a large section of forest full of uncultivated magical plants and animals. It was fascinating, and Hermione found herself feeling rather awed that this was her family home now. She was going to live here.

They all separated into groups for the walk back and she found herself alone with Severus for the first time during their visit, her new parents had been taking chaperoning very seriously, but apparently it was alright for them to be allowed a moment for private conversation as long as it was in broad daylight where everyone could observe them.

She smiled, “How did you like your first ball? Did it live up to your expectations?”

“It did. I particularly enjoyed Black and Potters pathetic attempt at interrogation, it was nice to have the upper hand against them for a change.”

“Yes, you did seem to be enjoying yourself with that, and how is little Scabbers today?”

“I’m afraid he’s unwell, he seems upset about something.”

Hermione eyed him warily, “What have you done?”

“Oh nothing, he’s just very jealous of my attention. I told him all about how pretty you looked at the ball last night, and about how wonderful it was to dance with you, and about some of the things, theoretically, that one might consider doing with a beautiful witch, that a rat just can’t compete with, no matter how much he might love me.”

She laughed, “Oh god, you are tormenting him with unrequited love? That is too funny. Poor Scabbers.”

“Yes, poor Scabbers indeed. How confident are you, by the way, in your supposition that Black and Potter won’t try to sneak into the school to get to him during the break?”

“Well, I can’t be completely sure but Lily was considering going home for the holidays, she stayed at Hogwarts this year because she’s fighting with her sister, something about a horrid fiancé and having to hide her magic around him, but she said she’d go if Potter would visit her. He was adamant he wouldn’t be able to get away from his parents though, not even to sneak off, he said they are very protective over him and it just wouldn’t be manageable. I suppose it’s possible he was overstating things to try and fob her off, but I thought he was being honest about it.”

“Well at least that has the advantage that if they do break in early and get caught it will piss Lily off.”

“Hmmn.” Of course he was pleased about the chance to drive a wedge between Lily and Potter.

“I’ll stay on my guard just in case then.”  

Most of the Gryffindors were happy to hang out in the common room during the holidays, and while students from other houses were allowed to visit if they had an invitation, she didn’t really think Severus would enjoy doing so. Slytherin was quieter, most pureblood students had fancy homes to go to during the holidays, so Hermione spent most of her time in the dungeons. It was colder, and a bit creepy sitting under the lake, but she took the opportunity to cuddle up with him for warmth since there were a few younger students still around and they had the pretence to keep up that they were a couple. Severus didn’t want to leave Peter unattended, sure that Remus was looking for an opportunity to snatch him, so he left only for meals and took the rat with him, feeding him scraps from the table.

The day after the ball Hermione was curled up on the settee beside Severus, ostensibly reading, but really just pondering her guilt over how easily the Dagworth-Granger family had adopted her. After Professor Slughorn had pointed out her potential connection to the family in that first Potions class in her sixth year she’d researched the family, but finding a family tree and their dates of birth and death was a lot different to knowing them in person. Edgar had been an obvious choice because Professor Slughorn had told her he was a bit of a ladies man at school and had taken his time settling down into marriage, so it was easily conceivable that he could have had a bastard child. It was easy not to feel guilt when that was all she knew about him but now, being easily accepted by his family, she felt terrible about the whole thing.

Severus brought her out of her reverie, “I never took you as the type to become so despondent just because the ball is over and you now have nothing to look forward to but the tedium of classes.”

She smiled, “I’m feeling guilty about the Dagworth-Grangers. I never expected them to be so nice to me, or to adopt me, and I feel… I feel like a cuckoo. I’m an impostor, and I don’t deserve their kindness.”

“Of course you deserve their kindness.”

“They keep giving me things though! And a dowry! I didn’t even want a dowry.”

“I think he just did that because he wants to try to attract a more suitable suitor, hoping you’ll finally see reason and ditch me.”

“No, the opposite. He told me last night that he deliberately mentioned it in front of you so you’d see me as more of a catch. He totally approves of you, so I just get to feel offended that he thinks you’d need a monetary incentive to want to marry me.”

“Really? He wants you to marry me? I’m insulted on your behalf. Well, you shouldn’t feel guilty. Like he said last night he wouldn’t even be alive if it weren’t for you, you know that’s true. Don’t you think that if you could tell them the truth they would have adopted you anyway to help protect your cover? You know they would have, so there’s no reason to feel guilty. You are keeping a secret from them for their own benefit, and I doubt they’d be angry with you for it, even if they knew.”

She pondered that for a moment, “I suppose you’re right, if I could have told them the truth they probably would have gone along with it. I still feel bad taking their money though.”

“Well, how much does Edgar make in a year brewing for St. Mungo’s, and how many years of income have you given back to him? Because I doubt he’d have been earning much as a corpse. If you’d gone to him and asked how much he would pay for your Dragon Pox treatment, what wouldn’t he have given you? It’s not as though you haven’t done anything to earn this sort of treatment from them.”

“I suppose you’re right.”

“Naturally. Does that mean you’ll stop wallowing now?”

She rolled her eyes, “For now.”

“Ridiculous. I know what will make you feel better though, we can go finish off the treatment for those house elves, it should be ready for the next stages about now.”

She perked up, “Oh, yes, let’s.”

The first recipe they had tried before Christmas had failed but they’d made a few changes and thought they might have it now. They went to the Room of Requirement and continued brewing until the potion was ready, then delivered it down to the kitchens. Henny tried it out first, thanking them profusely, and Severus ordered him to take a daily dose and report immediately if he experienced any side effects. Hermione found herself feeling fond of his authoritarian manner. She didn’t like treating the house elves that way but couldn’t deny it was an effective way of dealing with them, and they didn’t seem to mind it at all. She left the kitchens feeling rather more cheerful now that she knew the house elves would be okay.

A few days later she met Severus after breakfast and he led her down into the dungeons looking a little annoyed. They entered the common room and he shoved a letter at her before sitting on their usual loveseat. Hermione sat next to him and looked it over with surprise, finding it to be a request from his great grandfather Septimius Prince asking for a meeting, inviting him to attend tea at Prince Hall the following Saturday.

He hissed, “Was this in the plan?”

She looked at him, astonished. “Why are you mad at me?”

“I don’t want to reconcile with the Prince family.”

“Okay, don’t then.”

He narrowed his eyes, “Really? Just don’t?”

“I don’t know what you want me to say.”

“Did you plan for him to reach out to me?”

“Severus, I love that you think I’m omnipotent but I’m not. I had no idea, and I know nothing about the Prince family other than that your mother was disowned. I would never try to force you to do anything you didn’t want to do, you know that right?”

He stared at her for a moment then slumped, “You’re right, I’m sorry. What do you think though?”

“I have no idea, but it seems like you don’t want to go, and if that’s the case then just tell him you’re busy.”

He chuckled, “You’re ridiculous. I think I’ll have to go, I wonder why. Did this happen in your time?”

“Professor Snape never sat me down for a chat about his family situation. I thought he was a pureblood until my sixth year. Maybe it did happen, or maybe he heard about you now that we’re in the public eye. There have been a couple of articles in the Prophet about our potion, and we attended a ball last week, perhaps that roused his curiosity. I don’t think you have to go if you don’t want to.”

“What do you think I should do though?”

She shook her head, “When I got here you were angry because you thought I was trying to make you reconcile, and now you want me to tell you what to do?”

“Yes, I was being stupid please let’s move past it. I know that whatever you tell me to do you’ll explain your reasoning, I was just upset because I thought you’d kept something from me.”

“Okay but this is really up to you. I don’t know anything about Septimius Prince, or the family situation. It could be beneficial to you if he’s willing to reconcile, but as to whether it’s worth it I have no idea.”

“What would you think of me if I did or didn’t reconcile? Would you think me stupid for refusing, or sycophantic for capitulating?”

“I don’t know. I suppose if you aren’t dead set about it you should go and meet with him, but as for reconciling, it would depend on the circumstances. If he’s willing to restore you to the family and support you without any expectations like the Dagworth-Grangers did for me, then great, but you don’t need him so only do so on your own terms. I think you’ll make the right decision, whatever it is, and I doubt you would do anything that would make me think worse of you.”

“You wouldn’t like me better if I became a Prince or had my own manor?”

“You’re ridiculous. I’d like you just as well in a tent as a manor.”

“Okay good, because I’m probably going to offend my great grandfather and get double disowned.”

“I might like you better for being double disowned now I think about it. Loads of people are thrown off by their families, even Sirius Black has managed it, but that would give you a sort of distinction.”

Professor Slughorn had asked the pair of them to assist him with brewing for the infirmary, he was behind on some of the orders and they’d happily accepted, spending a couple of hours each afternoon brewing common healing potions. That afternoon Severus showed the letter to Slughorn, requesting permission to leave school for the visit. Slughorn was delighted and enthused about the two of them moving up in the world, first Hermione being acknowledged as a Dagworth-Granger, and he was now convinced Severus was going to be named heir to the Prince family. Hermione had discovered that morning that her name had officially been changed to Hermione Jean Dagworth-Granger, which she hadn’t realised, but she would still be allowed to go by Miss Granger if she chose to, so she’d only grumbled a little.

On Saturday while Severus went for tea Hermione went down to Hagrid’s, taking Scabbers with her as his temporary guardian, to help cast some charms. Hagrid had rebuilt his garden fence and she’d suggested spelling it to be impervious to the weather, and she also cast a few lightening charms for him on his buckets and wheelbarrow. Lily, Marlene, and Remus came down later in the afternoon to find her there having tea with Hagrid and expressed surprise at seeing her.

Marlene said cheekily, “I thought you wanted to spend all day, every day with your beau now that his dorm room is empty.”

“He’s gone to have tea with his great grandfather actually, and I’d promised Hagrid to help out with a few things around here.”

Lily looked up, “Has he really? I thought they were estranged.”

“Yes, but after I acquired a whole new family last week Severus didn’t want to be outdone for long, so he decided to find some long-lost relatives as well.”

Hermione had informed the others about her adoption when it happened, and Marlene at least had been happy for her. The girls had encouraged her to gush over the ball, and she’d happily shown them a photograph that had been taken of her and Severus in their fancy robes. They’d looked good together, though the contrast was stark him being so black and white, and her with her brown hair, tanned skin, gold dress. Lily was unhappy because James Potter hadn’t been allowed to invite her, they weren’t engaged yet so it would have been improper for her to attend with him, and she didn’t have any magical family members to be able to convey her. Hermione did feel bad for her. Magical society didn’t make it easy for those with Muggle relatives to integrate.

Hagrid began asking her about her new family and she promised to bring her brother around for tea once he returned to the school. She was sure the pair would love each other, although how anyone could not love Alfie was difficult to imagine. She had Scabbers’ enclosure out on the bench because she’d been talking to Hagrid about the pet rat and Remus asked if he could hold him. She hesitated, not really wanting to. Severus was feeding him a mixture of Amortentia and Confounding Concoction and they’d determined it was preventing Peter from transforming, but she wasn’t sure if that was just because he was confused or if the love potion addling his brains might be in play. She had a fear that without the object of his affections here Peter would try to transform to find Severus, but she reasoned that if he did it wouldn’t be the end of the world. It wasn’t the plan, but she’d have plenty of witnesses, including Hagrid, so she took the rat out to pat him a few times whispering, “If you’re a good boy and don’t run off I’ll tell Severus to give you extra cuddles tonight,” before handing him over.

Remus held the rat awkwardly, obviously expecting Peter to make an attempt to escape, but the rat just sniffed at the air, and looked around. After a while he jumped onto the table and made his way across it towards Hermione, then started sniffing her. She assumed she must smell the most like Severus, his true love. Remus asked hesitantly, “What has Snape done to him? He isn’t acting like himself.”

“Of course he wouldn’t be, he was living feral in the walls, probably for years. He’s adjusting well to being a pet though, and Severus is really good with him. Scabbers just adores him now.” She smiled and patted the rat for a bit before putting him back in the enclosure. She ignored the distinctly horrified expression on Remus’ face. They were all still there when Severus turned up, Hagrid letting him in out of the heavy snow. As soon as he entered, she said, “I’m so glad you’re here! Scabbers has missed you, and he was such a good boy today. He even let Remus hold him for a bit.”

He quirked an eyebrow at the rat, “Did you really? What a good little rat you are Scabbers, extra treats for you I think.” He pulled the rat out of the enclosure and let him sit on his shoulder while Hagrid made fresh cups of tea for all of them. Remus couldn’t stop staring as the rat affectionately rubbed his face against Severus’ shoulder. Severus smiled, “Thank you for looking after him for me.”

Lily distracted them all by gasping, “Your teeth! How did you get your teeth fixed?”

Severus thinned his lips self-consciously and said tersely, “Hermione fixed them.”

“What? That’s dangerous though! It could have gone really, really wrong. Human transfiguration is sooo risky, I’m studying to be a healer and even I wouldn’t try something like that.”

“Good thing she didn’t transfigure them then.”

“How?”

When Severus didn’t seem inclined to explain, Hermione did, “We used some Muggle techniques to develop a mould of his teeth, then worked backwards using arithmancy to determine the optimal growth pattern and made a guide to force his teeth into the correct configuration. Then I extracted all his teeth and used Skele-Gro to grow them back.”

“That’s… that still sounds really dangerous. What if something had gone wrong? You can’t just go around performing complex medical procedures on yourself.”

Severus grinned, “It worked though, didn’t it?”

Lily looked at him then smiled, “It did. Your teeth look really good.”

Severus blushed and looked away.

Marlene asked, “Can you fix my teeth too?”

Hermione winced, “I don’t really want to do that again, but we will patent our process at some point. Maybe once Lily is a healer, she’ll do it for you.”

Marlene pouted a little but let it go. Her teeth weren’t that bad, her eye teeth were just a little prominent, but it wasn’t bad enough that Hermione would be putting herself through all that again.

Lily agreed and changed the subject, “How was your tea Sev? Did you reconcile with your family?”

“Hardly, I was introduced, we drank some tea, he asked about our potion and that was it. You were right Hermione; he saw it in the Prophet and recognised the name of that awful Muggle boy my mother married and made some inquiries about me. The man is rather wealthy though, and even more reclusive, so if you’d like me to introduce you to my great grandfather he might be your perfect match.”

“Oh, what were my other requirements though? Academic, and he was interested in our potions project you say?”

“Yes, perfect like I said. He is a hundred and eight though, you didn’t mention an age limit, did you?”

“Oh dear, I couldn’t possibly marry anyone older than a hundred and seven. Good try, but I’m afraid you can’t get rid of me just yet.”

Chapter Text

Before their visit to Hagrid, Lily had announced her intention to throw a surprise party for Severus. Hermione didn’t think it was a good idea but had been overruled by the group, who had made her promise not to tell him. Hermione had kept her promise perfectly by showing him the party planning meeting during an Occlumency session. They’d decided to host it at Hagrid’s and Remus had suggested they make it a pet party and all bring their familiars. She realised he was just trying to give Peter an opportunity to abscond or be stolen or, potentially more horrifically, eaten by a cat, but the potion mix Severus was feeding the rat was quite potent and they thought it would probably be alright. They’d just have to be on guard to stop Remus from attempting to steal him, which would make the party decidedly less fun for Severus but seemed unavoidable. Lily had asked one too many times after Peter and Remus had told her he’d been called home for a family emergency, so it was just the four of them for the party.

Hermione had at least convinced the others that she had romantic evening plans with the birthday boy so they would have to have the party in the afternoon, which would be before Black and Potter returned on the train. Lily had kindly informed her that Severus had a fondness for tropical flavours, and the house elves weren’t busy during the holidays since there were so few students, so they’d happily allowed the three girls into the kitchen. Hermione had suggested a hummingbird cake, which was agreed to, but she lost control of the cake decorating committee and, with consultation from a large group of bored house elves, they ended up with a three-tier monstrosity complete with tropical leaves, flowers, and a hovering hummingbird on top. Hermione had insisted on typical Muggle party food, so sausage rolls, pies, pigs in blankets, and pasties because she thought Severus would enjoy the traditional party experience she suspected he usually missed out on. He’d told her he never went home for Christmas, and his only friend at Hogwarts for a long time had been Lily, who’s fondness for throwing parties for Severus was a sudden development.

Once the house elves had all of the orders they went down to Hagrid’s hut to decorate, and then Lily was off to fetch the birthday boy. Remus had floated a plan involving them stealing Scabbers to then lure Severus down to Hagrid’s, which she was sure was code for help Peter escape his torment, but that had been nixed by the others. Lily had been quite insistent on being the one to fetch him, since Hermione wasn’t trusted not to ruin the surprise, which was wise really. She thought Lily wanted to ensure she would be given adequate credit for planning the party, which was fine by Hermione.

They all carried their familiars down to Hagrid’s. Lily had a fluffy white Turkish Angorra named Misty, with beautiful blue eyes, which was just as pretty as she was. Hermione was not a fan of Misty as she was mean to Crookshanks, he was still a kitten and was too small for it to be a fair fight between them, not that that stopped him from trying. Marlene had a Scops owl she called Spectacles who was quite old and didn’t fly much anymore. Hermione had Crookshanks, Remus didn’t have a pet, and Hagrid had Rocky, not to mention all of the monsters in the forest. The cats were not particularly pleased about their play date and had become even less pleased when Lily had charmed party hats onto their heads. Hermione had given Hagrid some money to go down to the Three Broomsticks and purchase a case of butterbeer for the party and they were just waiting for Severus and Lily to arrive, watching as Crooks and Misty tried to manoeuvre around the room to get into position to either attack Spectacles, or to avoid Rocky.

Eventually the door opened, and Severus stumbled through to their cry of, “Surprise!”

Misty immediately launched herself out the door while Crooks cowered under Hagrid’s bed. Lily squeaked and flounced off into the snow after her cat and Severus closed the door to prevent any further escapees. He looked around and, while trying to fend off Rocky, asked, “Is it a party for me or for the animals?”

Marlene said, “For you silly. Here have a butterbeer.”

Hagrid finally calmed Rocky and they sat down. Lily entered again, huffing and covered in snow. She dropped Misty unceremoniously onto the floor before pulling her coat off and looking around. The party went well, Severus hadn’t wanted to leave Scabbers in his enclosure where someone could easily grab him but didn’t want to leave him out in case one of the cats got him, so they’d found a tethering spell to create a kind of harness that they’d attached to the back of Severus’ robes. Peter could crawl all around his shoulders but not escape. The rat was currently nuzzling his hair affectionately, as Severus had given him an extra strong dose in preparation for the party. They were all rather uncomfortable, but they ate party food, played exploding snap, pin the tails on the Krup, and used a targeted lumos spell to create lights for the cats to chase around the room.

Severus opened his presents, chocolate from Remus, a nice quill from Marlene, a sketchbook and a small set of watercolour pencils from Lily, who kindly informed him she’d happily sit for a portrait anytime if he needed someone to sketch. Hermione and Hagrid had given him a combined gift, a set of potion tools in a leather tool roll. She’d gone scavenging in the room of lost objects to find a full set of knives then had Hagrid help her to strip them and make new matching handles, she’d used a charm to blacken the metal so that they now appeared as though they were a matching set. She’d also put some protective charms on the leather to keep the tools safe while they were wrapped up, charmed the knives to remain sharp for longer, and made the scoops and ladles impervious. She allowed Hagrid to tell him about the present, and Severus thanked him profusely before smiling at Hermione and saying, “You spoil me.”

Lily had quickly moved them onto singing Happy Birthday and presented him with the insane cake, which he called clever when she explained it was a hummingbird cake. They cheered, they ate, they gathered up all the pets for a group photograph with Marlene’s camera, though there was a close call when Misty made a play for Scabbers, forever immortalised on film. At four o’clock they knew the Hogwarts Express would be arriving and the students returning from the Christmas break so Lily, Marlene, and Remus all left to greet their other friends. That left Severus with Hermione to help clean up from his own party, but he wasn’t complaining. They vanished all of the decorations and then put on their winter gear in preparation to venture out into the cold.

Hermione’s plan to celebrate Severus’ birthday involved Hagrid and Rocky escorting them into the Forbidden Forest to gather potions ingredients, and though she could tell Severus had enjoyed the party she knew this was more to his taste. She offered Hagrid a Warming Charm which he eagerly accepted, almost tearing up at her kindness, and she put one on the dog as well for good measure. With that they were off. Visibility was not great because of the snow but under the canopy of the forest it was much better, and they managed to find a few things. Some Snowcaps, a few Ice lily’s, Silverspines, and a Yak’s ear. Nothing particularly rare, and they didn’t go very deep into the forest, but they were pleased nonetheless.

They arrived back in the hall for dinner, and she kissed him gently on the cheek and reminded him, “Be wary tonight, I hope you’ve enjoyed your birthday.”

Hermione had suspected that Remus wouldn’t be up to stealing Peter back on his own and she was pleased to be proved right. She had worried a little that they might take the boring route and just report Peter being an Animagus to a teacher, but she shouldn’t have. They were too stupidly confident in their own infallibility for that. Instead, Remus asked rather frequently after the welfare of Severus’ new pet but never snuck down to the dungeons to try to take him. He understood that he would be no match against Severus and he wasn’t brave enough to try. Now that Black and Potter were back though they were both aware it would be soon. They wouldn’t want Peter to miss any classes, Remus had not told anyone yet that he was missing. She was sure it would be tonight. She and Severus had looked up how to cast a Caterwauling Charm in the library in preparation but he was worried about his dorm mates accidentally setting it off. They’d worked together to modify it to allow specific people to pass through without setting it off. Severus would just have to act paranoid, which he was really, to justify why he had set a trap for them in his dorm room. She was confident in Severus’ abilities, yet she hated being unable to do anything.

She couldn’t sleep and spent the night watching the map. It was 2am when the Marauders moved, she followed their dots as they made their way down towards the dungeons, huddled together obviously under the invisibility cloak. Severus’ dot was in his bed, along with the name Peter Pettigrew, and all of his dorm mates were in their own beds. She was sure this would work. She watched the three dots gain access to the Slytherin common room, slowly, painfully, creep up the stairs, and then as soon as they entered the room there was frantic activity. She knew all of Slytherin had just been woken by the wailing charm.

She watched it unfold, and then Professor Slughorn’s dot was in motion, dots still scurried around like little ants, Professor McGonagall was moving towards the dungeons, Hermione assumed she’d been summoned by Patronus. The dots for the Gryffindor boys were moving, she was surprised by their direction until she realised the two teachers were taking them to the infirmary. Of course, the Slytherin boys would have done some damage to the intruders. They stopped for a while, consulting with Madam Pomfrey, and it seemed to move so horribly slow. Then Professor Slughorn was heading down to the Slytherin Dormitories, and Professor McGonagall was heading upwards. Hermione watched until she was outside the portrait hole of Gryffindor tower before putting the map away and pretending to be asleep. It was nerve wracking but soon enough Professor McGonagall was shaking her awake and they were heading to the Headmaster’s office.

Hermione began to Occlude, pushing all of her knowledge of any Animagi students below her shields, along with most of her feelings about Peter Pettigrew. She knew Dumbledore would suspect but as long as he didn’t know for sure she felt comfortable in the realm of plausible deniability. In his office she found the three Marauders, minus one Peter, sitting sullenly before his desk, all sporting various injuries. Black had a sling on one arm and half his face looked as though it was flaking off, Potter had little wiggling tentacles sprouting from his skin and his left hand was wrapped in thick bandages, and Lupin was purple and had a cast on his leg. She looked around curiously, waiting for the meeting to start, briefly meeting Remus’ eyes before he looked away guiltily. The impatience was setting in when Professor Dumbledore said, “We are waiting for another arrival or three.”

Shortly after that Professor Slughorn arrived, huffing slightly, with Severus who was carrying his new pet rat, inside his enclosure. Dumbledore clapped happily, “Delightful, now this is the pet rat who has caused such a fuss this evening? My, my. Now Mister Snape, it is my understanding that your new familiar was gifted to you by Miss Granger, is that correct?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And Miss Granger, did you purchase this rat?”

“No, sir, I found him. He lived in the walls in Gryffindor tower.”

“Misters Black, Potter, and Lupin here claim that this is Mister Lupins pet rat and that Mister Snape stole it. It seems this is a simple misunderstanding and can all be cleared up if you will just return the pet rat?”

Hermione scoffed internally, “I wouldn’t give someone a stolen rat. I did my due diligence, asking around Gryffindor tower and checking the familiar register. I even checked with Remus and he said he didn’t know of anyone who had a pet rat.”

Dumbledore looked at the other boy and Remus said slowly, and not very convincingly, “I was worried because I didn’t have special dispensation to have a rat as a familiar. I hadn’t registered him.”

Hermione glared at him, “I can’t believe you Remus, why are you lying about this? He’s been living in the walls for ages, and you were there when I gave him to Severus, you didn’t say anything about him being your pet. I was worried he was going to be eaten by my cat, and when I wasn’t able to find his owner I gave him to someone who will take his safety seriously.”

They were silent for a moment and then Black said, “Well no wonder he didn’t tell you. Obviously, he knew you were an interfering busy body and would just give him a telling off, but that doesn’t mean you can steal his rat.”

“I didn’t steal anything!”

Professor McGonagall said stiffly, “Albus, it seems there is no proof either way, yet the rat was living in Gryffindor tower so it is perhaps more likely that it is Mister Lupin’s pet. Mister Snape has only had the pet rat for a short time and cannot be so attached to it.”

Hermione gasped, “No proof? Seriously Professor? The fact that Remus told me he doesn’t own a rat and doesn’t know anyone else who has one, and that when I gave Scabbers to Severus he didn’t say, ‘Oh that’s my rat actually I was just embarrassed about being such a neglectful pet owner?’ and instead came to the Headmaster to complain about his rat being stolen when he knew full well that I gave him to Severus?”

Severus took the opportunity to say snarkily, “Actually, they didn’t come to the Headmaster to report the theft, they broke into my room and tried to steal my rat, and now as a reward for their behaviour you want me to just give them what they were after?”

“Oh, that makes more sense. Now that I think about it, it does seem strange to have an inquest into the ownership of a pet rat at 3am.”

Severus choked slightly as a laugh broke through and Dumbledore’s lips quirked.

Professor Dumbledore turned to the Marauders and said, “Would you care to explain to us why you chose to try to steal the rat back rather than informing Miss Granger of the mistake and asking her to return your pet?”

The Marauders looked at each other and Potter said, “We didn’t think she’d believe us, and we knew Snape wouldn’t have given him back if he knew we wanted the rat.”

Hermione sniffed, “You’re right, I wouldn’t have believed any of this nonsense. I’ve just had a great idea about proof though, if this really is Remus’ pet then surely you can produce some receipts? When and where did you buy Scabbers? Did you recently send home for some rat treats perchance? I suppose you have a lovely little enclosure you usually keep him in when you aren’t letting him run around to risk life and limb amongst the cat population of the tower?”

Severus added helpfully, “That’s a good point, if you have some evidence that he’s your pet Lupin then I would of course return him to you, but it seems like you are just trying to steal my rat. It may have only been two weeks, but I am growing quite used to having him around.”

Potter said quickly, “We’ll buy you a replacement rat. Or any familiar you like really, just give us that one.”

Severus narrowed his eyes, “What do you want with Scabbers? He’s a clever rat certainly but he hardly seems worth all this effort.”

“Remus is very attached to him.”

Black added, “Why don’t we let the rat decide? Let him out of that enclosure and see if he goes to Remus? He definitely won’t want to stay with Snape.”

Hermione immediately interjected, “That’s not fair-”

Severus cut her off, “Fine.” He opened the top of the enclosure and pulled Scabbers out, she smiled slightly to see that Severus had charmed a little Slytherin scarf onto him. He set the rat onto the floor and Remus immediately got down on the ground and said, “Come here Wormy.”

Severus continued to sit in his chair, looking at the rat impassively, and the rat, looking rather drunk, slowly walked over to begin rubbing himself against one of Severus’ shoes.

Black snarled, “What have you done to him Snape?”

Severus just smirked before picking up the rat to pet him, and purring, “Nothing, he’s just tired. Some of us were woken in the middle of the night, weren’t we Scabbers?”

Professor Slughorn finally decided to assert the rights of his student by saying, “Well it seems clear that though these boys claim their rat was stolen they have no proof of ever owning the rat, had told Miss Granger they did not own a rat, and even if they did own the rat were irresponsible with his safety. Mister Snape has been keeping him in good health and the rat is happy with him. I think we can let the matter rest as it is, and I would like to know what will be done about these three boys breaking into the Slytherin dormitories in the middle of the night?”

Professor McGonagall said sternly, “I’ve already deducted fifty points from each of them and assigned detention with Mister Filch.”

Professor Dumbledore said tiredly, “Then I believe we will all have to be happy with this solution. Perhaps your friends will purchase a new rat for you Mister Lupin and you can take better care of the next one.”

The three Marauders looked at each other, and Remus said, “Please sir, I really need this rat.”

“No Mister Lupin, that is my final word on the matter.”

Remus looked at the other two, “We have to tell them.”

They all nodded, looking extremely uncomfortable.

Remus continued, “Sir, that isn’t a rat. It’s Peter Pettigrew. He’s an Animagus.”

Hermione giggled, then looked at the rat who was still snuggling into Severus’ palm.

Professor McGonagall scoffed, “Ridiculous.”

When the boys continued to insist Professor Dumbledore had Severus place the rat on the floor again, and though Scabbers immediately tried to run back to him he was held in place. The two Professor’s together cast the spell to force an Animagus back into their human form and suddenly Peter Pettigrew was before them, looking extremely dishevelled and confused.

Everyone stared for a moment and then Hermione, letting the horror bubble up from where she had held it under her occlumency, screeched, “Oh my god. Scabbers is a person? No, no, no, no, no! This isn’t okay. How could this happen? He was a rat, I don’t understand.”

Severus, an expression of horror on his face, scooted his chair closer so he could wrap an arm around her.

Professor McGonagall said sternly, “Mister Pettigrew, explain yourself at once.”

Peter said woozily, looking confused, “I don’t feel so well.”

Black snarled again, “Snape! What the hell did you do to him?”

Severus said seriously, “I thought he was a rat, didn’t I? Rats are great for testing potions and I did a lot of brewing over the holidays.”

Potters expression blackened, “You’ve been testing potions on him? You bastard, you absolute bastard. You knew it was Peter and you did this deliberately! I’ll see you arrested for this Snape if it’s the last thing I do.”

“Don’t be ridiculous Potter, how could I possibly have known that?”

Potter turned to look at Hermione, a look of horror dawning on him as he whispered, “Did you know? I wondered, but Hermione how could you? What has Peter ever done to you?”

She blinked, “What? Nothing. He’s never done anything to me, I thought he was Scabbers. Cute little Scabbers, he was so smart and I just wanted to give him a good home. My cat tried to eat him.”

Snape said sharply, “How long have you known Potter? Is he even registered?”

Professor McGonagall asked, “How long has Mister Pettigrew been an Animagus?”

They all looked shiftily and said, “Not long.”

Hermione gasped, “Months and months! Oh my god you little creeper! How dare you? I thought you were a nice rat, and you were just a pervert, spying on us in the bathroom! All that time. Oh Merlin, I always saw you looking at Lily, I thought it was just because her hair is so pretty but- what have you done to him Sev? I can’t yell at him for being a creep when he looks so confused. I feel sick. He saw me all naked, oh and the other girls, someone has to tell them. How awful.” She buried her face into Severus’ shoulder and genuinely wept, for how horrible it felt to have been spied on in that way.

Severus was talking, probably telling them what potions he’d given his pet rat, brilliant man, but Hermione wasn’t paying attention, just enjoying the rumbly feeling of his deep voice with her ear pressed against his chest. Severus shushed her and then there was a vial at her lips and he was tilting it back for her to swallow. He whispered, “Calming Draught. Don’t worry its rat tested.”

Hermione laughed and looked up. Someone had summoned Madam Pomfrey to take Pettigrew to the infirmary, the Marauders looked nervous, the teachers all furious. She tried to focus again as Professor Dumbledore asked, “Miss Granger, I assure you we are going to treat this matter with the utmost seriousness. Can you tell us when you first saw ‘Scabbers’ in the bathrooms?”

She nibbled her lip, “Oh, I don’t remember exactly, I went to Professor McGonagall about a week later to check the familiar register though? I asked Remus just after Halloween, I remember because he and Lily joined us to study in the library just after that Hogsmeade weekend. Remus, please, tell me you didn’t know about this? When I asked you if you knew of anyone with a pet rat and Lily and I joked about him enjoying shower time, please tell me you didn’t know he was…”

Remus looked slightly ashamed but said, “I didn’t know he was doing that.”

Hermione said, “Well he seemed very smart for a rat, but my cat nearly caught him and I just thought it wasn’t safe for him to be living in the wall.” Then she said indignantly, “If I’d known he was a person I wouldn’t have tried to give him a nice place to live, I’d have called the bloody Aurors to report him for being a disgusting little creep! I don’t know how many of the girls knew about him, Lily, Marlene, and I often showered together, and we used to talk to him, but was he only spying on us or others as well?”

Professor Slughorn then said, “Albus I am going to take my student back to bed and I would suggest Minerva do the same. I doubt Miss Dagworth-Granger has anything further to add and she’ll have to repeat it all when you call the Aurors anyway. Perhaps best to let her rest, this must be quite traumatic for her.”

Professor McGonagall said stiffly, “Yes, come along students, Miss Granger tidy yourself up.”

Hermione clung to Severus, though the potion he’d given her had reduced her distress she still couldn’t believe how much Professor McGonagall hated her now. Severus soothed her and she took a deep breath and nodded, wiping away her tears. She offered him a sad farewell as her group split off to head back to the tower. Hermione walked just behind Professor McGonagall in silence so that the others wouldn’t speak to her and raced up to her dormitory.

As she was about to ascend the stairs Professor McGonagall said stiffly, “It would be best if you didn’t mention this to the other girls just yet Miss Granger.”

Hermione asked calmly, “Best for who? Of course I’m going to speak to them about it, they’ve a right to know, we all do.”

Hermione raced up the stairs to their seventh-year dormitory and pushed the door open. She moved over to Lily’s bed and shook her awake then moved to Marlene. Professor McGonagall had followed her up and looked at her, “Miss Granger, this is not the time. Everyone will be informed when it is relevant for them to be so.”

Lily asked blearily, “Informed about what Professor?”

Hermione said, “That Scabbers was an Animagus and he was actually Peter Pettigrew and had been perving on us in the bathroom.”

Marlene yawned, “Haha very funny Hermione.”

“Miss Granger, fifty points from Gryffindor and detention with me this Friday for defying a teacher. Miss Evans, Miss McKinnon, unfortunately it has come to light that Mister Pettigrew has been an unregistered Animagus for some time and has been using his form to sneak into your bathroom, for what purpose we do not yet know. There will be an Auror investigation, and I am sure you will all be called for questioning. Do not mention this matter to anyone else at this time or I will be seriously displeased with you all. To bed with you, now!”

Hermione tried to glower at the Professor but the Calming Draught was still in effect and she couldn’t quite summon the effort. They waited until the Professor had left, though Hermione checked her watch and knew she was still just outside the doorway, until the other two girls scurried out of bed to join her. Lily whispered, “Hermione what is going on?”

Professor McGonagall snapped the door open and yelled, “Miss Evans, Miss McKinnon, ten points from Gryffindor each. Back to your beds this instant.”

They went. Hermione waited until the dot moved then got up and went to the bathroom. When she came out again she went to Lily’s bed and Marlene joined her. Marlene whispered, “We just lost seventy points between us, everyone is going to be furious tomorrow.”

Hermione smiled, “The boys already lost a hundred and fifty. I don’t think Gryffindor even had that many so no-one will know if we just blame them.”

Lily whispered, “What the hell happened Hermione?”

“I was called to Professor Dumbledore’s office because the boys tried to steal Scabbers from Severus tonight. They broke into his dormitory but got caught. Then they admitted that Scabbers was actually Peter Pettigrew, and that was when I realised… he’s been spying on us in the shower, and I don’t know if it’s just us or if he was doing it to other girls as well. They didn’t want me to tell you but I thought you had a right to know, I want to know even though it makes me feel sick.”

Lily made a disgusted face, “I always thought Peter was creepy. Do… did the others know? Did James know about this?”

“I don’t know. They knew the rat was Peter for sure but they didn’t say how long he’d been an Animagus for. I think they must have known but maybe they didn’t know he was perving on us? When we asked Remus about the rat though I think he knew it was Peter.”

Lily nodded, “I thought he seemed a bit odd when we asked him about it, but yuck. I feel like my skin is crawling, I wish Crookshanks had caught that little vermin.”

Hermione nodded, “Me too. I can’t believe I told him off for trying, poor Crooksy.”

The cat in question jumped up onto the bed at that moment and started purring. Marlene scratched him behind the ears, “Oh Crooksy you’re such a clever boy. You knew that rat wasn’t to be trusted, didn’t you? Who’s a good kitten?”

“Well anyway I hope you aren’t too mad at me for waking you up. I just knew if it was me I would want to be told straight away, and honestly tomorrow is going to be so weird, I didn’t want to keep it from you both. Now since Gryffindor has already lost all of our rubies and I know the detention for breaking into the Slytherin dormitory is only a single detention I’m going to sneak down to see Severus. I’ll catch you both in classes tomorrow.”

Lily gasped, “Hermione you can’t! What if Professor McGonagall comes in to look for you?”

“Just tell her you went to bed when she left like good little girls and don’t know where I am. Goodnight.”

She disillusioned herself and snuck downstairs.

It was now 3am and the castle was creepily quiet and empty. Hermione hated the way her heart raced and her palms grew sweaty, she’d never gotten used to sneaking around and despite her confidence she didn’t really want to get caught. She tried to tell herself it would only be one detention but was sure that somehow Professor McGonagall would decide that sneaking off to see one’s boyfriend deserved harsher punishment than knowing a student was a rat Animagus and, rather than doing something reasonable like telling someone, deciding to commit the further crime of breaking and entering.

She wouldn’t get caught because she had her watch but she realised the problem that she’d charmed the face of it to glow and in dark corridors during the middle of the night the Disillusionment Charm didn’t conceal the light from it. She’d be a mostly invisible blur with a brightly glowing wrist. There must be a better concealment charm. She managed to avoid running into anyone though and gave the password to get into the Slytherin common room. The seventh year boys all looked to be awake still as they were gathered around one bed but she decided she didn’t care. She did tap her watch though to send a message to Severus to let her in, just in case the Caterwauling Charm was still active.

She waited then watched as his dot got up from the huddle and moved, opening the door. He whispered, “Hermione?”

She cancelled her disillusionment and he pulled her into the room and over to his bed. “What are you doing here?”

She smiled, “I found out the punishment for breaking into the Slytherin boy’s dormitory is only fifty points and a single detention, and Gryffindor doesn’t have any points left, so I thought I’d come for a visit.”

Rosier scoffed, “Can’t believe they got off so lightly, bloody wankers.”

Hermione nodded, “I already lost that many myself, and got detention from McGonagall, for telling Evans and McKinnon what happened when she’d ordered me not to say anything.”

Avery shook his head, “That’s so unfair. I still can’t believe you gave Sev a pet rat that turned out to be Peter Pettigrew. It’s mad.”

They all laughed and Hermione said, “I can’t believe it either. Oh my god Severus what had you done to him though?”

Severus started laughing hysterically while they all looked at him, he wheezed out, “Hermione that rat hated me! I thought you’d be so disappointed and think I was mistreating him, so I’ve been dosing him with love potions.”

They all laughed. She asked, “How long will that last?”

Severus snorted, “It was only a small dose, enough for a rat but I doubt it would affect him much as a human. I let him out of his enclosure for a bit after the party though and he managed to get into some Confounding Concoction while I wasn’t looking, he probably would have died if he’d really been a rat. I don’t think I’m meant to own a pet, and this experience may have put me off for life.”

Avery said, “Well I’m glad at least one of those Gryffindor’s is finally getting their comeuppance. Thanks for catching that rat Granger, and for giving it to Sev here. It’s practically poetic. And Sev great job on that charm you put over the doorway, that was inspired. You’ll have to teach it to us.”

“Hermione and I adapted it together, she can probably teach it better than I can.”

Hermione smiled and then stifled a yawn.

Severus asked, “How long are you staying for?”

Hermione pouted, “You’re not really going to make me walk all the way back up to Gryffindor tower at this hour are you?”

“No, just surprised. You’re inviting yourself into my bed then? How very forward of you.”

“Just to sleep, don’t get any ideas. Goodnight, everyone!” She crawled under his covers.

They snuggled into bed together and she turned to whisper to him, “I didn’t realise, I’ve been suppressing so much of it using Occlumency that when I let it all out I was suddenly so horrified and upset. I almost can’t believe I really planned this. It’s like the whole time when I was befriending that rat in the bathroom, there was a part of me that knew he was a horrible creep, but I didn’t feel it. Now I feel it and I can remember him looking at me, and the worst is when we’d actually see Peter and he would look at me with his beady little eyes. I know he was secretly lording it over me, he liked that I was trying to befriend his rat self and he was laughing at me for it.”

“I’m sorry Hermione, I didn’t realise. You told me about him being an Animagus but it wasn’t until I was sitting there with him in that stupid enclosure that my brain could really connect the idea. I hated having to pretend he was a pet.”

She smiled, “Giving him love potions was an amazing idea though. I can’t believe you did that.”

“I thought that if Remus saw me with him he’d try to take him from me, the little bugger was constantly hissing at me.”

She giggled. “I’m glad this part of the plan is over.”

“Me too, and even though it’s horrifying you have to admit it’s also hilarious. I’m so glad we’ve learned Occlumency or I would have cracked up so many times tonight.”

“Same. Rat tested potions.”

He whispered, “Oh, there’s something else too.”

He reached inside his pillow and pulled out a bundle of shimmery sliver material and she stared at it, “The cloak?”

“They were so unprepared. I was waiting for them and as soon as the Caterwauling Charm started going I set a Trip Jinx on the doorway. They tried to back out of the room and fell, I managed to grab the cloak and threw it onto my bed before any of the others were up. They were all unconscious when Slughorn and McGonagall came to drag them up to the infirmary.”

“Oh. We can’t let them find out that we have this. They might report it stolen.”

“You should take it and hide it in the room somewhere; we can retrieve it later. If they report the theft I’ll pretend to know nothing, and really any of the Slytherin’s could have it. The younger years were all pouring out onto the stairs to see what was happening.”

“Brilliant.” She shoved the cloak into her bag until she would find an opportunity to hide it. “I’m going to get some sleep now, thanks for letting me stay.”

He smirked, “You’re welcome, I’m pleased I could be of assistance in helping you break that final school rule. Sleep well.”

She smiled and snuggled against him, enjoying his warmth, and happily drifted off to sleep.

Chapter Text

The next morning, they were woken by Professor Slughorn entering the dormitory. He opened the curtains of Severus’ bed then tutted at seeing her there. She checked her watch, seeing it was 7.30am. They’d been planning to wake at 8am to go to breakfast. Professor Slughorn frowned, “Miss Dagworth-Granger, what are you doing here? This is very inappropriate.” He didn’t look as displeased as he sounded so Hermione thought he might be lenient with her.

She smiled, “Good morning, Professor. I had trouble sleeping last night so I thought I’d visit Severus early this morning.”

He said, “Ahh you mean to imply of course that you made your way out of Gryffindor tower after 6am this morning and have not been sneaking around outside of curfew? However, you are aware, I’m sure, that Gryffindor students are not permitted in the Slytherin dormitories, only in the common room?”

“Yes sir, but I’m also aware that the established punishment for Gryffindor students being found here is fifty points and a detention. Gryffindor doesn’t have any points left but you can schedule my detention at your earliest convenience, though I’m afraid I’m busy this Friday night as I already have one with Professor McGonagall for telling my dormmates about Pettigrew.”

He smiled, “Very well, detention next Thursday in the Potions classroom. Both of you up now and to breakfast, Mister Snape you have an appointment with the Aurors at eight this morning, in fact you both do, so I suggest you eat quickly.”

“We’ll be down in a minute, sir. Thank you.”

Slughorn left, and Hermione pulled her robes out of her book bag. She looked at Severus who didn’t move so she cheekily pulled her pyjama pants off under the covers then pulled them out with a flourish. He blushed but Hermione just pushed her tights and skirt underneath and started trying to roll them on without letting him see anything. When she’d finished with that she said, “You need to get up before I try to change my top, not sure I can manage it with as much finesse. Go brush your teeth.” Her eyes narrowed, “You are brushing your teeth in the mornings now, aren’t you?”

“Yes witch, excuse me.” He got up, moving a bit awkwardly, and gathered his uniform from the dresser then went into the bathroom to dress.

Hermione closed the curtains again and sorted out the rest of her uniform. She looked around in vain for a mirror but Severus didn’t seem to have one. She moved over to Avery’s dresser and tried to fix her hair a bit. It was a doomed attempt, and the mirror supplied happily, “You won’t make much of that without a brush dear.”

Professor Slughorn escorted them towards the Great Hall and on the way there Professor McGonagall called out, “Horace have you seen Miss Granger this morning, I can’t seem to find- Miss Granger! There you are, where have you been hiding?”

Slughorn said happily, “Miss Dagworth-Granger decided to come down to the Slytherin common room first thing this morning to visit Severus.”

Professor McGonagall pursed her lips, “I’m sure. Miss Granger, you have an appointment with the Aurors at eight this morning, you’ll be excused from Charms. Meet me in my office and do not be late.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Hermione entered the Great Hall and made her way over to Lily and Marlene, not many students were at breakfast yet as it was still pretty early. Marlene whispered, “Hermione, I hope you didn’t get into any trouble? Professor McGonagall came to look for you and I told her you left early and that I thought you were going to see Snape, but I didn’t tell her what time. Are you okay?”

“Thanks Marlene, I’m fine. Professor Slughorn caught me in Severus’ bed this morning and gave me a detention, but it was worth it.”

Marlene’s eyes widened, “Merlin, did you shag him?”

Lily jerked and leaned in closer.

Hermione coughed, “No of course not, we just cuddled a bit. I’m too freaked out about Peter being creepy to even think of anything like that.”

Marlene nodded, “Me too, I can’t believe it. Lily snuck out to see James after you left and they did know he was-”

Lily cut her off, “Marlene. I promised not to tell!”

“Hermione won’t tell, will you?”

Hermione looked at her, “That they knew he was an Animagus? I guessed as much but I won’t say anything. Don’t tell me about it though, I don’t fancy lying to the Aurors. Do you think they’ll give us Veritaserum?” She knew they wouldn’t but didn’t see any harm in freaking the girls out a bit.

Marlene gasped, “Oh no, you shouldn’t have told me Lily.”

Lily looked nervous, “They wouldn’t do that, would they?”

She just shrugged and reached for a piece of toast. “Probably not. I wonder what’s going to happen.”

The Gryffindor boys entered then and Lily excused herself to go talk to them.

Marlene whispered to Hermione, “Lily and James had a fight last night, she was mad at him for not telling her about Peter being a rat. She yelled at Remus as well, for lying about it. The boys all said this is some kind of plot by Snape and that he must have found out and tricked you into catching Peter so he could torture him by forcing him to drink dark potions.”

“That’s ridiculous. Severus didn’t even want the rat at first. How come Remus never said anything about Peter being missing? I only realised last night but when we all went for tea with Hagrid on New Year’s Remus said he asked Peter and he didn’t want to come, but he can’t have asked him because Scabbers was with us all day.”

Marlene started, “Oh Merlin, you’re right. We took Scabbers down to visit Hagrid, Remus must have known it was Peter the whole time and he lied to us. Hermione, did Snape torture Scabbers though? The boys said there was something wrong with him.”

“No, of course not. He thought Scabbers was a rat, but he did test a few potions on him. Nothing bad or painful, and he definitely wasn’t tortured.”

“That’s good, even though I’m furious at him for perving on us I don’t want to think that Snape would have hurt him.”

“Severus didn’t hurt him at all! He was perfectly well cared for, just a bit confused. I’m sure he’s fine.”

It wasn’t long until Professor McGonagall collected them all, they met up with Professor Slughorn and all of the seventh-year Slytherin boys, and then they were taken to a meeting room just off the entrance hall. They were introduced to Auror Scrimgeour and Auror Robards then settled at a long table. They were asked to write witness statements using the provided parchments, quills, and inkwells. Auror Scrimgeour said, “Simply write, in chronological order, everything you have experienced about the rat named Scabbers and the events of last evening. If you have any questions, please raise your hand and we will assist you.”

Hermione assumed there must be something special about the stationary they’d been given, probably similar to anti-cheating charms only to prevent them writing a false statement. She thought carefully and decided not to lie, she was getting practiced at saying things in a way that was true but misleading. She pushed the information she didn’t know below her Occlumency shields and then wrote about when she had first seen Scabbers the rat in October (technically true chronologically, although from her perspective she’d first seen him in 1991 in the future). She wrote about being worried that Crookshanks was trying to eat him (true). She wrote about the inquiries she’d made to ensure he wasn’t someone’s lost pet, checking the familiar registers and asking around, which she’d actually done despite knowing the answer. Then she wrote about giving the rat to Severus and added some inanities about how cute he’d looked in his little party hat and about teaching him tricks. After that she launched into the events of last night, saying she was roused from her bed by Professor McGonagall (careful not to write woken), that the boys tried to claim he was Remus’ pet which she knew not to be true, and about them admitting he was really Peter Pettigrew.

She looked around and realised everyone else had finished, as per usual she had been the most thorough. Scrimgeour grabbed her parchment and read it through quickly. They began taking people off one at a time a smaller room, starting with Severus’ dormmates, then Hermione’s. Getting the easiest interviews out of the way first Hermione supposed. They were ordered not to talk to each other and Hermione pulled out a book to read. Potter and Black sat glaring at Severus while Lupin looked rather abashed. Hermione felt relieved when Black, and then Potter, were finally called. Lupin was next, and then it was her turn. She stretched, waved to Severus who was the last one left, and followed Auror Robards.

Scrimgeour slowly read over her statement again without speaking, trying to make her sweat. Hermione had carefully occluded everything she shouldn’t know and was feeling confident in this moment that she’d done nothing wrong, but she still fidgeted a bit nervously. He finally looked up at her and asked, “Miss Granger, did you know that ‘Scabbers’ was secretly a rat Animagus when you captured him?”

He made it sound as though he was quite sure she did, and she bristled, “I don’t see how I could have sir! He was a rat, he looked and acted like a rat. I thought about this last night and I don’t understand, really. He had a nest in the wall. I fed him bits of cheese and rat treats. What kind of boy eats rat treats?”

“A very disturbed one, Miss Granger. A very disturbed boy indeed. Do you recall the exact date you first saw the rat?”

“No, sir. It was during October, I know that Halloween day was the first day my study group with Remus, Lily, and Severus met and I asked Remus if he knew of anyone who had a pet rat so it was sometime before then.”

“Why did you ask Remus about that specifically?”

“He’s the Gryffindor prefect sir, I had asked Lily already as she is Head Girl, I thought that if anyone had lost their familiar one of them would know.”

“You then inquired with Professor McGonagall about the familiar register? Why were you so convinced he wasn’t just a wild rat?”

She paused, “Well he seemed very intelligent. We don’t have vermin in Gryffindor tower, it would be difficult for pests to find their way up so high, and several people have cats.”

“Why did you decide to catch him and give him to Mister Snape, rather than just allowing him to continue to live in the wall?”

“I was worried he was going to be eaten. My cat nearly caught him in our dormitory one day and I’d grown to sort of like him by then. We’d see him pretty much every week crawling around the top of the tile wall, and I would have felt bad if he died. As to why I gave him to Severus, I would have kept him myself if we were allowed two familiars, and if Crooksy wasn’t so determined to eat him.”

“Crooksy? That’s your cat I presume.”

“Yes, Crookshanks, or Crooks for short. I got him recently and he’s the sweetest little kitten, but sometimes he would meow at the walls and we figured out he was hearing Scabbers move around in there. Now that we know it was Pettigrew I wonder if he was spying on us even more often before Crooksy started protecting our dorm room.”

“Why did you give Scabbers to Mister Snape?”

“I really like having a familiar and I thought he would too. Scabbers seemed really clever and I thought Severus would enjoy having a smart pet. He seemed a bit sad when I told him about Crooksy, I thought he wanted a familiar too but, well, don’t tell him I said this but Severus is really poor. He lets me buy him things sometimes, but he’s always embarrassed about it. I offered to buy him an owl but he wouldn’t let me, but a random rat I found in a wall would be perfect! Plus, rats don’t eat very much and can be fed leftovers from the Great Hall so he wouldn’t have to worry about the cost of feeding him. It seemed like a perfect solution at the time.”

Scrimgeour narrowed his eyes at her, then looked to his partner. They seemed to confer silently for a moment before he said, “You’re free to go now, please attend to whatever your next class would normally be.”

Hermione wondered if Scrimgeour was genuinely suspicious of her or if he just acted that way as a rule. It was quite intimidating, but she had a feeling he really did think her a silly girl who cared about the welfare of a rat living in the walls of the castle and wanted her boyfriend to have a nice pet. She headed to her Arithmancy class which had started about 10 minutes ago, hoping that Severus would show up by the end of the hour, but he hadn’t. She knew Black and Potter would have laid out all of their grievances about him to the Aurors but hoped it would be okay. He hadn’t committed any crimes, they’d talked about that carefully and he’d been sure not to do anything illegal to the rat while it was in his custody. She was confident that Severus could handle the situation.

Hermione was worried when Severus didn’t show up for Ancient Runes either. She ignored Remus and barely got through her translations before racing down to find Professor Slughorn to ask if he knew what was happening. She ran into him on her way to his office and he informed her he was going up to see the Aurors now. She followed and when Auror Robards saw her he kindly told her to wait and her boyfriend would be out soon. The man looked obviously amused and she felt quite relieved as she settled in to wait.

It wasn’t long before they all came out, the Professor, the two Aurors, and Severus. As soon as he saw her he rushed over and embraced her whispering, “Hermione, I was worried about you. Are you alright?”

She was surprised by his public display but said, “I’m fine but Sev you were in there for hours, are you okay? You’re not in any trouble are you? You didn’t even do anything wrong, I’m the one who gave him to you, how were you supposed to know he wasn’t a rat?” She glared at the two Aurors for a moment.

Auror Robards laughed, “Little spitfire this one, I like her. He’s not in any trouble lass we just had to make sure we got all the facts straight. You’ve caused quite the fuss by catching that rat.”

She said primly, “I think it’s the rat’s fault, not mine.”

“Too true. Well you’re both free to go now, we’re expected in the Headmaster’s office.”

They watched as the three men walked off and then Severus dragged her behind a tapestry, casting a Muffliato so they could talk but pretend to just be making out if anyone came by.

She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and whispered, “Are you in trouble?”

He smirked, “It worked out exactly how you said. They are recommending detention for the possession of a banned substance, but they agreed not to charge me for dosing a student with love potions since I had no reasonable way to know he was a student at the time. What about you, how was your interrogation?”

“Fine, Scrimgeour acted as though he was suspicious that I knew Peter was an Animagus but I can’t tell if he was being genuine or if that’s just his standard Auror interrogation attitude. I think I just came across as a silly girl who likes animals. I was so worried though, you were in there for ages. What happened?”

He nodded, “I hadn’t thought about it before but Black and Potter, who have been convinced I was evil incarnate since I was 11 years old, are certain I’m to blame for this. From what the Aurors were saying Potter and Black made a lot of accusations against me, and I think Potters parents are putting pressure on them to take it seriously. The Aurors were just dotting their I’s and crossing their T’s.”

She nodded, “Of course, that makes sense. Even though it’s completely unjust, and you hadn’t really done anything wrong.”

“Yes, it was interesting. Black and Potter obviously told them a lot about our history because Scrimgeour started out asking me about past incidents. It was all the times I’ve hexed them and none of the times they’ve attacked me, so I ended up talking about some of it. Robards said he’d understand wanting revenge so I told him I used to try to fight back against them, but they’ve nearly killed me twice, and after I nearly died the start of this year I’ve been steering clear of them. They played good Auror, bad Auror, Robards being all nice and sympathetic with me and Scrimgeour accusing me of things. Robards said it must have been satisfying to find out I’d kept Pettigrew in a cage and I told him it was a bit embarrassing really, because I’d had private conversations around him without realising, and had even talked to him a bit as well. Of course, I didn’t tell Scabbers anything he didn’t know already, but they don’t know that.”

“What did you talk to him about?”

He smirked, “I told Scabbers about you. I didn’t get to have much fun with him but you should have seen how upset he’d get, whenever I talked about my wonderful girlfriend. They seemed to believe me but they got a bit stuck on why I’d been feeding him potions. I just know the Marauders would have gone on and on about that part, and even though I didn’t really give him anything too bad, Scrimgeour wanted to know why I was feeding my pet rat Amortentia.”

Hermione laughed, “It is an odd thing to do, what did you tell them?”

“I made myself seem so sappy, I talked about how Scabbers seemed to hate me and wouldn’t stop hissing no matter how many treats I gave him and that I was so worried you’d think I was mistreating him because of how he was acting. I told them how much of a sad loser I am, with no friends, until I get this amazing girlfriend, and then she gives me a bloody pet I didn’t even want and the thing seems to despise me for no reason. There’s no way you’d believe the rat just has a vendetta against me, but Professor Kettleburn had mentioned the use of a mild Calming Draught, or Draught of Peace if you can get it, for taming feral animals. I just happened to have Amortentia on hand from working on my extra-credit project, and thought that if I used that it wouldn’t be obvious the rat was sedated, instead he’d just appear to really like me, and then you’d never realise that I’m so useless I can’t even look after a rat and break up with me.”

“Oh perfect, I told them you’re sensitive about being poor and that’s why I thought a free rat that lived in the wall would be a good pet for you.”

He laughed, “Yes, I did get a lot of pitying looks from Robards. I usually find such things rather odious but in this case it was pleasant to play up how miserable my life is.”

“I’m so glad we learned Occlumency, I never could have pulled off all of this lying without it. It’s only because I don’t really know I’m lying in the moment that I can manage it, and I feel guilty about it now.”

“Don’t feel guilty, Pettigrew deserves it. I really treated him well, and with the potions he was quite happy, apart from being pathetically jealous over you.”

“I know, and we’ll forever have that picture of him snuggled up with you wearing his party hat.”

He snickered, “That’s the best birthday present anyone has ever gotten me. Well just be prepared, I’m going to be very affectionate until we know this whole rat situation is all ironed out. Until then I’m so pathetically in love that I resorted to feeding my pet love potions to impress you.”

She laughed, “Well it worked, I really am impressed.”

At dinner it was clear the whole school had heard what happened. They were undecided whether he would forever be known as Peter Pervert or Pervert Pettigrew, the girls were all horrified and wanted to know if he had snuck into the other houses bathrooms or was it just Gryffindor? The boys were very interested in the Auror proceedings and wondered if he would be thrown into Azkaban. Most people at dinner on the first night had managed to pick up the majority of the facts, but over the next week rumours spread, and it was no longer clear what had actually happened.

Some said that Snape had been the one to turn Pettigrew into a rat and the staff had been unable to turn him back. One rumour said she’d been cheating on him with Peter and they were both turned into rats, though how they explained her continued presence at the school she was unsure. They’d heard about the rat being drunk on love potions of course, and there were a lot of rumours about that. Snape had acquired the unfortunate new moniker of rat boy. She’d overheard a Hufflepuff girl claim that Snape had been feeding his girlfriend potions and Pettigrew was accidentally dosed and turned himself into a rat because he thought that would impress him.

Eventually it was cleared up that Snape had given the potions to the rat, though his motivations were unclear. Did Snape love the rat, was he just testing a new potion, or was Snape the victim of a potion and the rat was his hapless taste tester? Whatever the theory, he was just as unpopular as ever with the wider school, though the seventh-year Slytherin boys’ support meant his house at least was on his side. As rumours circulated a general conclusion was drawn that it made no sense for Hermione Dagworth-Granger to be going out with rat boy and a bunch of students concluded that she was also under the effect of Amortentia. She spent a day in the hospital wing on Thursday because someone dosed her with an antitode, which ran right through her since there was nothing in her system for it to counteract. This finally caused the Headmaster to make an announcement at dinner to clarify the situation, though Hermione and Severus both missed it as he was visiting her in the infirmary at the time.

There was no official announcement that Pettigrew had been expelled, yet it spread around the school by the end of the weekend that he was. Black, Potter, and Lupin, had all received multiple detentions for breaking into the Slytherin dormitories, for knowing Pettigrew was an Animagus, and for concealing his disappearance. Sirius Black loudly proclaimed the unfairness and told anyone who would listen that Pettigrew had done nothing wrong, it was all a misunderstanding, and the whole thing had been orchestrated by Snape anyway. This put him at odds with Lily, catching James Potter in the middle, leading to him being oddly quiet. Black spent a lot of time in classes and at meals glaring at Severus, and occasionally at her. He seemed rather unhinged over the entire situation, and she was a little scared of him right now, especially with what she had planned next. She knew that in their animal form it was possible for the boys to get up to the girl’s dormitory and decided she was going to set up a Caterwauling Charm of her own.

She didn’t want to have to cast it every night and add the girls’ magical signature to it each time, which inspired her to find a way to have an object store that information that she could then link the charm to. She had a cross stitch pattern in her bag that her mum had bought for her when she’d taken up knitting in case she wanted another hobby, it made a bouquet of pink flowers tied together with a ribbon, and she sat next to Lily, pulling tiny tugs of her magic to weave into the stitches, then did the same with Marlene, and herself. Once it was finished she hung it by their door and then used it to activate the charm each night, she didn’t tell the other girls what it was for though. She figured Lily would tell James, who would tell Sirius, who would find a way around it if he knew it was there.

While she was working on this it occurred to her that she hadn’t heard anything mentioned about Black and Potter being animagi as well. She was surprised as she’d fully expected them to register. Surely McGonagall and Dumbledore had been suspicious when Pettigrew had been revealed, he was the worst of them at Transfiguration. It was possible they had, and the rumour mill was just a bit behind, but she had a niggling feeling that they’d possibly been stupid enough to claim Pettigrew was the only one and wondered what she might be able to do about it in the future. It was something to consider.

Hermione’s detention on Friday was a surprise. Professor McGonagall brought her into her office and offered her a cup of tea and a ginger newt. She took it, suspiciously, and began nibbling on it as she said stiffly, “Miss Granger, I wanted to apologise to you. I realise the events of Monday night were naturally distressing for you and I know I should explain, it wasn’t my intention to keep it secret from your housemates, I merely meant to discourage you from waking them in the middle of the night. I thought it would be better to delay telling them until we had investigated the matter further. I am still not pleased that you disobeyed me, but I realise you were in a difficult situation and perhaps wanted to confide in your friends.”

“Oh. Thank you, Professor.” She was surprised. She hadn’t expected an apology.

“I realise that we have not gotten off to a good start, it must have been difficult for you, with this being both your first and last year at Hogwarts. How are you finding your studies so far? I know I checked in with you when we spoke about your tent project, but things are still well?”

Hermione agreed, and they chatted about how she was keeping up with her classes, and about her progress on the tent, for a while.

Professor McGonagall then asked her, “And you have made friends with Miss Evans, Miss McKinnon, and Mister Lupin?”

Hermione agreed to it.

“And am I correct in understanding that you are dating Mister Snape?”

Hermione smiled, “Yes, that is correct.”

“Very well. I will not try to tell you not to associate with him but do be careful. You cannot be unaware that there is a war going on outside of these walls. Others will deny the severity of the situation but you are an intelligent girl, I am sure you can read between the lines. He is mixing with a very bad crowd, surely you have seen him with them at Hogsmeade?”

Hermione asked angrily, “What do you expect him to do? The Marauders bully him, should he just lie down and let them kill him? They nearly have, twice you know. Of course he associates with his housemates, what choice does he have? Just because he was sorted into Slytherin doesn’t make him automatically evil. The more people view Slytherins as being a lost cause the less opportunity they have of being anything else. He isn’t a bad person, and he doesn’t want to be a Death Eater, and it isn’t fair for you to try to warn me off. I know you warned Lily before about associating with him though, so I can’t say I’m surprised.”

Professor McGonagall thinned her lips and said sternly, “I will not comment on his relationship with other students, though I will reassure you that I have given those boys a stern talking to about leaving him alone. He has not been so well behaved in prior years and it’s been clear he was driven to escalate things, and this situation with Pettigrew is not likely to help that, however blameless he may or may not be in this. My warning however is kindly meant, and I suggest you heed it.”

“I won’t abandon him for being unavoidably caught up in his housemates’ associations. He is not interested in joining them, not matter how it might appear.”

McGonagall sighed, “Miss Granger, that is not the only concern you should have. Whether he wishes to join them or not isn’t entirely the point, once they are interested in someone it is not as simple as just saying, ‘no thank you’ when they try to recruit you. Not many know of this but both my younger brothers were friends with someone who got caught up in their movement, and later wished to withdraw his support. They attempted to assist him and were murdered for their trouble. If Mister Snape does not join them they will blame you for it. That is why I warned Miss Evans away from him, I wish there wasn’t a war, that we didn’t have to concern ourselves with these things, but there is. If he had kept his head down it would be different, but he sought their attention, he has spent the past few years proving his worth to them, and now the unfortunate truth is that he is a lost cause. They will not just let him go, and by trying to help him you merely put yourself at risk.”

Hermione felt for the other woman, her obvious sadness over her brothers’ deaths softening her anger. She supposed Professor McGonagall was correct, Lucius Malfoy would not be pleased when Severus refused to take the Mark after graduation. She found that she did appreciate the warning, even though she knew that Severus was worth the risk, while the Professor obviously didn’t. She said honestly, “Thank you for the warning Professor, I will consider it and Severus will be careful.”

Professor McGonagall looked disappointed, but not entirely surprised, and dismissed her for the night. Hermione headed back to the tower feeling troubled. She really hoped to hear that the Dark Lord had been defeated sooner, rather than later.

On Monday Hermione and Lily went down to the library to meet Severus for their usually study group. They had just settled in when Remus approached and said softly, “Hi, I wanted to apologise. I’ll understand if you all can’t forgive me, but I am very sorry, I know I managed the whole situation poorly but I just didn’t know what to do.”

Severus looked at him sceptically, “Lupin are you sorry for knowing that Pettigrew was an Animagus and was using his form to creep on the girls, for knowing my pet rat was actually a person and neglecting to tell any of us, for accusing me of stealing when you knew perfectly well I hadn’t, or for something else entirely?”

Lupin looked chagrined, “All of it, all of it, I’m sorry. I didn’t know what he was doing, I knew he was an Animagus but I didn’t know he was spying on anybody. When Hermione caught him and gave him to you I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to get into trouble by revealing him and I wasn’t feeling very well that day, I couldn’t think what to say, I was just useless. I wrote to James and Sirius about it and they- well they said I should cover for Peter and not tell anyone what had happened, that they had a plan, but you know how badly that turned out. I didn’t want to do any of it I just wasn’t sure what to do.”

Lily sighed, “I don’t know Remus, it just feels like you lied to us, like a lot. I’m not sure if I can forgive that.”

He looked at Hermione who shrugged, “I forgive you, and you can sit with me in Ancient Runes again, but if the others don’t forgive you, I won’t blame them.”

Lily looked almost offended, “Seriously Hermione? Just like that? You can forget he lied to us and pretended that Peter had gone home for a family emergency when we asked why he was never around when he really knew he was in Sev’s pocket?”

“I’m not saying he was in the right, but I can see why. If you could turn into a rat and asked me not to tell people, I’d keep your secret. I don’t think I’d let you live as a pet rat for more than a few days without turning you in, but I’d at least try not to get you into trouble. I believe he didn’t know that Pettigrew was creeping around in our bathroom, I wouldn’t be so forgiving otherwise though.”

Remus interjected, “I didn’t, none of us did. You know James would have never allowed it.”

Lily pondered, “I suppose not. Well, I guess I could reconsider, what do you think Sev?”

“I let Hermione make all of my decisions now. If she says I should also forgive Lupin then I shall.”

“Sev, you can’t let your girlfriend make all of your decisions for you.”

“Why not?”

“It’s… not healthy, that’s why not.”

“Do you think it’s unhealthy Hermione?”

She pretended to think for a moment, “Hmmn, I don’t think so but just to be sure you should stand up and do a chicken dance.”

“Okay fine your unilateral decision-making privileges are revoked. Lupin sit down already, hovering about like that is discomfiting. Unless you want to follow Hermione’s commands and dance like a chicken?”

“Thanks, and I really am sorry.”

“Further apologies are not required, if you feel the need to do so then please channel it into interpretive dance instead. For now, let us proceed with our essays.”

Chapter Text

Severus had promised to be extra affectionate for a while, to be extra convincing in their innocence. They did not want anyone to realise they’d been aware of Scabbers being human the whole time, as Black was quite adamantly declaring. Hermione didn’t believe this was completely necessary, the Aurors had bought their story and were the only ones who really mattered, but she didn’t make a fuss. It turned out that Severus thought that being in love with her just meant carrying her book bag between their shared classes, even the ones they didn’t sit together for. It was adorable.

They had almost the same schedule, both taking 10 N.E.W.T.s but he’d dropped History of Magic after O.W.L.s and she’d dropped Care of Magical Creatures. She’d actually wanted to take that as well in this timeline but Dumbledore had refused to allow her to take 11 N.E.W.T.s, and her education in the subject was a little lacking due to Hagrid’s poor teaching. It would have taken her a bit to catchup, and she didn’t really need the subject so she hadn’t pushed, while Severus, wanting to be a Potions Master, would need to know the properties of various creatures, what ingredients they produced, and how to care for them.

In between carrying her bag around not much had changed. He held her hand more often perhaps, and he was rather… defensive of her around his dormmates. Since she’d shared his bed she’d noticed Rosier and Mulciber looking at her with speculation and realised she hadn’t thought through the consequences of sneaking in to sleep with him. They hadn’t done anything, which the other boys all knew, but even in her time people could be disrespectful of a girl doing something like that, and this was the 70’s. It didn’t spread any farther than them though, which she was grateful for. Black still watched them like a hawk between classes, to the point where she had reluctantly suggested they just stop trying to sneak off entirely, so for now there was no more snogging.

If they’d really been together they probably could have snuck off on the nights they met with Lily and Remus. Lily had chosen Mondays specifically because Gryffindor had Quidditch practice. Not that it was a secret, but she did know James wouldn’t approve and would make things difficult if he could intervene. Hermione had considered suggesting it, but since the point was to make everyone think they were dating, and they were now quite established as a couple, there was no need to do so.

She also considered telling Severus she liked him but she worried about too many things. She thought he liked her too but what if he didn’t and it ruined their friendship? Or what if he did but not as much as he liked Lily and she was just his second choice? She occasionally prodded him about his feelings for the other girl but his responses were always too non-committal to relieve her worries. He never said he liked her, but he never said he didn’t either. He seemed to like Hermione a lot when they were alone, but in the library he was always so eager with Lily that it seemed like he preferred her. If she was honest with herself she didn’t think he would turn her down, she was just too afraid he would feel like only be settling for her.

She hadn’t told Severus much about how her detention with McGonagall had gone, but after her detention with Slughorn the following week she decided to him about it. Slughorn had given her a lecture about the different expectations she would face now that she was a Dagworth-Granger, rather than a nameless nobody, and about propriety. He’d then told her Professor McGonagall had spoken to him and reiterated that she should be careful about Severus’ associations, though he didn’t seem as resigned to inevitability as she was, merely hinting that any withdrawal on his part would have to be handled carefully so as to not give offence. She’d realised they hadn’t really talked about it, at least not since he had agreed with her terms to not become a Death Eater. He had continued meeting with Malfoy in Hogsmeade so he obviously realised that he couldn’t just tell them to bugger off but they probably did need discuss it.

They made their way out onto the grounds, and she noted that though it was still cold and snowy the sky was mostly clear, with a few clouds floating lazily across the grounds. It was the first time since Severus’ birthday that the sky hadn’t been completely cloudy so she thought she might give him his other present as well, but first she said, “Professor McGonagall was surprisingly nice to me in my detention last week.”

“Really? That is a surprise.”

“She tried to warn me away from associating with you.”

“Less surprising,” he scowled.

“She told me her brothers tried to help someone who either didn’t want to join, or had joined and wanted out, and were both killed for it. She wanted to warn me that even if you refuse to take the mark they might not let you be.”

He looked troubled, “Yes, I have been attempting to distance myself slowly, but they all still expect me to join with them.”

“It seems like you are managing it just fine, just keep in mind that if they take it poorly we may have to go into hiding.”

“We?”

She smiled, “If you refuse to join them who’s fault will they think it is?”

His brow furrowed, “They’ll target you. I don’t want to put you at risk Hermione.”

“I’ll be fine, and if I decide to hide they’ll never find me. Keep in mind that in my time I managed to stay on the run for almost a year when they had the entire Ministry of Magic looking for me.”

“Were they really trying that hard to find you?”

“Harry was Undesirable No. 1 and I was No. 2. They made wanted posters and everything. We will be fine, just keep in mind that it might delay your Mastery somewhat if we do have to hide. I’m more worried about my family if that happens, but we’ll see, and hopefully they won’t bother too much about you.”

He still looked troubled, but he nodded and relaxed. They had both brought a few books to read and once he seemed absorbed in his she surreptitiously pointed her wand at the sky and tried out her new spell, hoping to lighten his mood. She was so focused on it that she didn’t notice Severus observing her until he asked, “What are you up to?”

Her eyes flicked to his and then back to what she was working on, “It’s a new spell but I’m having trouble with it. It was supposed to be a birthday present for you, but I can’t quite get it to work.”

He cocked his head, “What does it do.”

“Hang on, I’ve nearly got it.” She focused for a moment, extending the spell out further until the clouds began to gather. She traced her wand slowly down, curving it, and then moved on to the next letter. A cloud in the sky above them shifted, forming into the shape of an S, though it continued moving and the top stretched out as she moved to the bottom of the letter. By the time she’d started forming a v her S had turned into a giant blob with a little tail, and her e looked like a wonky donut with another smaller blob underneath it, but Severus had caught on.

“Are you doing that?”

She smiled and cancelled the spell, “I thought it would work better than this, but yes. Cloud shaping spell, adapted from an old water attraction spell used for construction work. You like cloud gazing so much, I thought you might find this fun.”

He smiled, “Teach me.”

She taught him the incantation and then explained, “The most difficult part is judging the distance, I’ve just been pointing my wand towards a cloud and then pushing the spell out slowly until the attraction point is in range of the clouds. It will then pull them towards that point, but the clouds are still moving up there which is why my attempt to spell out Severus ended up looking like that.” She looked at the cloud she’d modified that now just looked like a few weird blobs rather than the letters she’d tried to make.

Severus looked around and then pointed his wand toward a particular cloud. Hermione smiled to herself, she’d thought he would enjoy this, he was often pointing out random clouds that he said looked like various animals or objects, which she found adorable even when she couldn’t really see it. He quickly made clear that her trouble with the spell she’d adapted was a lack of skill more than anything else. He carefully sculpted his chosen cloud and the image of a horse with a flowing mane and tail of wispy clouds took shape. She watched in awe as the beautiful cloud floated past them, gradually drifting apart until it was just a fluffy blob again.

He made a flower, and then a dolphin, and she realised he was very selective about which clouds to start with, picking one he thought already looked like something and then deliberately sculpting it further. He was in the middle of shaping something, she wasn’t sure what but it had an open jaw and sharp teeth, when they were interrupted. Hermione noticed her watch buzz a moment before James Potter walked up to them and said, “Snape, I need a word.”

Severus’ wand twitched, one of the fangs he’d been working on stretching as his wand shifted, until he cancelled the spell and looked at Potter. He held his wand casually in his hand and studied the other boy for a moment, “Why would I want to have a word with you Potter?”

“May I speak to you privately for a moment? I’m alone, surely you can survive without Granger to hold your hand for a few minutes.”

Hermione rose and said, “I’ll leave you to it,” then walked off a little ways. She watched their tense conversation, it was rather comical seeing James Potter standing there gesturing angrily at Severus who was casually sprawled out on a picnic blanket with a very condescending expression on his face. She could tell he was having fun with the conversation. After a bit of back and forth Severus rose up and shook hands with Potter who then stalked off angrily. Hermione returned to her former position, settling onto the blanket cross legged and waiting for him to explain.

“He wants his cloak back.”

“Oh, not likely.”

“Actually… I’d like to give it to him.”

Hermione cocked her head, waiting for him to explain, and he said, “He was all accusations, he thought I’d just give it to him and didn’t believe me when I said I don’t have it. He wants it back though, and I suggested I might be able to recover it for him but only if he makes it worth my while. He was going on and on about how valuable a family heirloom it is, and so I suggested that if I could recover it for him he might forgive my life debt. He refused at first, but knowing what I do about how valuable it really is I insisted and he agreed eventually. I know you wanted to keep the cloak, but…”

She sighed, “Yes, you’re right. You can give it back to him. I did so want to keep it though,” she pouted.

Severus reached out and squeezed her hand, “Thank you. The life debt hasn’t been too much of a worry since I had no way of repaying him, but I really don’t want to continue owing him outside of school. I’ll make him wait a bit and give it back just before graduation so they at least can’t continue using it against us.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Also thank you for the spell. I really like it.”

She grinned at him.

It was a full moon that night and Hermione had wondered if the Marauders would still sneak out, even without their cloak. The answer was yes. She checked the map just before going to bed and found their room empty and them all out on the grounds near the lake. It bothered her once again that they were willing to take that risk. Pettigrew was even with them, apparently having snuck into the school to join them. She chewed her lip wondering what to do about it. She liked Remus, and felt bad for him, knowing how much his condition would cause him to be discriminated against, yet it also made her angry knowing he would take this risk, even with the possibility that he could kill or infect someone else. It was a puzzle for another time though. For now she snuck into their room and dosed their food stash with more Impotence Potion, smirking to herself. She then found Potter’s new coin purse, the one she’d encouraged Lily to make for him.

That had been a whim at first, she’d just been having a dig at Remus really, but it had grown wings of it’s own, the way her plans occasionally did. Now here she was with a piece of the same Mooncalf hide Hagrid had provided to make the coin purse casting a Linking Charm between the two. She couldn’t have done this with his original coin purse, it hadn’t been magical at all so wouldn’t have held up under such a complicated charm, but this would work perfectly. It was basically the equivalent of a small vanishing cabinet, any time new coins were added it would swap them with one from her pile. She was going to have to set it up in the Room of Requirement but this way she could continue to exchange coins with him, even after graduation. She still didn’t know if the goblins would ever notice, it had already been months and nothing had come of it, but she didn’t want to get caught out for something as silly as spending future money and having no way of explaining where it had come from, especially of explaining why she had duplicates of coins from Potters vault, of all people.

On the following Friday Hermione accompanied Severus and Regulus down to the pitch, though they forbade Alfie from tagging along since Slytherin hadn’t played against Hufflepuff yet. They had their match against Ravenclaw the following day and had booked the pitch for an extra practice that night as they had some last-minute strategy changes to go over. Hermione was pleased that no-one objected to her presence, even they realised she would make a very poor Quidditch spy. Instead, she did homework in the stands until they were finished. It was dark by the time they were all done, the whole team setting off together to head back to the castle.

Hermione was at the back of the group with Severus and Regulus when a sudden fog blew in, quickly coalescing around them, and a moment later there was a terrifying growling noise. Most of the group stilled completely, Velia Travers screamed and fainted, Avery caught her and dragged her back, towards the centre of the group. Hermione pulled her wand out, thinking they were being attacked by Death Eaters or something, when she spotted a large black dog that came bounding through the fog straight at them, only to leap over their heads.

Regulus gasped, “A Grim!”

Hermione shot a stunning spell at it. The Grim yelped and dove to the side, and she cursed herself for missing. Severus didn’t though, his jet of light hitting the gigantic black dog in the back and bringing it to the ground. She turned to look at him and was shocked by how terrified he looked. He was wide eyed and trembling, and sweat had broken out on his upper lip.

Rosier exclaimed, “Merlin’s beard! You can’t stun a Grim, what were you thinking?”

Hermione asked innocently, “What’s a Grim? It’s just a rabid dog.” Her watch told her there were other Marauders nearby, though they must be disillusioned and hiding in the fog. She racked her brain trying to figure out what to do.

They all stared at her until Josephia Yaxley said, shakily, “She’s right, if it really had been a Grim they couldn’t have stunned it. Where did all the fog come from though? I thought for sure we were going to die, and it’s just a bleeding dog, for Salazar’s sake.” She put a hand over her chest and promptly sat down on the ground. Avery lowered Travers to the ground next to her and then settled himself beside her to put a hand on her shoulder in comfort, looking pleased with his quick thinking, putting himself into the position to comfort both girls as he revived Velia.

Rosier cautiously approached the stunned canine and kicked it over, asking, “Should we kill it?”

Severus was staring coldly at the unconscious form of what he must now know was Sirius Black and said, “Yes. Rabid dogs deserve to be put down.”

Hermione shuddered, feeling disappointed with his ruthlessness, and said firmly, “We aren’t going to kill it. We should take it to Hagrid, he’ll know what to do with the thing.”

Rosier sniffed dismissively, “If you like. I’m not going near that bumbling oaf though.”

“Fine, I will take him. Mobilicorpus.” The dog rose up into the air and she marched off towards Hagrid’s Hut. Severus caught her up soon enough, which she was grateful for; She couldn’t see him but Potter, at least, had to be nearby. She doubted he’d leave another of his friends to be turned into a pet.

Severus said furiously, but quietly, “You said he turned into a dog, you never mentioned him looking like a bloody Grim though. It wasn’t until my watch vibrated and I saw you cast that stunner that I figured it out.”

“Sorry. I honestly forgot about all that Grim nonsense; Ron was really convinced Harry was going to pop his clogs just because he saw a black dog.”

“Grims aren’t nonsense, and he does not look like a normal dog. You should have told me.”

“I told you he turned into a giant black dog. I really didn’t expect him to be bold enough to pull something like that, especially after what happened to Pettigrew. It seems daft to attack a group of armed wizards like that.”

“Except everyone thought he was a Grim, none of us would have dared attack him.”

He sounded ashamed of himself, and Hermione suddenly realised, “He’s done this before, hasn’t he?”

Severus nodded stiffly, “In fifth year. I was in the library with Lily until almost curfew and I was headed down to the dungeons when I came across a darkened corridor, it filled with fog and then… I thought he was a Grim. I was terrified and I ran, and then I humiliated myself in front of Lily when I found her. I was so convinced I was going to die…” He said it all without looking at her, staring straight ahead as they walked the path towards Hagrid’s, his hands clenched into fists.

Hermione felt herself fill with sympathy and reached out to take his hand, “I’m sorry.”

“We should take him to a vet and get him neutered.”

She smiled, “As tempting as that is I don’t think anyone would buy us confusing a second Marauder for a pet. We’ll let Hagrid have a bit of fun with him but we’ll have to think of something different for our revenge.”

When Hagrid opened the door Hermione had barely begun to explain before Hagrid exclaimed, “Ye’ve caught Blacky?”

“You recognise him?”

“Seen him around. ‘Bout a week ago he set off tha' wailing yeh put on Snape’s potions bench an' when I came out ter have a look I found him fighting a wolf. Oddest thing, it was, I went ter help him an’ then a huge stag came runnin’ out o' the forest an' herded me back inter me hut, an' nex' thing I knew they’d all run off. I was hopin’ ter run inter him again.”

Hermione stared at him in horror. She’d put a Caterwauling Charm on the workbench after she’d seen Pettigrew looking at it, thinking he’d probably come out and try to damage it. She’d never expected they’d do so with a werewolf in tow though, she could have really gotten Hagrid hurt. She summoned a rock from the ground outside and transfigured it into a collar, pouring her magic and her anger into it. She made it hot pink, inscribed the name ‘Blacky’ onto it, and then magicked it onto the dog, saying, “I’m going to put this collar on him so he’s more recognisable.”

Hagrid chuckled, “I think he’s pretty recognisable as is, but yeh go ahead if yeh like.”

Hermione asked Severus softly, “What do you think? I’m going to make it difficult to get off, any additions?”

“Permanent sticking charm perhaps.”

“That would be animal cruelty. I’m going to make it difficult to remove, not impossible.”

He stepped forward, pointing his wand and adding two overlapping love hearts in red and white just next to the B, and he then pointed his wand at the inside of the collar, roughing up the texture slightly. “Now what?”

She pointed her wand at it and said, “Now, oh oops looks like I just accidentally fused the buckle together so it can’t be undone, and oh dear, I’ve just made it unbreakable. My bad.”

Severus laughed. Hagrid, who had been carefully checking over his new pet for injuries finally looked up and said, “Well tha’s a bit bold, I hope he’ll like it.”

They left Hagrid to attempt to tame his new pet, knowing Black would escape easily enough over night, though she wondered how long it would take him to get rid of his new collar. On the way back up to the castle, once they were sure they were free of Marauders, she ranted to Severus, “What the hell was he thinking? He knows we caught Scabbers and realised he was an Animagus, how did it not occur to him that it would be stupid to attack us in animal form so soon after that? I don’t want him to realise we know and go off and register, and here he is throwing it in our faces, the stupid prat.”

Severus said, “Hermione, you’ve overestimated his intelligence, and underestimated any sensible wizards fear of a Grim. He was expecting us all to believe him an insubstantial omen of death, not to try and stun him, and he was thinking that terrifying the entire Slytherin Quidditch team the night before our next match would put us off our game tomorrow.”

“Quidditch! That was about Quidditch! Oh, I hate boys. Why do you even have to play? I finally meet someone who seems sensible, rational, cares about their studies, and yet you waste hours every week flying around in the air like an idiot.”

He grumbled, “I feel like this isn’t really about me.”

She laughed, “Sorry. I just, he literally saw what happened to Peter and yet he’s running around pretending to be a dog two weeks later. It’s daft, and if he realises I know he’s an Animagus he’ll probably ruin my plans by going off to register.”

“Then let him know that you know, he’ll think you haven’t reported him for a reason. Probably he’ll think it’s because you knew about Scabbers and expect you not to tell anyone about him for just that reason.”

She stopped, “You’re right. That’s an excellent idea.”

“Naturally.”

The next day found Hermione sitting amongst the Gryffindors to watch Slytherin play Ravenclaw. She’d somehow found time to copy Luna Lovegood’s ingenuity and had made herself a rattle snake scarf that would shake its tail every time Slytherin scored and would raise its head and hiss whenever the other team did. It wasn’t quite as obnoxious as Luna’s lion hat but was an application of the same magical theories, and she was glad she’d spent so much time talking to her about how she’d managed it. It was odd sitting amongst a crowd of people who booed her team whenever they scored, especially whenever Severus did, and she found it a much less pleasant experience than watching Quidditch surrounded by others supporting the same team.

Sirius Black shot her and her scarf several loathing looks, which she ignored, though she privately amused herself watching him occasionally scratching at his neck. Whatever Severus had done to the collar had obviously made it quite irritating. He’d covered himself up with a scarf, but she knew it was under there, and thinking of Severus’ suggestion she asked him in a teasing tone, “Are you alright? You’re scratching a lot, you haven’t got fleas have you?” He looked at her, surprised, and then suspicious. She smirked back at him, challengingly, and he looked away.

The match went well, the Ravenclaw team were clearly outmatched in every aspect. The score had reached 160 to 80, in favour of Slytherin, by the time Regulus snatched the snitch so quickly that the Ravenclaw seeker hadn’t even spotted it yet. Hermione didn’t bother cheering, though her snake did rattle about it. She watched as the players all dismounted their brooms and Marlene leaned across Lily, who was sitting between them, to say, “Do you know I think I finally see it now.”

“See what?”

“Why you are interested in Snape. I didn’t get it before but he’s not that bad looking, you know? I mean you have to get past the nose but with his teeth and hair fixed, and him being so tall, he’s got some appeal. I reckon he’s also gotten a bit fit; has he been working out?”

Hermione looked at Severus again, appraising him. He was still lean but he did look rather more muscular than he had before. She’d recommended working out to him but he’d never said anything about it, and she hadn’t mentioned it again, he must have been doing it though. She felt a twinge of guilt; she should be working out too. She wanted to get better at duelling, and physical fitness would help, but she hadn’t set any time aside in her schedule for it. She responded to Marlene, “Yes, he does work out, and I never thought him bad looking.”

“Oh, he was a fixer upper for sure, I just never noticed his potential before. Did you?”

Lily shook her head, “I never really thought about it. You’re right though, he does look good.”

Hermione found her stomach feeling slightly unsettled. She didn’t really like the idea of either of them noticing Severus like that, he was hers! She couldn’t deny that she had made him more appealing though, he was much more conventionally attractive now than he had been. She made her way down towards the pitch with Lily and Marlene tagging along behind her and Severus strode up to meet them. He was a little sweaty, his pale skin flushed from the exercise, and he was grinning at her, showing off his now perfect smile. She felt herself perk up at his obvious happiness and greeted him warmly, congratulating him on his victory. Lily and Marlene echoed her and when he returned a surprised thanks Marlene flushed slightly and looked away. Severus’ puzzlement at her odd behaviour was obvious but he quickly turned his attention to recounting his best goals, in case she had somehow missed it. He was interrupted by his teammates yelling for him and he extended a quick offer to attend the celebration in the Slytherin common room if they wanted to, which Lily quite sensibly declined. Hermione found it a little rude and thoughtless of him to even offer, Lily would not receive much of a welcome amongst his house, but he disappeared before she could tell him off for it.

She waited by the changing rooms and then made her way down to the dungeons, finding herself surrounded by the Slytherin Quidditch team. She gave them a demonstration of her scarf, telling it Slytherin had scored and watching as it raised its tail and rattled it in celebration. Avery laughed and told her he approved of her demonstration of support. She let her mind drift off as they conducted a post mortem of the match, going over all of their brilliant moves and laughing at the Ravenclaw teams fumbling. Most of the team drifted off and Severus resumed his earlier recitation of all his exciting Quidditch moments, some of which she had in fact missed. She’d noticed all of the goals but some of the feints and distractions he’d apparently executed perfectly had been a bit beyond her comprehension. He reminded her so much of Ron in that moment that she felt a little melancholy, but it didn’t last long in the face of his happiness. Once he’d exhausted the topic they sat in silence for a bit.

She was brought out of her thoughts by him asking, “What are you thinking about so hard?”

“I was trying to figure out whether or not it was rude of you to invite Lily to the party.”

He looked bewildered, “Why would that be rude?”

“She wouldn’t be welcome here. Surely you didn’t expect her to accept when most of your house still call her a Mudblood.”

He cocked his head for a moment, “If I didn’t ask though I’d just be perpetuating the problem, I’d be discriminating against her by not asking because of her blood status.”

“That’s true, but you had to know she wouldn’t come right? It would make her too uncomfortable.”

“You didn’t have a problem with it.”

“My blood status is much more accepted here, especially since my adoption, and you didn’t invite me down here before that, other than Christmas when it was practically empty-” She suddenly realised and said, “Oh, you weren’t worried about my comfort, you only started inviting me when I was more socially acceptable to be around. You don’t worry about that with Lily though?”

His lips thinned and he sounded annoyed, “I wasn’t thinking about any of that. I don’t write a litany of pros and cons in my head before issuing an invitation. I invited you during the holidays because we were spending more time together and I wanted to get away from Lupin. I invited all of you today because there was a party and I thought you might like to come. I wasn’t considering the socio-political implications of party attendance.”

She winced, “Sorry. I was overthinking it.”

He nodded. A moment later he asked, “What was wrong with McKinnon earlier?”

Hermione laughed, “She noticed you’re hot.”

“What?”

“She thought you looked good in your Quidditch leathers and told me she understands what I see in you now. She thinks you’re fit.”

He just looked confused, and a little lost. He stared at her as though she’d said something completely incomprehensible, his brow furrowed as he asked, “Are you making fun of me?”

“Of course not! You look really good. Your hair looks nice now that you’ve developed your own hair potion, which is totally not just shampoo, your teeth are great, and you have been working out, haven’t you?”

He said slowly, “I have. I used the room to make a gym, like you suggested, and Quidditch practice of course. You think I look good?”

He said the last part so softly, and with such hope, that it made her heart hurt. She smiled, “You look fantastic.”

He looked away, blushing, and it was so freaking adorable. She wanted to say something else, but he cleared his throat and asked, “Speaking of hair potions, which are totally not just shampoo and conditioner, why haven’t you been using yours? I thought you liked it?”

“I do! I told you it’s brilliant, but I don’t want to use it every day, I’ll run out. I’ve been saving it for special occasions.”

“Silly witch, I can just make more. I intended it for everyday use.”

“Oops, I suppose I should have thought of that.”

He smirked, “Brightest witch of the age, aren’t you?”

Chapter Text

At dinner that night Hermione was enjoying a plate of beef stew when she began to feel flushed. She quickly finished off her goblet of pumpkin juice in an attempt to cool down, but the relief was very short lived. She felt hot and uncomfortable, and was having trouble sitting still, squirming around on the bench. The feeling subsided a bit, though when Marlene asked if she was feeling alright she felt almost as though she were underwater, sluggish and slow. She found herself nodding and smiling, and although she realised there was something wrong, she couldn’t tell what and had no idea what to do about it.

She was distracted from her pondering when Sirius Black smiled at her, and she noticed just how handsome he really was. His jawline was perfect, his smile wide and bright, he had a straight, perfectly proportioned nose, and his silky black hair always hung stylishly in perfect waves around his face. He also had a lovely laugh, it was boisterous and loud, and he tossed his entire head back and placed a hand on his belly when something really amused him. He had a nice figure too, very muscular, with strong hands. His skin was beautifully tanned. She couldn’t stop noticing him as they all ate together, and then as they walked up the stairs. He kept looking back at her to smile and she smiled in response, feeling an eager warmth in her belly each time he paid any attention to her.

They’d nearly made it back to the tower when Sirius asked if he could speak to her in private, saying he wanted to apologise, and all she could do was let out a breathless, “Of course.”

She followed him down the hallway and when he ducked into an unused room she followed. A moment later he turned, standing wonderfully close to her and smiled down at her. He reached a hand up to brush her hair back and she leaned into his touch. He asked softly, “How are you feeling?”

“Umm, good,” she said a little breathlessly.

“I wanted to ask you something. Do you know where James’ cloak is?”

The question surprised her and her brain churned over sluggishly trying to process it. “Oh, yes, I do.”

She leaned in closer to him, but he stepped away slightly, dodging her and asking, “Where is it?”

“I hid it.”

She stepped closer to Sirius, backing him into the wall. He said, “Hidden where? I promise I’ll kiss you if you tell me.”

She wrapped her arms around him as she whispered, “It’s in my bed, why don’t you come with me now and we can look for it together.”

He smiled smugly, tracing a finger across her lips, and a thrill ran through her, heat pooling in her core, an unbearable thrumming heat that pulsed through her entire body and was all she could think of. He said, “I’m sure that can be arranged. First, tell me, how can I get this infernal collar off?”

Hermione watched, entranced, as he tugged the scarf from around his neck, revealing the glittery pink dog collar. She reached out to stroke his throat, noticing his red, inflamed skin, and said, “That looks so sexy on you.”

“Yes, but how do I remove it?”

“Erm, it’s unbreakable.”

He said, annoyed, “I’ve noticed. How do I get it off?”

She leaned in closer to him, wrapping her arms around his neck and trying to kiss him.

He growled, “Granger. Answer the question.”

She pouted, “Kiss me, please.”

“Fine.”

He ducked his head and pressed his lips to hers and she eagerly, finally, kissed him. A moment later she was struck with a sudden feeling of nausea and dizziness, and she pulled away, clutching her stomach and feeling queasy.

He was bent over slightly too, and asked, “What the fuck Granger?”

She ignored him completely. The heat within her was pulsing and she needed something, she needed Severus, she couldn’t think of anything else but needing to see him, and to touch him, and he wasn’t here. She turned and fled, running out of the room and bolting down the stairs. She passed the others who were standing outside the portrait hole for some reason and though they called to her she couldn’t stop. She thought Severus would be in his common room now and she flew down the stairs trying to get to the dungeons as quickly as possible. She slid down the banister, something she had never done before as the idea of falling off the moving staircase terrified her, but today the only thing that was terrifying was this empty feeling inside of her that only Severus could fix.

She made it, running past a group of younger Slytherins to reach the door ahead of them, only to turn panting when she realised someone would have to let her in. One of the students asked if she was okay and she only managed to say, “Severus?” Soon he was before her and she immediately pounced, kissing him eagerly. He pulled away and dragged her down the hallway, ducking behind a tapestry. He tugged his pocket watch out of his robes and opened it, glanced briefly at it then looked at her with confusion, “Hermione, what is wrong?”

She shuddered, “Oh god your voice, Severus your voice is so sexy.” She kissed him again, wrapping her arms around his neck. He kissed her back, wrapping his arms around her waist and lightly stroking her through the fabric. She could feel his erection swell between their bodies, pressing against her stomach, and she pushed until he was up against the wall so she could rub herself against him. He groaned, then pulled away from the kiss. He turned his head away whispering, “Hermione, stop, what are you doing?”

“I need you, I need more. Kissing isn’t enough, gods sometimes I just want to get my hands under your robes, especially when you grind against me like that. So hot.” She pulled her body back slightly so that she could slide a hand down between them until she reached his crotch and stroked his hard length through his trousers. He hissed and then grabbed both of her hands, spinning her around and pinning them above her head.

“Hermione, look at me.”

She looked up into his eyes then bit her lip and whispered, “Your eyes are so beautiful, I feel like I could get lost in them.” She wanted to touch him, but she also liked the way he was pinning her against the wall. “You should touch me, please, won’t you? You have the sexiest hands, I want to feel them all over me.” She pushed her lower body towards him to rub against his erection again.

Suddenly the tapestry was torn open, their little hideaway flooded with light. People in the hallway were talking but all she could hear was Severus. She didn’t look away from him. He told the people sarcastically, “Yes thank you, I had just figured that out.”

There was something else and then he said scathingly, “I pinned her against the wall to stop her trying to grope me. The sooner she gets an antidote the better.” Then he said more quietly, “Come with me.” He released her but grabbed hold of one of her hands to pull her along the corridor. She stumbled, trying to keep up with him. They entered another room and she followed Severus, wrapping her arms around him and pressing her body eagerly against him. His hands grabbed her shoulders, holding her back, and then he was saying, “Here love, drink this,” and there was a vial against her lips.

She drank it down eagerly and shivered. The moment it hit her stomach a chill ran through her, and then the burning heat that had consumed her melted away, awareness slowly returning. Her brain ticked over and she began to understand what had happened. She felt tears prick her eyes but the moment the emotion hit she looked for Severus. He was standing nearby, having just given her the antidote, but he looked small, hunched in on himself as though he were ashamed. She’d barely realised it before she flung herself at him, crying, “Severus, you brilliant, wonderful man. You figured it out, I know you did. Thank you, I adore you.”

She heard Professor McGonagall clear her throat from behind her and she turned to survey the other occupants of the room. Professor Slughorn was there along with all of the Gryffindor seventh years. “Miss Granger, you should not be thanking him. Mister Snape has just dosed you with a lust potion.”

Hermione gasped, “Of course he didn’t, don’t be ridiculous.”

The Professor made a face that was apparently supposed to be sympathetic, though she looked as though she thought Hermione had lost her mind, “There is no doubt that you were under the effect of a strong lust potion Miss Granger, you’ve just been given an antidote for it.”

“Yes Professor, I realise that, the ridiculous part is the idea that Severus would have given it to me.”

“Obviously you wish to think well of your paramour, however the potion was clearly targeted towards him.”

“He wasn’t the target, the potion originally caused me to be attracted to Sirius Black. It wasn’t until he kissed me that my Fidelity charm activated which redirected the potion towards Severus.”

Professor Slughorn looked at Severus, surprised, “You’ve given Miss Granger a Fidelity charm?”

“Yes sir.”

Hermione slipped her left shoe off to show them the little silver chain around her ankle. Professor Slughorn nodded, “That does complicate the matter.”

Black said angrily, “That’s a Black family heirloom, how did you get that?”

Severus rolled his eyes, “Your brother gifted it to me, obviously.”

“Or you stole it.”

They all ignored him. Professor Slughorn asked kindly, “Are you alright Miss Dagworth-Granger?”

“No sir, I don’t believe so. I believe that Sirius Black slipped me a lust potion tonight at dinner, I began to feel off when we were all in the Great Hall, and if it weren’t for this charm I shudder to think what would have occurred.”

Sirius scoffed dramatically, “I did no such thing. As if I would have to resort to lust potions! I bet Snape knew you had this charm and thought he’d slip you something to frame me while he took advantage of you.”

She scoffed, “Right, and you just decided after weeks of glaring daggers at me that tonight was the night you suddenly wanted to kiss me?”

“I wasn’t planning to kiss you, I wanted to apologise for my behaviour and let you know I no longer blame you for what happened to Peter, and then I wanted to ask if you knew what happened to James’ cloak. I only kissed you because you obviously wanted me to, I thought you were just happy I was apologising.”

“Ridiculous, you know I would never kiss you! I’ve despised you from almost the moment we first met, and you didn’t think there was anything odd about me suddenly changing my mind?”

He pretended to look contrite but sounded rather smug as he said, “I’m sorry. Lots of girls play hard to get. It’s not an uncommon experience for me to have them change their minds like that. Besides, we found Snivellus all over you, you’re not complaining that he didn’t notice something was wrong.”

Hermione shouted, “He did bloody notice though, didn’t he, and I’m his girlfriend you prat! I kiss him all the time, so my behaviour with him wasn’t exactly aberrant.”

Professor McGonagall said sternly, “Miss Granger, calm yourself. Throwing accusations back and forth isn’t getting us anywhere. You are saying your drink was spiked at dinner?”

“Yes Ma’am.”

“Did you see anyone slip anything to it? If I recall correctly Mister Black was not sitting in your vicinity at dinner. I can see why you are suspicious of him; however, I do not believe there is sufficient evidence to accuse anyone.”

Hermione stared at her, “Other than the potion being targeted towards him coinciding with his sudden desire to kiss me, you mean?”

“It’s possible the potion wasn’t targeted at all, if it was a general lust potion you may have chosen him of your own accord, either through proximity or from a prior attraction.”

She felt herself bubbling with rage, and shoved it ruthlessly under her occlumency shields, though it was too strong and her voice still shook with it as she said, “Right, so that’s it then? You were willing to blame Severus for it based on him being the target, but the same evidence doesn’t hold up now that Sirius Black is accused of the same crime?”

Black scoffed, “Yeah because I don’t need to use lust potions to get a girl to sleep with me. Professor McGonagall is right, it probably wasn’t even targeted, Snape probably just gave it to you because you wouldn’t shag him.”

Hermione snarled, “I’m his girlfriend you prat. The only thing stopping me from shagging him is you interrupting us all the bloody time and no amount of potion is going to help him with that!”

Professor McGonagall said tersely, “That’s enough. Based on the information I was given, and what we all witnessed of your behaviour, suspicion of Mister Snape seemed reasonable. I apologise for that, truly I do, however, without more evidence there is nothing we can do. I will ask if any of the other Gryffindors witnessed anyone interfering with your food or drink this evening, but the target of a potion does not conclusively prove who the culprit was.”

Hermione closed her eyes and took a deep breath to calm herself. She understood what Professor McGonagall was saying, but hadn’t the woman just thought Severus was the culprit because the potion appeared to target him? Realistically they hadn’t been about to condemn him without evidence, and there wouldn’t have been any, but they were prepared to assume him guilty, while Sirius Black could do no wrong. Hermione couldn’t help but wonder if perhaps the revelation of Black betraying the Potters as secret keeper and murdering Pettigrew, along with Severus becoming a spy and joining the side of light, had caused McGonagall to reexamine her own beliefs. She wasn’t wrong remembering that the Professor she had known in the future had been stern but fair, this one was not though. She adored Black and would let him get away with attempted murder, and attempted rape, and barely hear a word against him.

Hermione looked up and said, “Very well, is that all then Professor?”

“No, Miss Granger I would like to know more about this Fidelity charm you are wearing. I do not believe we can approve of students making use of such things. Though they are common amongst the pureblood elite I am very surprised to find you wearing one. Coercive artifacts are against the school rules.”

“It’s not a coercive artifact so it isn’t against the rules.”

“It can only be removed by the person who placed it on you, and if he decides to refuse you things can become very difficult.”

“For it to be a coercive artifact it would have to force me to take some action without the possibility of resisting. He could refuse to remove it from me, but that would not force me to take any particular action. I could just as easily capitulate to his demands as hex his bollocks off. I consented to having this charm placed on me and considering it has just prevented me from being assaulted I am eternally grateful for it, even if one day I wish for it to be removed, Severus refuses and I for some reason don’t curse him into compliance, then I will still be happy to have it.”

Professor McGonagall said stiffly, “Very well, I was just surprised. These items are often used by wizards to control their female partners and prevent them from sullying the bloodlines, it is a clear example of the sexism inherent in most wizarding relationships. I believed you would be too independent to ever submit to such a thing.”

“If it were simply a matter of preventing me from sullying myself then I certainly would have told Severus to shove it. He gave me this charm as a means of protection, not a lack of trust. Thank you for your concern, Professor, but Severus is not controlling me.”

“Fair enough Miss Granger. I will leave it be then, but if you ever wish to discuss that, or this incident further, please feel free to set up some time with me.”

Hermione turned to Professor Slughorn, “Thank you for the antidote, sir.”

He nodded, “You’re quite welcome, of course. If there is anything I can do to assist with this situation please let me know, I must say the events of this evening have made me feel quite concerned for you. I am glad that Mister Snape had the foresight to give you that charm, though saddened that it proved necessary.”

Hermione smiled sadly and said goodnight. She dragged Severus off, ducking behind the same tapestry they’d recently been snogging behind. The moment she turned and looked into his face to say something though she burst into tears. He wrapped his arms around her consolingly as she cried into his chest.

She moaned, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to cry on you, it’s just I keep thinking about what would have happened if I didn’t have this charm, and he really thought he could have gotten away with it! He’s just so handsome and charming that nobody would believe I’m not interested. It’s just incomprehensible, and for McGonagall to basically say that she thinks I must be attracted to him!”

“Hermione, I don’t know what to say. It’s my fault, he targeted you like this because of me. I’m sorry.”

“Please don’t, I hate when you blame yourself for their atrocious behaviour. It’s not your fault.”

“What happened?”

“Not much. He was asking me about the cloak though. The idiot thought he’d get a straight answer out of my just because I wanted to shag him, but I only told him it was in my bed and he could help me look for it.”

Severus chuckled, “Dunderhead.”

She smiled, “I kissed him before I could give him a proper answer, which triggered the Fidelity charm, so hopefully it’s still safe.”

“Then it is my fault. I’m the one who stole their cloak, and I taunted Potter about it when he asked for it back. He probably thought I wouldn’t give it back to him after all.”

“No. You know they don’t leave you alone, even when you haven’t done anything to them. You could have been nice as pie to Potter and Black still might have done this just for kicks. About the Fidelity charm though, do you know why it only kicked in when I kissed him? I almost told him exactly what he wanted to know because all I could think about was getting into his pants.”

“It doesn’t affect your thoughts, only actions. There are some that do, but I didn’t think you’d appreciate that so I specifically asked Reg for one like this. You are perfectly within your rights to lust after whoever you like in your mind, it will only try to stop you from acting on those thoughts with anyone but me.”

“Oh. That makes sense, thank you. I wonder how he drugged me… I’m sure he couldn’t have slipped anything into my drink, I would have noticed.”

“It doesn’t take very long to dose something, it’s easy to miss.”

She thought back over the evening, “I know but I’m sure I didn’t miss anything. I sipped my drink as soon as the goblet filled and I drank the whole thing quite quickly, and surely I would have noticed if he’d poured a potion over my food.”

“If you figure it out let me know, he’s been dosing us at the Slytherin table for years, but we could never prove anything. It’s always been declared an interhouse matter as the Professors said it wasn’t possible for students from another house to be slipping things to us without anyone noticing.”

“Yes, I remember you saying. How do you know it was them?”

He scowled, “I just know.”

“I’m not saying I don’t believe you, I do, but how do you know?”

“They always make jokes about it that make it obvious. It’s the same as you tonight, it’s not just the lust potion it’s him suddenly approaching and kissing you, why would he do that if he didn’t know? None of us will eat or drink anything on the day of a Quidditch match, or before exams, there’s no way anyone from Slytherin would sabotage our own house like that, and afterwards Black will jeer at us and say things that make it clear he’s taking responsibility, we just can’t prove it.”

Hermione nodded, “Right. Well let’s think about this, my goblet filled, I took a sip immediately and instantly felt flushed. That means the potion was either in the goblet before it filled or it was in the pump” -she made the leap in logic suddenly- “It was in the bloody pumpkin juice! I need to check something.” She went to run off, but he grabbed her around the waist before she could, hauling her to a stop.

“No. Explain first, you infuriating woman.”

She flushed, “Oh sorry. I was going to go to the kitchens but you’re right, that’s a bad idea, we need- Gilly!”

The house elf popped into existence nearby, bowing, “How can Gilly serve Miss?”

“Gilly, there was a potion in my pumpkin juice this evening, I was wondering if it would be possible for a house elf to add something to my drink before sending it up to the Great Hall.”

Gilly looked offended, “House elves is not putting potions in the food miss.”

“What about the personal elves?”

Gilly paused, “They is still sworn to serve the school Miss, they wouldn’t harm any students.”

“They could do it though, if it wasn’t a harmful potion?”

Gilly nodded.

“Thank you, Gilly, that’s very helpful.”

Gilly cracked away. Severus asked hesitantly, “Was that helpful?”

Hermione smiled, “Imagine you were a house elf, eager to serve your young master, and he told you he wanted you to slip a nice potion to one of his friends? House elves are intelligent but they have no training in Potions. They wouldn’t be able to tell a Nutrition Potion from a Disgorging Draught.” Then her grinned widened, “Oh no, I have a new plan.”

He laughed, “You are adorably evil sometimes.”

The following day was infuriating. She’d wanted to keep to herself for a while but that had been a bad plan as it just allowed Black the opportunity to tell his own version of events, which he of course did. She would have expected him to blame the whole thing on Severus but instead he’d told everyone the potion she’d been dosed with had been untargeted, implying she was attracted to him of her own accord, and that was why poor Snivellus had procured a Fidelity charm for her in the first place. Those rumours had spread so quickly that her assertion the potion had been specifically target to Black were ignored, Bertha Jorkins gave her such a smug, knowing look that Hermione had wanted to slap her. She did feel a little better whenever she noticed Black scratching his collar though. He was still wearing a scarf everywhere, even indoors, but it was obvious he hadn’t yet figured out how to stop it from itching. She wondered what Severus had done to make it so irritating. If Black hadn’t just tried to rape her, she might have felt sorry for him.

After hearing the way everyone was talking about her she decided to retreat for the rest of day, spending it quietly in her four-poster working on transfiguring more furniture for her tent. She went to bed exhausted and was not pleased when she woke a few hours later to the sound of someone setting off her Caterwauling charm. She jumped and leapt out of bed the moment it went off and then went racing out of the doorway. There was a brief period of time where she felt proud of her reactions, but then suddenly the stairs turned into a slide, and while she was skidding down them she realised she hadn’t even grabbed her wand. She’d just gone chasing after one of the Marauders without a wand. It didn’t matter in the end though. She slid to a stop at the bottom of the stairs to find Sirius Black sprawled out on the floor, surrounded by the first year Gryffindor girls.

It didn’t take her long to put together what had happened. She knew he could get up the stairs in his animagus form, but their dorm was at the top of the stairs, so by the time he’d made it to the bottom the younger girls were all coming out of their room before he could get clear. He’d obviously decided it would be better to be caught as a boy than for anyone to see him as a dog, particularly since he was now aware that Hermione knew that secret, and as soon as he’d transformed he’d set off the stairwell charm that turned them into a slide anytime a boy tried to make it upstairs. She found herself feeling pleased, although she again realised her mad dash after him had been silly and pointless. Her Caterwauling charm was still going off, and it seemed like all of Gryffindor tower was in the common room now, girls still sliding down the stairs.

Professor McGonagall was there suddenly, calling for order, and then saying, “Mister Black, Miss Granger, is it fair to assume the two of you have something to do with this racket?”

Hermione grimaced, “Apologies Professor. I set up a Caterwauling charm in case anyone tried to break into our dorm room. I was sent sliding down the stairs before I could cancel it.”

McGonagall flicked her wand and cancelled the alarm then reset the stairs and ordered most of the students back to bed. She turned a stern glare onto Sirius and asked, “Mister Black, what are you wearing?”

Hermione noticed that he was in his pyjamas and it was the first time she’d seen him not wearing a scarf. The glittery pink collar was obnoxious with his striped pyjamas and the skin of his neck was red and irritated, covered in scratch marks. She once again wondered what Severus had done to make it so itchy.

Black scowled, “Ask Granger.”

Hermione said primly, “I’ve no idea what you mean. Why would a person be wearing a dog collar?”

Black narrowed his eyes at her, then said, “It was an anonymous gift Professor and I can’t seem to remove it.”

Professor McGonagall waved her wand at him, muttering a few spells over it, before acknowledging, “It does seem quite stuck. I will ask Professor Flitwick to take a look at it tomorrow. Now, would you care to explain what you were doing sneaking into the girls’ room at two in the morning, and how exactly you managed to make it so far up the stairs?”

“I- I was looking for James’ cloak. Granger stole it.”

Professor McGonagall’s lips thinned, “If that is so then why have you not reported the theft?”

He hesitated, “I’m sorry Professor, I didn’t want to bother you. I didn’t think there’d be any harm if I just snuck up and took it back.”

“You did not think at all. If Mister Potter’s property has been stolen then he should report it, it is not for you to try to take matters into your own hands, again. Miss Granger, do you have Mr Potters cloak?”

“I do not.”

Black said, “She told me she does. She said it’s in her bed.”

Hermione rolled her eyes, and said scathingly, “I was under the effect of a lust potion at the time, as you well know. That was a pick-up line, you plonker.”

McGonagall coughed, “Go to bed Mister Black, you will report for detention with Mr Filch every evening for the next two weeks, and you will stay away from Miss Granger from now on, is that clear? The girls deserve to feel safe at this school, particularly after what happened with Pettigrew. If I even hear of you looking at those stairs again, I will see to your expulsion myself.”

She watched sternly as Sirius retreated up the stairs, but as she turned to make her own way up to bed McGonagall stopped her, “A moment please, Miss Granger. You know how he got up the stairs, do you not?”

Hermione sighed, “Yes, and you do as well Professor.”

Professor McGonagall nodded, “I have had my suspicions since Pettigrew was revealed. I will speak to the Headmaster about warding the stairs against Animagi regardless. Unfortunately, there is no spell to force a person into animal form, only the reverse, and I am unable to do anything without more evidence. I suggest you consider whether it is really wise to continue to antagonise him.”

Hermione stiffened, “He dosed me with a lust potion, not that you believed it, and he’s the one who tried to break into my room in the middle of the night! He’s the one doing all the antagonising.”

McGonagall gave her a flat look, “The collar?”

Hermione looked down, she supposed that had probably provoked him. “Even if I had done something like that it wouldn’t make what he tried to do yesterday right.”

“I am not saying it would, I am merely suggesting that continuing to escalate things may not be in your best interest. I am very displeased with the events of yesterday, the situation seemed quite straightforward when I was informed you appeared to be under the effect of a lust potion and found you in a compromising situation with Mister Snape, however I have since reviewed my own memory from dinner and can find no evidence of anything being slipped to you during the meal. Are you quite certain you didn’t eat or drink anything else?”

Hermione hesitated, realising she actually was trying to investigate the situation. She supposed her suspicions of Severus did seem reasonable considering the way they’d been found, and McGonagall hadn’t tried to excuse Sirius trying to get up the stairs tonight. In fact, she’d seemed quite serious in her threats to him. She considered admitting to her suspicions about the house elves but she wasn’t willing to abandon her current plan so she simply said, “I didn’t eat anything else.”

Professor McGonagall nodded, “I am sorry there is not more I can do. I can remove you from the dorm if you feel unsafe.”

Hermione hesitated, surprised, “Thank you but it’s fine, my alarm worked perfectly.”

“Yes, well done on that. I will let you go back to bed then, goodnight, Miss Granger.”

Chapter Text

Lily’s birthday was on Monday the 30^th so it had been decided that they would have another little party in Hagrid’s Hut for her when they went down to visit him for afternoon tea on Sunday. Hermione, Remus, and Severus were going to meet early to decorate and get everything ready and Marlene would bring Lily down in the afternoon. Severus didn’t show up, which worried Hermione, so she snuck into the bathroom to check the map just in case he’d been cornered by the other Marauders or something. He was by the lake with Lily and Marlene. She contained her annoyance and returned to decking out Hagrid’s hut in ribbons and flowers for stupid bloody Lily Evans and her stupid fake boyfriend who stood her up to hang out with other girls.

When they finally arrived and Lily had finished pretending surprise she eagerly told everyone that they had spent the last two hours by the lake so Sev could sketch a picture of her and Marlene as a present for her birthday. Never mind that Hermione and Severus had already given her a coloured lip gloss they’d brewed together as a joint present, one that wouldn’t smudge and would last for several hours. The picture was passed around and exclaimed over, Lily shooting her a triumphant look at expertly manipulating Severus into making Hermione look foolish. Hermione kept her shields up and remained politely distant all afternoon.

Rumour was already flying around at dinner and she overheard several groups talking about it on her way up to the tower after dinner. It had been cold the day before but the weather was clear so students had been out on the grounds, skating on the lake, throwing snowballs, or building magical sculptures. Everyone had noticed Severus sketching Lily and Marlene and had declared it to be rather creepy, and especially weird considering his girlfriend was their dormmate and wasn’t included. She tried to save face when asked about it by saying she was perfectly aware of and okay with the situation but that added no interest to the gossip, and the third years who had asked her walked off after giving her very sceptical looks.

*Dorm break in happens tonight*

On Monday afternoon after History of Magic Remus walked with her to the library to meet Severus and Lily as they normally would, but he asked if he could speak to her for a moment. She agreed and he pulled her aside just outside the entrance to the library, saying, “About Sirius, will you please tell me how to get that collar off him?”

“Why should I?”

“He hasn’t slept at all for the past three nights; he can’t stop scratching at it. We’ve tried everything we can think of, and it just won’t come off.”

“I’m afraid I don’t have much sympathy for him after he tried to rape me and broke into my room last night.”

“He wasn’t going to take it that far! He just wanted to get information about James’ cloak.”

“Did you know he was going to dose me with a lust potion?”

He looked a little abashed, “No, I didn’t, not until after. I’m just saying, he wouldn’t have done that.”

“You can’t know that.”

Remus squirmed, “He couldn’t have anyway, not with that potion you’ve been dosing him with.”

It occurred to Hermione for the first time that he probably wouldn’t have been able to maintain an erection thanks to the impotence potion she’d been slipping him, but the idea that he physically couldn’t have had sex with her wasn’t as much of a relief as Remus seemed to expect it to be. She said sternly, “I don’t understand how you can be so dismissive. Whether he could have taken it as far as having sex hardly matters, he kissed me, while fully knowing I would not have wanted him to. If my Fidelity charm hadn’t protected me who knows how much farther he would have taken it, even if he might not have been able to participate in the main event. I don’t see why I should help him at all.”

Remus said defensively, “Well, he wouldn’t have tried to kiss you like that if you hadn’t put the collar on him in the first place! He wasn’t intending to do that; he was just exhausted from lack of sleep and not thinking clearly.”

“That doesn’t excuse him! What he tried to do to me was not okay Remus, no matter what I did or didn’t do to him.”

“I know. I’m sorry, really, if I’d known I would have stopped him, and he’s sorry for it too. He wasn’t planning to kiss you at all, he really is exhausted from lack of sleep and having a pretty girl coming on to him overwhelmed his judgement. He had the antidote on him and was going to give it to you as soon as he got James’ cloak back,” he told her sincerely.

She narrowed her eyes at him, wondering if he actually believed his own words. When had he ever stopped Sirius Black from doing anything? He did really look sorry though, and it wasn’t entirely his fault that his friends were lunatics.

She responded tartly, “If someone put a collar on him I can only imagine it was because he deserved it for some reason, and if the collar is bothering him so much then why is he running around implementing crazy plans to try and get Potter’s cloak back instead of doing something sensible like, oh I don’t know, asking Madam Pomfrey for help?”

“He didn’t want anyone to see it in case it gets him in trouble for whatever he was doing that makes you think he deserves to have a torture device put around his neck.”

Hermione didn’t bother explaining that she hadn’t turned the collar into a torture device. That had been Severus’ addition and she didn’t know what he’d done, or how to fix it. She hadn’t been angry enough to do that to him, but after he’d kissed her she felt it was perfectly justified and wasn’t really inclined to help him. Though she couldn’t help feeling a little guilty, if it was really so bad that he couldn’t sleep at all then that did sound awful. Sleep deprivation was a form of torture after all.

Remus asked, “Are you going to tell on him? About the dog thing?”

She said sweetly, “Of course not, if I did it would be as good as admitting to knowing Scabbers wasn’t really a rat.”

He looked startled, “You did know then.”

She smiled mockingly, “Don’t be silly, that’s not what I said. I’m just saying that identifying someone as an illegal animagus a second time would make the first time it happened look much less coincidental. Professor McGonagall already knows about the collar anyway, so I don’t see what the big deal is. I have nothing to say on that topic, although if I do see any rabid dogs running around I make no promises that I won’t have them put down, or perhaps just neutered.”

Remus stared at her, his eyes wide as he took her in, apparently realising for the first time that she wasn’t simply a boring, studious, girl. She had always relished those moments of recognition, even though they were often forgotten. Everyone pigeonholed her so thoroughly as a swotty, rule-following bookworm that she always enjoyed their obvious surprise when they realised she wasn’t quite so innocent as she often appeared. Ron had never managed to remember, always being surprised when she showed that little ruthless streak, and she knew it had bothered him at times. Severus was the first person who’d seen that about her and liked it. Remus didn’t appear to be too put off by it either.

He finally asked, “How did you know?”

“You don’t really expect me to answer that, do you? Well, after Pettigrew was revealed it was obvious he wouldn’t have learned by himself. Any animal attacks against us are going to be rather obvious at this point, don’t you think?”

“Right, and you’re not going to do anything about that?”

“I’d love to say no, because quite honestly if you and your little friends all stopped being bullying arseholes I would leave you all alone, but I know that won’t happen. So, here’s a warning for you Remus, if you can get your friends to stop then I won’t do anything to them, but the moment they do anything the least bit morally reprehensible I will see to it that they regret their actions. Feel free to tell Sirius Black to behave himself, and if he does he’ll be safe from me, but when he doesn’t, well, I will make sure he knows that he’s been a bad boy.”

The last part came out surprisingly flirtatiously, in a way she hadn’t quite meant it to, and Remus’ eyes widened in surprise. She couldn’t help smirking to herself slightly as she stalked away from him to join Severus and Lily who were waiting near the entrance to the library watching them, Severus scowling at her. Hermione scowled right back at him as she approached.

The moment she reached them Lily said, “Hermione, I’m so sorry about yesterday! You know, the whole picture thing. I really didn’t realise how it would look, I just wanted to ask Sev to draw a picture of me and Marlene for my birthday. I didn’t mean to leave you out, it’s just that she’s been my best friend for years! You understand, don’t you? I didn’t even think about how ridiculous the gossip would be.”

“Yes, well. Thank you for apologising.”

Lily asked, the concern in her tone a little over the top, “You’re not mad at Sev are you? It was my fault entirely; I was just so excited and insisted he do the picture for me for my birthday.”

Hermione took a deep breath, resisting the urge to tell the other girl to go fuck herself, “If I am mad at him then that’s between us.”

“I’m sorry, I know I’m prying, I just don’t want to think that you two are going to split up because of me. It really was just a misunderstanding, please don’t be angry at Sev you know he didn’t mean to upset you.”

Severus stood there looking stupid and saying nothing while Lily pushed and prodded at her, trying to put Hermione in a situation where she would either have to meekly allow the other girl to walk all over her or to explode at Severus who hadn’t even bothered to apologise himself. It was intolerable, and if Hermione didn’t have her Occlumency shields to fall back on she would never have kept her cool. Instead, she said blankly, “If you know you’re prying then perhaps you should keep out of it. If Severus wants to apologise then he’ll do so and I’ll decide then how I feel about it. Remus, you were unwell last week did you need us to go over anything with you this week?”

Overall, the study session was a nightmare. She was angry with Remus after their conversation, although he was being overly polite towards her and kept giving her odd little looks that she wasn’t quite sure how to interpret. Severus seemed to be scowling at her every time she even looked at Remus, and Lily was so assiduously trying to smooth things over while being as annoyingly superior as possible that it was a miracle Hermione made it through without hexing all 3 of them.

On Thursday she met Severus in the potions classroom. She stared at him as he began chopping ingredients. Since their Dragon Pox cure was working well they’d been working on her idea for a hair colour potion and were trying out a new base for it. So far, they had three colours they were sure would work, a black potion that used ground up onyx, a moonstone potion that glowed in moonlight, and one that used pixie dust to add sparkly blue glitter to a person’s hair. Each potion was completely unique though, and they would never be able to make it profitable if they couldn’t scale it by at least making a common potion base that they could incorporate the coloured ingredients into.

Hermione had really expected that Severus would want to apologise to her but instead he was pretending he hadn’t done anything wrong and completely ignoring the whole situation. She would have thought his behaviour would make her angry, she’d been simmering with anger for days, but the fact he wasn’t even sorry about it now just made her sad. She said quietly, “I can’t believe you aren’t even sorry. Do you even realise how stupid you’ve made me look? You were supposed to meet me at Hagrid’s and instead you stood me up to hang out with Lily and Marlene in front of the whole school and make me a laughingstock, and you don’t even care?”

He ground the beetle shells he had in the mortar and pestle even more harshly and said, “What do you want me to say? I was an idiot, and I made us both look stupid! I realise that now but I still don’t know what else I could have done. Lily and Marlene caught me when I was making my way down to Hagrid’s and wanted to know where I was going, and I wasn’t supposed to tell Lily about the surprise party. I told her I was on my way to meet you, but she wanted to come, and she knew you were with Lupin so I couldn’t claim it was a couple’s thing. I didn’t know what to do!”

He ground the beetles even more fiercely, “I told her you were supposed to meet me in the Entrance Hall and then of course you didn’t, so she suggested we all go down to the lake, and then she asked me to draw her and Marlene as a birthday present and I didn’t see any harm in it so I just agreed. Now I wish I hadn’t, but everyone is talking about it as though I begged her to sit for a portrait, saying all of this nonsense about me telling her how beautiful she is, and I didn’t say any of that! I can never do anything without it turning out all wrong.”

He sounded so defeated by the end of it and Hermione just sighed. “I know you don’t want to think poorly of her, and I understand that, honestly, I do, but she did this deliberately. You can’t seriously think Lily didn’t realise we were planning a surprise party for her? She knew perfectly well where you were going to meet me and why you wouldn’t want her to come, and she absolutely knew how it would look if she dragged you off with her. You need to be careful-”

“You’re wrong, she wouldn’t do that! She talked to me afterwards and she thought I was upset that you stood me up to go off with Lupin, that’s why she suggested the drawing. She just wanted to cheer me up and didn’t think about how it would look, and she feels really badly about it now knowing that you were with off preparing for her party.”

Hermione snapped back, “Fine, Lily is perfect, whatever, but it doesn’t matter what her motives were you still need to be more careful. Even if she is only ruining our relationship accidentally our agreement requires us both to be convincing. If Lily tricks you into making me look like a fool again, I won’t stand for it.”

They worked in angry silence after that, both of them chopping, grinding, stirring, but all too loudly. The snap of the cupboard door made her jump, and he winced when she sent a shrivelfig she was trying to peel flying across the room. They worked until their potion failed, it wasn’t a spectacular failure, no explosion, no melted cauldron, it just curdled and smoked. She found herself wishing it had exploded instead of this disappointing conclusion to all of their work. Severus vanished it and began packing the ingredients away without saying anything. They still had an hour of lab time left but it was clear they were done for the evening.

They remained cool towards each other after that. Hermione missed him but found herself annoyed and bewildered by his behaviour. She did feel bad for him, she could imagine how it would have been, him desperate to avoid ruining Lily’s surprise party and awkwardly lying. Then acquiescing to Lily’s request to draw them. Really, he was just trying to be nice, they all knew Lily would love a surprise party and he hadn’t wanted to spoil it, and how could he have turned down the request to draw her without seeming rude? She got it, truly.

It really drove home the fact that everyone always thought the worst of him. No-one else could see that Lily was a ruthless, petty bitch, and Severus was just a socially awkward boy who misunderstood context all of the time. Instead, he was a creep who ditched his girlfriend to beg her two roommates to let him draw them. It was cruel, and the fact that Lily continued to pretend innocence, and to sympathise and feel bad for poor Severus when she had done it to him deliberately was just painful. Hermione wasn’t sure she could continue doing this. Another four months with Lily lording over her how oblivious Severus was, absolutely confident that she could steal him if she wanted to and rubbing it in her face. The fact that Severus wasn’t sorry, that he wouldn’t listen to her about Lily, that she put herself through this for him, it all made her furious.

They’d stopped spending Saturdays in the Room of Requirement, especially now that Black and Potter were so aware of both their movements, even if they didn’t know how to access the room, so they usually had dates in various locations around the school. This week there was an awful sleety rain pouring down outside so they’d taken over a small, cushioned window seat on the fourth floor and were reading together. They often practiced Legilimency, doing so in public just made them look like one of those sickening couples who spent time staring into each other’s eyes, so they often took the opportunity to share memories, sometimes making up false ones and other times showing each other things that happened during the week.

This week, Hermione was still annoyed that he hadn’t apologised. Since he obviously didn’t seem to realise how badly he had messed up she decided to show him how annoying the fall out of his little drawing session was. She let him see a conversation she’d overheard between some of the Slytherin girls during Transfiguration where they laughed about how pathetic she was, that she was such an annoying swot that even Snape didn’t want her when she threw herself at him. She showed him the few boys who had asked her out during the past week and their incredulous looks when she made it clear the rumour she’d broken up with Snape was false. She showed him their conversation from Thursday and how upset she was that he couldn’t even be bothered to apologise- He slipped out of her mind then and returned to his reading without saying anything.

Hermione glared at him for a while, angry that he was still ignoring her, and then decided she’d had enough. She hadn’t done anything wrong! She didn’t know what his issue was but she wasn’t going to sit around all day while he ignored her. She packed her things and stood.

He looked up and asked angrily, “Where are you going?”

“I’m sick of you acting like an arse! I’m going for a walk, as soon as you’re ready to stop being a dunderhead let me know and we can be friends again.”

Hermione hadn’t expected her relationship with Alfie to change that much but now that she was his sister, as opposed to maybe some long lost distant cousin, he seemed to be around all of the time. She’d randomly find herself being hugged between classes, or he’d wave at her from his seat at the Hufflepuff table at dinner and occasionally come bounding over to tell her about something. Their tutoring sessions had changed since Christmas as well, Alfie had bounced up to her in the Great Hall one day and asked to look at her study schedule. She’d made one for him as well after the holidays and he’d been really enthusiastic about it for about a week before he grew bored. She asked what he was up to but he just smiled and looked at her evenings then said, “Ha, this Friday block before dinner is just solitary study isn’t it?”

“It is.”

“So, you can swap that for our Tuesday time and meet with me for Charms on Fridays instead?”

“I can, but why?”

He just grinned, “Update it Herms, I’ll see you on Friday.”

She grimaced at the nickname but updated her schedule accordingly. On Friday when she met him in the Charms classroom she found him chatting animatedly away to Regulus Black, his new best friend. She’d found out that at the New Year’s Ball Alfie had insisted that Sev should tutor him in Potions, now that he was practically his brother-in-law. Severus had tried to decline but Alfie’s enthusiasm was hard to resist, he’d told the other boy he didn’t have time in his schedule, he had study group with her on Monday, Quidditch practice Tuesday, tutoring Regulus on Wednesday, their Potions lab Thursday, and tutoring his dormmates on Friday. Alfie had taken this information, determined that Regulus was also a fifth year, and approached the other boy about the issue. He’d then just turned up with Regulus for tutoring on the first Wednesday of the new term. Hermione had been aware of this arrangement as Severus had complained to her that the two younger boys were a menace together, and she’d been less than sympathetic. She wondered if she was about to regret her cavalier attitude as it turned out that Alfie had rearranged her schedule so that his new bestie could come to her study sessions as well.

Alfie introduced her to the other boy, who smiled, “Of course I already know your beautiful sister, we’ve met, and Severus talks about her all the time.”

Hermione asked curiously, “Does he?”

“Well, no, but I did see him smile once and I can only assume it was about you.”

She smiled, “So Alfie now that I’m your sister not only do you not pay me anymore, but you want me to tutor all of your friends as well?”

He said happily, “Yep, and you have to do it because we’re family.”

They’d barely settled in when Sirius Black, James Potter, and Remus Lupin all strolled into the room. Sirius said, “Well isn’t this cosy, my little brother hanging out with Snivellus’ girl.”

“She does have a name brother, I’m quite sure you know it.”

Sirius looked at Hermione and sneered, “You’re secretly a little snake lover, aren’t you Granger?”

“I wouldn’t say I’ve been very secretive about it, or about my distaste for dogs,” she said venomously.

The good thing about being in one of the classrooms at this time was that there was usually a teacher close at hand. Students were allowed to use the rooms as they pleased during office hours, and the teachers would usually be in their office grading papers. Professor Flitwick would often poke his head in to see how they were all going and he did so today. He immediately caught on to the tension in the room, it was well known just how little the Black boys got along, and everyone was aware that the problems between Snape and Black now extended to her as well. He said cheerily, “Oh, it’s a little crowded in here isn’t it? Why don’t you three come with me, there’s an empty classroom just next to my office, you can practice in there and let Misters Potter, Black, and Lupin have this room.”

Hermione thanked him and they followed him down the corridor. He told them, “I’ll keep an eye out but if those boys give you any trouble just yell, I’m right next door so I should hear you.” They settled in to the new classroom and began practicing. They were working on the Incendio charm today, trying to light a piece of parchment on fire, Alfie was struggling to get it to work at all, while Regulus kept disintegrating it a little too violently.

She watched them both for a moment then said, “You both have different problems. Alfie, I suspect you aren’t visualising this correctly. Think about the parchment being on fire, don’t think about the fire coming out of your wand. That’s why it’s sputtering and not reaching the target. The intermediate steps in Charms are unimportant, just focus on your end goal.”

Alfie nodded, “Right, like with Accio, don’t think about how the magic works, just think about the end goal.”

She smiled then turned to Regulus, “As for you I don’t think you’re using Incendio at all. You say the incantation, do the wand movement, and then transfigure the paper into fire. That’s why it’s burning so fast, rather than using the paper as fuel for the fire you’re just transforming it. Visualise the parchment catching fire and burning, rather than just thinking about fire.”

He narrowed his eyes for a moment then turned and pointed his wand at the parchment. He executed the wand movement perfectly as he said firmly, “Incendio.” A jet of fire shot from his wand but missed, hitting the stones instead.

She giggled, “You have to aim with Charms.”

He tried it again and this time the parchment caught fire, slowly shrivelling and blackening, and letting off smoke. He stared at it then said, “I can’t believe that worked. I was really transfiguring it before without even noticing.”

“You’d have figured it out eventually. I’m imagining you trying to light a fire in your grate at home and just transfiguring the logs into fire.”

He laughed, “I’m so bad at Charms, no-one would have been surprised.”

She smiled, “Well maybe if you start casting charms, instead of trying to transfigure everything, you’ll do better.”

After a bit of practice Alfie asked her what was going on with Severus, and perhaps stupidly she decided she trusted Regulus enough to tell them both all about it. She vented about how much of a manipulative bitch Lily was and how frustrating it was that Severus constantly thought the best of her and could never see it. Alfie told her to break up with him, and tried to boost her confidence by telling her how awesome she is. Regulus told her Severus was an idiot but that he definitely cared about her, he just had a blind spot about his childhood friend and had never been able to see her clearly. He suggested that a bit of jealousy would get him to stop taking her for granted but she just shook her head and turned the conversation, “Actually I wanted to ask you something Regulus, do you have a personal elf here at Hogwarts?”

He smiled, “Yes, his name is Kreacher. He wasn’t my personal elf, he’s actually in line to be head elf when the current one passes but I grew close to him so Mother allowed me to bring him to Hogwarts.”

She was surprised but then again considering what Regulus had done for Kreacher she shouldn’t be. “Would he serve Sirius if called?”

“Definitely not. Sirius has been disowned, blasted off the family tree and everything, and Kreacher always hated him.”

“Hmmn, I had a theory he might be using an elf to slip people potions. I suppose Potter would have one, they might be using his.”

“He has his own elf. Uncle Alphard named him as his heir when Sirius was disowned. I don’t know what the elf is called but I’m sure he has one.”

“Excellent, do you think Kreacher would be up for spying on Black’s elf? I want to catch him out, ideally, we need him overheard giving the order and hopefully we could get a sample of the potion as well.”

Regulus eyed her for a moment, “You think that’s how he slipped you that lust potion? I can’t imagine any elf agreeing to go along with that.”

“I can’t either but can you imagine your brother manipulating an elf without telling them what kind of potion it was?”

His eyes darkened, “Yes, he got Kreacher into a lot of trouble when we were younger tricking him into going against our parents’ orders. Kreacher would be happy to help.”

Alfie said, “You could ask father to send Pipsy to school for you, I’m sure he’d agree, and my Lopsy would probably love to spy. If we had a whole group of elves working on it they’d definitely be able to catch them.”

“Right, I forgot your father gave me an elf. I also have Gilly, she’s a free elf who serves me sometimes. Great, let’s get our elves together next week and introduce them, then we can ask them to find Black’s elf and probably Potter’s as well, just in case, and see if they can catch them in the act.”

Regulus asked eagerly, “What’s the plan?”

“Set our elves to spy on him until he does it again then report him to the teachers.”

He scoffed, “That’s not much of a plan, we should encourage him to do something soon, something we can predict and keep an eye out for.”

Hermione was intrigued, “What would you suggest?”

“Let me tell you about one of my brother’s favourite strategies, it involves letting people ‘accidentally’ overhear your very secret plans…”

Chapter Text

The next few days passed uneventfully with Hermione and Severus behaving politely in public but barely speaking to each other. On the Saturday just before Valentine’s Day Professor Slughorn was throwing a little dance to the delight of many of the students. The usual dinners were only for Slug Club members but for a dance the members were allowed to bring other students as their plus one. During study group on Monday Lily had been complaining that they could only take another person as their date rather than just as a friend as she thought it wasn’t fair that Remus and Marlene couldn’t come. Hermione had suggested she and James take the other two as their dates then just swap back to their usual couplings after the first dance, which seemed the obvious solution to her, and Lily had turned thoughtful.

On the day of the party when Lily declared it was time to get ready Marlene came along, which Hermione didn’t think anything of. She wore her red dress again, sighing at her lack of clothes. It would have been nice to try something else, but she didn’t trust the Marauders not to try disappearing her dress and she only had this or her periwinkle dress robes that were charmed to be spell resistant. She transfigured her jacket into a dark brown outer robe which she made to cover her from the waist up to her neck apart from a heart shaped cut out at the front which showed a bit of cleavage, cinching her waist in but then parting at the front to show the red skirt of her dress. She was quite happy with the effect, and the chocolatey colour suited her.

Lily and Marlene went off to the bathroom to do their hair and makeup, giving her a half-hearted invitation to come with them which she declined. Alone in their dorm room she decided to make use of Pipsy to get some help with her hair and makeup. It wasn’t something she’d normally be bothered with but she knew Pipsy would be grateful to be of use, and she needed all the help she could get when she had to stand next to Lily Evans. She was pleased with the end result, they’d pulled her hair back from her face but left the back down, charmed into longer, looser curls than she had naturally, and darkened her eyes and lips.

She went down to meet the boys in the common room and when Marlene and Lily joined them they all headed down together. Lily was up to something. She engaged Hermione in conversation, asking her about her makeup and then inquiring about Pipsy, followed by every question she could think of about the Dagworth-Grangers. It was decidedly odd, but Hermione remained polite. They were behind the rest of the group and when they reached Slughorn’s rooms they found Severus waiting. Hermione blinked when he offered his arm to Marlene and asked uncertainly, “Sev?”

He looked up at her with polite curiosity. Lily said happily as she grabbed hold of James’ arm, “I’m looking forward to tonight, it’s so nice that everyone can come tonight.”

Hermione looked around, noticed Remus standing next to her looking slightly chagrined, and understood what had happened. She didn’t understand why Severus had gone along with it without telling her though. She glared at him for a moment, and he glared back which just annoyed her. She grabbed Remus firmly by the arm and dragged him through the doors. The first person she saw who she knew was Regulus so she made a beeline for him, dragging her surprise date along with her.

Regulus looked the pair of them over, “Hello Hermione, who’s this then?”

“Remus Lupin, this is Sirius’ younger, far superior brother Regulus Black.”

Remus nodded awkwardly. Hermione pulled her arm back, crossing it over her chest with the other, feeling annoyed. Regulus asked, “What’s got your wand all floppy?”

“Oh, you know, just my boyfriend bringing another girl to the dance without telling me, and all of my friends organising an alternative date for me without saying a word.”

Remus winced, “I’m sorry, I thought you knew.”

Regulus eyed her, “That doesn’t sound like something Sev would do.”

“And yet here we all are. Would you care to explain Remus?”

“I don’t know, I thought I was going with Lily but yesterday she said there was a change of plans and I’d be going with you instead. She said it was your idea.”

Hermione narrowed her eyes but said nothing. There was a sit-down dinner and Hermione scanned the place cards. She knew Lily had assisted Slughorn with planning the dance and realised just how perfectly she’d been played. Lily had asked if she’d like to be near anyone in particular and Hermione had said she’d be happy to sit with Alfie. Lily had used that as an excuse to seat her at a completely different table. Lily was at Professor Slughorn’s table with one of his guests, a French witch from Beauxbatons who was famous for fabric charms, along with Severus and his date Marlene. She hoped Severus would have fun sharing a table with James Potter.

Hermione and Remus had been shoved off to a table with Sirius Black, Alfie, and to Hermione’s delight Damocles Belby and his wife. She knew the other woman had already contracted Lycanthropy and her husband must currently be working on the Wolfsbane Potion, though he wouldn’t have a breakthrough for a few years yet. It amused her somewhat to know she was seated at a table with two werewolves and neither of them knew about each other. Sirius Black turned up at the table and Hermione stared at him for a moment as she realised he was still wearing that dog collar she’d put on him. It was pink and glittery, had hearts on one side of it, and the name ‘Blacky’. He’d matched it to his robes, which were black but had loose sleeves which clearly showed the bright pink silk lining on the inside, and the upper half of his chest was covered in embroidered pink hears of various sizes. He’d obviously figured out how to solve the itching and was now proudly wearing it as an accessory. He looked stupidly handsome, and completely unconcerned about the dog collar.

His date was a 6^th year Gryffindor name Blodwyn Bagshot who was a bit of an idiot. She’d had an off and on again relationship with Sirius for ages and apparently they were on again at the moment. Alfie’s date for the evening was Hestia Jones who Hermione had known in her time as a member of the Order, though they hadn’t exactly been close. She was a nice girl though and she clearly disliked Sirius which made Hermione immediately fond of her. The dinner was painful. Sirius Black kept commenting that it looked as though Snivellus was having a good time, and it really did. She could clearly see him chatting with Lily, and he seemed to look over at her occasionally as though to check she were watching, like he wanted her to see him making a fool of her at this stupid dinner. Hermione stared at him, occluding her feelings of betrayal. Their relationship may not be real to him, but he was still supposed to be her friend, wasn’t he? Well, this wasn’t friendship, at least not to her. Remus made some attempts to reign Sirius in but wasn’t particularly successful.

Hermione did her best to engage Mr Belby in a conversation about potions, perhaps if they could start up a correspondence she’d be able to lead him to some of the revelations he would make about the Wolfsbane Potion a little more quickly. She told him about their Dragon Pox treatment, with Alfie enthusing over how well their father was doing now. The Belbys, as it turned out, were already acquainted with her new father. They mentioned they’d been a bit reclusive lately, which she assumed to be a consequence of his wife’s new illness. She decided she’d encourage Edgar to invite them for dinner once she’d graduated and would be careful to check the lunar cycle before picking a date.

After the meal was over the tables were all cleared away and the ghost quartet emerged, the music was beautiful but haunting in more than just the obvious way. She danced with Remus, she was feeling quite annoyed but took pity on him when she saw how awkward he was. He didn’t have Severus’ natural grace and was obviously not very practiced at dancing, she took over leading and he gave her a grateful smile. She pondered her options as they danced, wondering how she was going to deal with this situation, but she was a Gryffindor after all so as soon as the dance was finished she marched up to Severus intending to demand to have a word in private. As soon as the first dance was finished though he was leading Lily out for the second one.

Hermione stood fuming, waiting for him to return. When he finally did she dragged him straight outside, only pausing when they’d gone far enough from the doors that they couldn’t be overheard. She turned to look at him, half expecting he’d have something to say, but he just looked politely annoyed at her. That got her hackles up even further and she said bluntly, “I don’t understand why you went along with this farce without saying anything, but you do realise I am going to have to break up with you, right?”

He looked suddenly panicked, “Why? What do you mean? You can’t. Is this because of Lupin?”

“Lupin? No, I’m breaking up with you because you brought another girl to the bloody Valentine’s dance without even informing me then spent the entire dinner flirting her. If you weren’t trying to piss me off, then what the hell did you think you were doing?”

He looked confused, “Without informing you?”

Lily came over then and said, “Hey you two, is everything okay?”

Severus narrowed his eyes at her, “No Lily it isn’t. You told me that my taking Marlene to the ball tonight was Hermione’s idea, but she seems to have been surprised by it.”

Lily gave him her best doe eyes, “What do you mean? It was her idea.”

Hermione sniffed, “I suggested that you and James bring them. I didn’t know Remus was under the impression I would be his date tonight.”

Lily said seriously, “I didn’t think you’d mind, you were the one who suggested it. James didn’t want to split up but it was your idea, so I thought you’d be fine with it, and Sev didn’t mind. He’s always happy to help out his friends and I know you are too, I don’t see what the big deal is.”

Hermione bit her lip, realising she wasn’t sure what to say. Lily had done this well, and unfortunately enough of it was Sev’s fault that she couldn’t blame the other girl entirely. He was such a helpful friend, going along with her plan of course, and it wasn’t Lily’s fault that he hadn’t told Hermione about it. She couldn’t really argue with Lily though, and she also couldn’t excuse him publicly treating her so poorly, especially when she wasn’t sure why he had. It was a bit of a pickle. She’d hoped that Severus would say something, but he didn’t, he just stood there looking stupid, and although she felt disappointed, she found she wasn’t surprised either. She said to them both, “Excuse me, I should return to my date.”

She heard Lily saying softly from behind her as she walked off, “I’m so sorry Sev, I didn’t mean for this to happen.”

Hermione went back inside and found Remus talking to Alfie so she joined them. Alfie prodded her, “Everything okay sis?”

“I just broke up with Snape.”

Alfie put an arm around her, “Sorry sis. He’s being a jerk though; you can do better. You know our father would be happy to introduce you around if you want.”

She sighed, “I know. It’s okay Alfie, don’t worry about it. Let’s just pretend for tonight that everything is okay and I’ll save my crying for tomorrow when I have to wander about Hogsmeade all on my lonesome.”

Remus said softly, “You’d have to put up with Sirius but a group of us are going together if you wanted to join.”

“Thanks Remus, I’ll think about it.”

Severus said from behind her, “Hermione, may I speak to you please?”

She didn’t even turn to look at him, just said, “No.”

He sounded miserable, “I’m sorry, please. I know I messed up, but can we just talk quickly, please?”

She turned to look at him, noting the discomfort in his voice and the desperately pleading tone that had crept in at the end. He looked miserable and his hands were clenching and unclenching at his sides as he waited for her response. He looked like he was on his way to the gallows. She sighed and snapped, “Fine,” then turned and stalked back out into the gardens. She walked further into the gardens than they’d gone before and when she’d reached the end of one of the loops in the hedges, the same one they’d made out in at the Christmas party where they’d gotten a little carried away in fact, she spun to look at him.

He said nothing, she could see from his body language how uncomfortable he was, and she pitied him for it, but she was also just growing annoyed. Finally, she snapped out, “I thought you had something you wanted to say but if you’re just going to stare at me in silence then I think I’ll be going back inside.”

He looked pained but he whispered, “Please?”

“Please what Severus?”

He looked down to whisper at the ground, “Please don’t break up with me.”

“Seriously? How can I not? We bloody well talked about this last week after your stupid drawing session and now you’ve absolutely humiliated me again! There is no way I can’t break up with you for this.”

“No, you can’t. I won’t let you! Our agreement-”

“The fake relationship is conditional on us both pretending, I was perfectly clear about that. You bringing another girl to a dance without even telling me is not keeping up your end of the bargain! I don’t know why you are even asking me this now, surely you realised what it would mean before you did it. The week after you caused a scandal with your daft drawing party you ditch me to go to this stupid dance with them? How did you expect this to turn out?”

He moaned, “I know. Hermione, I know. I was angry and upset, I couldn’t see it, but please there must be a way to fix this. Can’t I fix it?”

“Why? I just don’t understand, if this isn’t what you wanted then why did you go along with it?”

“I’m an idiot. Merlin, I’m always such an idiot, and I can’t do anything right.” He ran his hands through his hair, tugging at the strands, before staggering towards her. He dropped to his knees and wrapped his arms around her, hugging her legs. He said softly, “Please. I can’t say the right things, please just look.” He looked up at her, his black eyes pleading and desperate, and she entered his mind.

He showed her a conversation with Lily where she told him about the switch, saying, “Didn’t Hermione tell you about it? It was her idea.”

Severus winced, “I already told you, she’s not really talking to me much at the moment.”

“I’m so sorry Sev. It’s really not fair of her to be so mad at you, it wasn’t your fault. You should stand up to her more, you know? She’s been flirting with Remus a lot lately. You can’t let her see you looking too desperate though, show her you can have a good time without her and she’ll come crawling back, I bet, and Marlene would love to go with you, she thinks you’re hot now.”

Severus just shrugged, and she could feel his confusion and then anger at her for not telling him. He spent all of their next brewing session waiting for Hermione to tell him that she was going with Lupin but she said nothing, and they spent the whole night angry with each other. He showed her a couple more conversations where Lily sympathised with him but used the conversations to drive more of a wedge into their relationship, telling him how unfair Hermione was being and encouraging him to have fun and ignore her. Then Lily prevaricating when he confronted her tonight, saying she thought Hermione was going with Remus, but it was all a bit confusing about who had spoken to who, insisting she hadn’t meant any harm and was just trying to help.

Hermione pulled out of his mind and sighed. She could feel how upset he was, his feelings of guilt were practically overwhelming, and he was furious with himself for not talking to her directly after Lily had told him about the switch, but as far as she could tell he wasn’t angry at Lily at all. He was blaming himself, and she wanted to tell him it wasn’t really his fault, she could see how well Lily had manipulated him, but she also couldn’t keep doing this with him when he refused to see what was right in front of him. She ran her fingers through his hair softly and said, “Severus I just don’t know what you expect me to do. Honestly, even beyond the obvious I’m angry at you for betraying our friendship like this. I don’t care what Lily said, you shouldn’t have believe her. I would never have agreed to go with Remus without telling you, and the fact that you don’t know that… it hurts. I thought you knew me better than that. I can’t keep doing this thing with you and Lily, it’s painful for me and I hate being made to look so foolish. You can’t ask me to pretend that tonight is okay.”

“Please, I’ll do whatever you want just tell me how to make it better.”

“You don’t even need me anymore! You’re friends with Lily now and you’ve shown everyone you could get a girlfriend if you wanted one. Marlene would probably go out with you again if you wanted. The fact that I’m only breaking up with you because you ditched me to date another girl shows that, and I can’t do anything about the fact that you turn into a lovesick fool every time Lily talks to you. Pretending to be your girlfriend won’t help with that it just makes it worse really since it gives you so many opportunities to show her that you don’t give a shit about me.”

He squeezed her tighter, too tight really, and Hermione tugged on his hair until he relaxed. He set his jaw stubbornly and looked up at her, “No, tell me how to fix it. Whatever it takes and I will do it. You can do anything Hermione, don’t tell me there isn’t a way.”

She sighed, “I don’t know, it would take some kind of grand romantic gesture for an apology I suppose, but even then we’ll just have the same problem again next week. Lily will be pulling at your attention, and you’ll say you’re just be being polite in return, but you’ll continue to choose her over me. You refuse to believe that she’s doing all of this deliberately, even now after she orchestrated all of this, and I can’t continue to deal with that. It isn’t fair to me to ask me to.”

He hesitated, “She didn’t mean it, her advice was bad, but she just doesn’t understand the way things are between us. She’s a nice person though-”

Hermione pulled out of his arms and took a step back. She said firmly, “No, just stop. Do you remember how it felt when you would tell Lily, or the Professors, about the Marauders bullying you and they wouldn’t listen? They’d tell you it was a misunderstanding, or not as bad as you make it out to be, or that it was your fault for escalating it. This is exactly the same. Lily gives me those nasty looks, the little comments that make it clear she is laughing at me, and you don’t believe me. You won’t listen-”

“You’re comparing the way Lily acts to you to the Marauders bullying me for the past six years?”

“No, Sev, I am comparing you to Lily. Sorry that my bullying isn’t severe enough for you to take it seriously but all I’m saying is that I’m sick of you telling me she’s a nice person just because you don’t see it when she rubs it in my face, the same way Lily refused to see their bullying and wouldn’t listen to you. That’s what you are doing to me, and I’ve had enough. You might be willing to let your friends disbelieve and belittle you, but I am not, not even for you. We can tell everyone the breakup was mutual, we’ll remain friends publicly, but I won’t be making nice with Lily anymore and if she pushes for a fight you’ll be forced to pick sides, and I think we both know who you’ll choose.”

He looked troubled, and he opened his mouth to respond but nothing came out. Hermione shook her head sadly, waiting, but he just stared at her, still kneeling on the ground, looking lost. She felt bad but she also wasn’t going to let him treat her this way, so she spun and stalked off, leaving him there.

Hermione worried that she wouldn’t have the chance to lay a trap for Sirius Black now, but news was spreading about their breakup, and he couldn’t resist poking at Severus while he was down. Severus had stayed out in the hedges for a while after Hermione had returned before Lily had gone out to look for him. He came back inside with her, but he immediately left her to seek out Regulus Black and drag him off to one of the corners. Alfie took it upon himself to introduce her to some of the other Hufflepuffs, she still didn’t know a lot of people, and she ended up dancing with a few of his friends. It was awkward, and she knew everyone was taking pity on her for Alfie’s sake, but he at least was trying to be kind, so she tried to have a good time. She did like dancing after all, and her emotions could all be dealt with later.

She’d retreated to have a moment to herself when Severus approached and asked her to dance. She hesitated but he asked, “We’re still friends, aren’t we?”

She accepted and he led her out for the next song. He really was a good dancer, and they settled into the dance comfortably, though they didn’t speak at all. Afterwards he returned her to her empty stretch of wall and then cleared his throat, “Do you want me to remove the Fidelity charm?”

Hermione’s stomach clenched, “No, thank you but I’d rather keep it for now if that’s alright. Oh, unless you wanted to give it to someone else?”

He scoffed and said rather angrily, “Of course I don’t bloody well want to give it to anyone else! I heard Lupin ask you to go to Hogsmeade with him tomorrow and I thought you might want to be free to date him.”

Hermione eyed him, “I don’t know why you would think so seeing as I told you previously that I don’t like him that way. I will let you know if I change my mind, but I don’t currently have any romantic prospects.”

He stepped closer and asked quietly, “If I could prove I don’t like Lily romantically anymore could we get back together?”

“How would you even prove that? It’s-” she cut off awkwardly as she felt her watch buzz and Severus looked behind her.

He sneered, “Can we help you with something, mutt?”

Sirius gave him an oily smile, “I just thought I’d come and offer Hermione congratulations on finally breaking up with you.”

Hermione noticed that a few other people had noticed that the slight stand-off and had edged close enough to overhear so she said, “Sirius just give it a rest. No-one has time to deal with you and your obsession right now.”

“I’m hardly obsessed with you.”

She scoffed, “Not me, your obsession with Severus.”

He laughed, “You’re hilarious.”

She cocked an eyebrow, “Really? You mean to say you haven’t spent the past six years stalking him? You’re constantly staring at him, following him around, interrupting his conversations, hexing him. It’s pathetic and incredibly unhealthy. He just wants you to leave him alone and yet you can’t stay away.”

He said with easy confidence, “You’re ridiculous Granger, I don’t stalk him, we’re enemies. He’s evil and I protect everyone from his dastardly schemes, don’t try to make it sound weird.”

“Right, that’s why you follow us all around the castle to stop us from snogging? I suppose it’s why you decided to strip him naked by the lake, because you ‘hate’ him, and it had nothing to do with wanting to get a look at his bits?” she said, as condescendingly as possible, and complete with dramatic air quotes.

“That’s absurd. You’re deranged Granger. Everyone knows I like women.”

“Not so much lately though, right? Didn’t Elise Hewson tell everyone you were having trouble maintaining your interest recently, another thing you apparently blame Severus for?”

He flushed with anger, “It is his fault! Not like that! He’s done something, a potion or something. I’m not bloody gay, I hate him!”

“Surely you realise it’s not normal to be this fixated on another person. You should get help, honestly, it’s unnatural. Maybe you really do hate him, or maybe you’re overcompensating for something else, but either way you need to just leave him alone. He hasn’t done anything to you-”

Sirius spat, “He kept Peter in a cage for two weeks, he fed him bloody love potions, he’s up to his eyeballs in the Dark Arts. He’s slipping me some kind of potion lately that makes me- Aargh! I don’t have to justify myself, it’s not like anyone is going to believe this anyway.”

“Of course, you’re always defending Peter. You know full well he was creeping about in the girl’s bathroom perving on all of us, why are you so okay with that? Do you turn into a flea or something and sneak in to watch the boys shower? Everyone knows you stripped Severus naked by the lake. Is that why you and Peter were such good friends, did you both bond over your mutual tendencies?”

“That’s bullshit Granger. You’re the only person in the world who could possibly find Snivellus attractive, if there’s something wrong with anyone it’s you. I’m not listening to your crazy ideas anymore, bugger off.” He turned and stalked off angrily.

Hermione watched him go, and then Regulus said thoughtfully, “You know, when we were kids he embarrassed our parents by dressing up in some of Cousin Bella’s old clothes, and our family elf caught him with a Muggle calendar full of pictures of half-naked men.”

Hermione laughed, she had no idea if any of that was true, she wouldn’t put it past Regulus to make up stories about his brother just to piss Sirius off. They seriously hated each other. The crowd eventually dispersed, all going off to discuss whether there was any merit to her accusations.

Severus said quietly, “No-one is going to believe that.”

She nodded, “It doesn’t matter though. The important thing is that they’ll talk about it and he’ll worry that they might believe it. From now on you should call him out, tell him to stop staring at you or point out publicly when he is following you around. Pretend that you believe it, it will drive him nuts.”

He nodded, “Alright. I assume there’s more to this plan?”

“Our breakup is interfering with it, I may have to rethink some things, but I’ll let you know if you can do anything.”

“Can’t we-”

“No. Excuse me.”

She walked off a little way and checked her watch, seeing Sirius make his way out into the gardens with his date. She caught Regulus’ eye and they strolled out into the hedges together. Hermione used her watch to position them close by, and they paused to listen for a while until they heard his date say, “Still having those issues, huh?”

Sirius hissed, “Yes, it’s Snivellus and that Granger girl. I still don’t know how they’re doing it.”

There was silence for a moment and then Sirius said, “Bloody hell, I’m not into him. It’s a spell or a potion or something!”

Bagshot said sympathetically, “Have you gone to see Pomfrey? She can probably help.”

“I have! She couldn’t find anything wrong, and it doesn’t happen every time, and it was really embarrassing to test.”

Hermione made eye contact with Regulus and had to bite her knuckle and look away to stop herself from laughing.

A moment later they heard Bagshot suggest returning to the party and the two of them begin walking. Hermione waited a moment and then said, loudly enough to be overheard, “I can’t believe that worked, your brother must be so embarrassed right now.”

Regulus drawled, “Of course it worked, I told you it would, and Sirius has no idea what we’re planning. Obviously.”

Hermione resisted the urge to laugh, “Right, and we want to keep these rumours alive. I’m going to get him back for that lust potion of it’s the last thing I do. I was thinking, what if we slipped him a love potion?”

“What would that accomplish?”

“We could make him fall in love with Severus and have him confess his feelings in front of the whole school! Wouldn’t that be really embarrassing, especially with all the rumours already flying around about it?”

“You could tell him Sev really enjoys romantic poetry or something and have him reciting sonnets to him between classes. Your eyes are as dark as the abyss, oh how I long for your kiss, that sort of thing.”

“Yes, it’s perfect.”

“Do we have any love potions though? I thought Severus’ whole stock was confiscated after the whole Pettigrew thing.”

Hermione said happily, “That part is easy. Slughorn has a stash of Amortentia in the store cupboard, it lasts ages and I think he just decants it each year for his start of term demonstrations, it would be easy enough to nick a vial. The harder part is slipping it to him, I have my ways of course but I wish I knew how he got me with that lust potion, I still haven’t figured it out.”

“I have another idea, we could also give him some naughty pictures of Severus. Imagine him getting caught with something like that, his reputation would never recover.”

She laughed, “You’re right that would be perfect, I wouldn’t want to be the one to ask Severus to do the art for it though.”

Regulus laughed at the idea of that, but then winked and asked, “Don’t you think he’d give you one if you asked?”

She scolded him lightly, “Enough chit-chat, let’s get back to the party before anyone misses us.”

“Sure, let’s go back. When’s your birthday Granger? I’ll let Sev know what you’d like for a present.”

She blushed and stalked back inside. She noticed Severus scowling at her, and Regulus leaned close to whisper to her, “Looks like someone’s a bit jealous Granger, should I be on the lookout for hexes?”

That made her blush even worse but she said nothing. She couldn’t help but wonder what Severus would say if Regulus did tell him that she wanted a naughty picture, and it amused her for a moment to imagine his reaction, but then she remembered that she was mad at him and that he’d stood her up to go out with Marlene and she felt sad again. She went to find Alfie and told him she’d had enough dancing and was going to head off, then she found Remus to let him know she would go to Hogsmeade with him. He insisted on walking her back to the tower, and she reluctantly agreed. She closed the curtains and silenced her four poster but she wasn’t quite ready for bed yet, so she spent the night working arithmancy problems for their hair colour potion, and though she made a breakthrough she still went to sleep feeling rather unhappy.

Hermione went to Hogsmeade the next day with a large group, all of the people who didn’t have dates for the Valentine’s weekend. That included Sirius, despite the fact his date from Slughorn’s party was with them, along with some of the other fifth and sixth years from all the houses other than Slytherin. They took a large table at The Three Broomsticks and ordered butterbeers. She’d mostly come in the hope she’d be able to needle Sirius some more but he was ignoring her completely and she grew bored quickly. The others decided to play truth or dare and she took that as her cue to leave, letting Remus know she was going to go to the bookstore. She browsed Scrolls and Tomes for a while, picking through their section for second-hand books. She then went and purchased some cat treats for Crookshanks. She was just about to head back to the castle early to spend the day in the library when her watch warmed with a message from Severus asking where she was.

She was curious so sent a response and soon he was strolling up the street towards her. His lips quirked into an uncomfortable smile as he said, “I went to The Three Broomsticks to look for you but I’m relieved you went off on your own. I didn’t really fancy asking you out in front of everyone, but I would have. Will you come to Madam Puddifoot’s with me?”

“You want to go to Madam Puddifoot’s? On a Valentine’s Day Hogsmeade weekend?”

“I decidedly do not, I’m going to take you there anyway though. Romantic gestures and all that rot,” he shrugged awkwardly.

“I know most girls think it’s romantic but it’s not really my cup of tea if you know what I mean?”

He chuckled, “I know, I believe the romance is in humiliating myself enough to beg you to go there with me though.”

“I haven’t heard any begging yet.”

“Must I really beg? Isn’t subjecting myself to petal throwing cupids sufficient?”

She shook her head sadly, “It won’t be sufficient.”

He said more confidently, “I know, I have a plan though, to convince you to get back together.”

She wanted to remind him that he didn’t need her to pretend to be his girlfriend anymore but they had an agreement to act their roles in Hogsmeade completely since their maps didn’t work here. They couldn’t be sure that no-one was following them, although it seemed unlikely as they didn’t have access to their invisibility cloak currently, but still she just said, “Well I can’t miss the opportunity to humiliate you with cupids and rose petals, so lead the way.”

He offered his arm and led her into the tea shop. It was just as ghastly as it would be in twenty years, lace doilies, ostentatious flowery curtains, and cupids throwing rose petals into everyone’s tea. They sat down and she laughed as Severus immediately scowled and began shaking rose petals out of his hair. He smirked at her, “I do hope you appreciate this.”

“I do wonder if it’s worth it for you.”

He looked at her then whispered, “Of course it is, how can you think it wouldn’t be? You’re the most important” -he paused and looked away shyly- “I’m sorry, I promise I will fix this and things will go back to normal between us. That is more important to me than anything, or anyone else.”

She looked at Severus Snape, wearing his casual black clothes, black school robes, and looking rather severe in the girly teashop. He still had pink rose petals in his hair, some of which fell off when he turned his head so that he could speak to the tablecloth rather than to her, and there was a faint pink blush to his cheeks. It was adorable and her heart clenched. She wanted to believe him, but everything was always fine when they were together, it never meant anything when Lily turned up to interfere though. It didn’t matter how cute he was being right now, it would take more than that to forgive him this time, so she just said, “I hope it’s a good plan.”

They finished their tea and he escorted her back up to Hogwarts where they spent the rest of the time until dinner researching wards for their tent project.

The next day they had their usual Monday study group. Hermione had been avoiding Lily and Marlene since the dance and had been toying with the idea of ditching the group but with Severus planning to makeup with her somehow she decided to go. She made sure to get there early so she was the first one in the library and took their usual table. Severus joined her shortly after and was reviewing the latest arithmancy equations she’d worked on for their potions project when Lily and Remus arrived to sit across from them. Lily asked, “I heard you two went to Madam Puddifoot’s yesterday, does that mean you’re back together?”

Severus didn’t look up from the piece of parchment he was currently scrawling notes onto, “Not yet, but that was only the beginning of my plan to woo her back.”

“Oh, well that’s good, I hope it works out.”

She managed to sound genuine, but Hermione didn’t buy it. They worked for a while longer and Hermione was the first to finish the essay they were working on, since she’d started earlier. She got up to go to the bathroom and when she returned found that Lily had taken her seat to sit next to Severus. The other girl didn’t acknowledge her return and made no effort to move. Hermione refused to take Lily’s seat and instead wandered over to the shelves to peruse the books. She was flipping through a Herbology text when Lily asked, “Sev what’s that?”

Severus said gruffly, “Nothing. I think this sentence is redundant, you could remove it and that would leave more space for the conclusion.”

“Don’t be like that, it’s obviously not nothing. I’ve never seen you wear a necklace before.”

He snapped, “Don’t touch that.”

Hermione turned to look to see Lily tugging at a gold chain that was around Severus’ neck with some kind of pendant being pulled up through the top of his robes.

Lily asked, “Ooh it’s pretty, what is that?”

He stood and pushed his chair back from the table. “It’s a Valentine’s gift for Hermione.” He looked at her with a grimace, “It was supposed to be a surprise, sorry, but I suppose you may as well have it now.”

Hermione stared, “What is it?”

He smirked, “Something my little know-it-all doesn’t know about? It’s a moodstone, I’ve spent the past couple of days with it touching my skin to attune it to my emotions, anyone else who touches it now will be able to experience my feelings. Now, even when I’m being a dunderhead, you’ll at least know how I feel about you.”

Hermione reached out a hand in wonder and he placed the stone into her palm, coiling the golden chain over it. It was white and cloudy but had flecks of colour shining through it, as though there were tiny little lights inside it, some a warm orangish yellow, and some a sickly looking green. It felt warm, and when she focused on the warmth of it against her palm she also felt curiosity, and nervousness, which she could only assume were Severus’ emotions. She opened her eyes and grinned at him.

“Is it working?” he asked quietly.

She nodded, and the nervousness turned into embarrassment. She watched as the colours within the stone faded away, the whole thing glowing blush pink instead, perfectly matching Severus’ cheeks. He took a deep breath and the emotions subsided, replaced with affection, curiosity, and hope, the bright blush colour fading to a soft pink, speckled with happy looking yellows and oranges, before it faded to a dull grey, the hope quickly turning to dread. He asked, “Is it enough?”

Hermione smiled, she couldn’t tell if the affection was just that of a friend, or if it was something more, but it was enough. She nodded, still not saying anything just marvelling at the way the stone felt in her hand. It was odd experiencing her own emotions and feeling his as well, she could kind of feel them but it was more like she just knew what the feelings were. They were totally distinct from her own emotions. She couldn’t tell what caused them, and it would be easy to misinterpret, but it was still a window into his feelings.

Lily had gotten up from the table to walk over, “That’s so pretty, can I try?”

The stone felt like annoyance, frustration, and fear. Hermione quickly said, “No, sorry Lily but I’d rather keep it to myself.”

“If Sev doesn’t mind though…”

Hermione asserted, “He does mind.”

She tossed her hair, “We’re friends and I was just curious. I’d love to know what a moodstone feels like, I’ve heard of them before.”

Hermione looked at Severus who said awkwardly, “It was a gift for Hermione, if she doesn’t want to share it…”

She scowled at him and crossed her arms over her chest, she could feel how uncomfortable he was with Lily’s request but he was making out like she was the one who had a problem with it. She stared at him, feeling betrayed, and as he met her eyes the stone flashed black with fear then grew heavy with regret. Severus said more firmly, “It was a gift for Hermione, and I would rather her not share it. If you’re curious ask Potter to give you one, I’m sure he can afford it much more easily than I can.”

Lily looked upset but she nodded and said, “Alright, I get it. I’m sorry for being curious Sev I just wanted to understand you better, we’ve been friends for such a long time but you’re always so closed off. I’ll leave it alone.”

She moped back over to her seat at the table and Severus watched her go, the stone felt exasperated but also dismayed and guilty. He looked indecisive, and before he decided to go after Lily to comfort her Hermione took a leaf out of the other girl’s spellbook and distracted him. She lifted her hair up and turned, asking, “Can you put it on me?”

He neatly unclasped the chain and slid it around her neck, his fingers brushing lightly against the back of her neck as he did it up again. Hermione immediately tucked it inside her robes so that it rested against her skin between her breasts, then spun to wrap her arms around Severus. She felt his surprise, and then his emotions immediately blanked completely, and she giggled realising he was occluding. She gave him a hug anyway and then returned to her seat to read the Herbology text she’d picked up. She didn’t stay for too long though, it was Valentine’s Day tomorrow and although she’d already done most of the preparation for his present, she hadn’t completed it after their falling out. She perked up realising she’d be able to give it to him now after all and decided she would send it to him in the Great Hall at breakfast. It would serve him right to be a bit embarrassed.

The next morning she watched eagerly as three owls from the owlery carried a giant bouquet of dried flowers to the Slytherin table and dumped it on top of Severus’ breakfast. He immediately flushed red and glared in her direction. She could feel his embarrassment, but from his expression she might have expected him to feel angry but he didn’t, he actually felt a bit touched. It was a nice gift really, the flowers all had applications in potions so she’d really just sent him a bunch of ingredients, just bound together nicely in honour of the holiday. She’d bulked it out with cheaper plants, lavender, forget me nots, goldenrod, and rosemary, but she’d also scattered some asphodel, wolfsbane, nightshade, and a few orchids through the arrangement as well. Originally, she’d planned to give it to him with the plants separated but last night she’d stayed up late arranging it into a proper bouquet, tied with a lovely black ribbon. It was a waste of time since he’d now have to separate them again, but she was pleased with the result.

Severus abandoned his breakfast and walked over to the Gryffindor tower, looking silly carrying the flowers. They were all dried so it wasn’t anywhere near as bright as a normal bouquet, but it was still quite colourful. He quirked an eyebrow, “I suppose if I hadn’t given you your gift yesterday, I would have missed out on this.”

Hermione smiled, “I’d have scrambled to have it delivered at dinner.”

“Ahh so there was no avoiding the public delivery then.”

She grinned, “Nope, not a chance.”

Sirius Black laughed, “Your girlfriend bought you flowers? How embarrassing.”

Severus scoffed, “It’s a bouquet of potions ingredients Black, and it’s perfect.” He turned to Hermione, “Will you walk me down to my dorm to put these away before class?”

Chapter Text

On Thursday mornings Hermione had a free period while Severus was in Care of Magical Creatures and she spent this one studying in the library, as per usual. When she made her way down to lunch she noticed Severus wasn’t there and Lily informed her, rather shortly, that he’d been stung by a Scorgull and had to go to the hospital wing. Hermione grabbed a roll and abandoned the great hall so she could go up to check on him. She found him sitting on a bed with his left hand soaking in a bowl of Murtlap essence, his right hand flipping the pages of a book he had floating in front of him.

“You really did get stung then, how did that happen?”

He looked up and she could feel through the moodstone how pleased he was to see her, though it didn’t show on his face. He smiled sheepishly, “I was distracted.”

“By what?”

“Lily…” he hesitated, “She was talking to me on the way to class and she wants me to give McKinnon a big public apology at lunch, I agreed at first but I was rethinking it during class.”

Hermione pursed her lips, “Did you get yourself deliberately stung by a Scorgull just because you’re incapable of saying no to Lily?”

“No,” he said, though not very convincingly. “It’s a stupid idea, isn’t it?”

“Yes, unless you’re planning to spend the rest of your life feigning illness.”

He rolled his eyes, “Obviously, I meant the apology.”

“Probably. Why are you apologising to Marlene?”

“Have you not heard the rumours?” When she shook her head he continued, “You ditched me to go to the ball with Lupin and Lily organised McKinnon as a last minute pity date for me, but I may have been overheard telling Reg, when he asked if I’d stood you up, that talking to McKinnon is about as fun as watching flobberworms mate.”

“Ooh, ouch. Not inaccurate though.”

He grinned.

“Why does this apology need to be public?”

“I insulted her publicly?”

“Do you even want to apologise to her?”

“Not particularly, but Lily feels bad that the whole thing turned into such a mess and apparently McKinnon was really hurt by what I said.”

“So what? You have to humiliate yourself to deserve forgiveness? Lily hasn’t given a toss about any of the rumours about you, half of which she’s directly responsible. She’s the one who organised all the date swaps, so if it’s anyone’s fault it’s hers. If you feel like you owe Marlene an apology then why can’t you give her one in private?”

He looked uncertain, and his free hand twisted the sheets nervously as he spoke, “Lily has said before that if I was really sorry I would own up to it publicly, take responsibility. I thought… Honestly, I was surprised that you forgave me so quickly. I was planning to present my gift and give you a big apology in the great hall on Valentine’s Day, and even that I thought might not be enough.”

Hermione stared at him, her stomach twisting. She remembered watching Professor Snape’s memories and thinking about how sad it was that he’d sat outside Gryffindor Tower desperate to apologise to Lily, she’d thought it extreme, but obviously Lily had previously required him to humble himself to earn her forgiveness. She’d trained him to it, and Hermione briefly wondered if Lily had somehow encouraged James Potters public declarations of his interest in her. She wouldn’t put it past the other girl. She was suddenly thankful that Lily had revealed the moodstone and ruined his plan, Hermione would have hated it if he’d made a huge fuss in front of everyone, even if she was having doubts and thinking she may have forgiven him too quickly. She’d thought his insistence on getting back together meant that he understood her point, that they couldn’t be in a relationship, even a fake one, if he was going to continually choose Lily over her, but they didn’t quite seem to be on the same page. Although, he had stood up to her the other night, at least a tiny bit, and while he’d been rather cowardly today, he’d once again chosen not to do what she’d asked him to. It was progress.

She finally sighed, “Alright, well for future reference anyone requiring you to apologise publicly is demented, and you won’t be doing that anymore. This situation is not your fault, you weren’t actually Marlene’s date and you aren’t even friends with her. You can apologise to her if you want to, but there’s no need to make a big deal about it.”

He looked pensive, “I just don’t like disappointing Lily.”

Hermione said snippily, “Well, maybe we should break up and then you can marry Marlene, whatever it takes to please your precious Lily.”

 She felt a brief spike of panic through the moodstone but he just scowled, “Don’t be ridiculous.”

“You were the one who wanted to continue this, and I thought I made it perfectly clear that you can’t keep choosing Lily over me and expect me to put up with it so you’re going to have to learn to disappoint her, at least some of the time.”

“You’re right, it’s just difficult to say no to her, and I’m afraid of losing her as a friend again.”

“If being her friend requires you to do literally everything she asks of you then is it really worth it?”

“You’re just as bossy as she is,” he mumbled.

“Then break up with me if you don’t like it!”

He scowled, “Stop trying to break up with me.”

“Stop being a shitty boyfriend first.”

“Fine.”

Hermione snorted, “Off to a great start.”

He smiled tentatively, “Sorry.”

“It’s fine, will you be allowed out for Potions?”

“Yes, I have to soak for twenty minutes and then Pomfrey will bandage me up. I’m free to go though I won’t be able to brew today.”

Hermione nodded and sat down to read until he was released. They popped into the kitchens on their way downstairs, grabbing some cookies to snack on in the hallway while they waited for class to start. Severus couldn’t brew his own potion but volunteered to ‘help’ with hers, though his methods were a bit too experimental for her tastes. They were in the midst of arguing about whether or not her potion would be improved by an additional clockwise stir when Sirius Black neatly lobbed a porcupine quill into her potion, causing it to immediately and violently explode.

Luckily Severus had quick reactions as he was used to his own potions being sabotaged, he threw himself at her, knocking her to the ground. She bumped her shoulder rather awkwardly, but was pleased to have avoided being splashed by the corrosive brew. Others around them were not so lucky. Severus quickly rose and began cleaning the potion off with Aguamenti and Hermione moved to assist him, noticing as she did so that the door to the storeroom had opened mysteriously. She could only conclude that Sirius had successfully made use of his distraction and was certain he hadn’t wasted any time putting her love potion plan into motion.

She wasn’t sure who he would target with it. She expected he’d use it against Severus, rather than her, but she wasn’t sure if he’d make Severus fall in love with Lily or with himself. Lily would be more believable, people would be less likely to buy the love potion excuse and it would be embarrassing for bother her and Severus. If he picked himself though he could publicly reject Severus, countering the rumours she’d started. Those had only gotten worse since the ball, Severus was having fun with it, accusing Black of stalking him every time he saw the other boy, and constantly telling him to stop staring. He’d even drawn Black into an argument about it during Defence the day before, Sirius had spluttered that he wasn’t gay and Severus had scolded him, telling him that it would be okay if he was gay, as long as he stopped stalking wizards who told him they weren’t interested in him. Sirius had tied himself in knots trying to insist that he didn’t have any issues with people who were gay, he just wasn’t himself, but Severus had acted mockingly condescending throughout the whole thing and had definitely bested him.

So she knew what potion he’d be using, but not who he’d target, and she was on edge waiting for him to strike. He’d stolen the potion at the earliest opportunity, it had been their first Potions class since she’d let him overhear her and Regulus discussing where the Amortentia was, yet two days passed with nothing occurring. Between her worries she spent the time examining Severus’ gift. The moodstone was interesting, she kept it under her robes where it could touch her skin but she had to actively concentrate to feel anything from it most of the time. It was only when his emotions were particularly strong that she could feel them unbidden. She’d found that out late at night while she was readying for bed when a spike of lust had hit her, followed by a feeling of pleasure and satiation. She realised what it meant immediately and blushed to herself, and the same sort of feelings had struck her at least once per night ever since.

Throughout the day she’d occasionally experience anger, embarrassment, frustration. It was all negative though. He didn’t seem to feel strongly happy very often which made her sad, though his mood was usually pleasant when they were together. She’d quickly noticed that reminding him of the stone embarrassed him, she fiddled with the chain occasionally and it clearly made him uncomfortable. She’d cast some charms on it to make the necklace feel more comfortable, she was sure he hadn’t forgotten about it but as long as she wasn’t throwing it in his face he seemed content to pretend she didn’t have a direct line into his emotions. She’d hoped to find that he did feel some attraction to her but he just didn’t seem to, there was affection and fondness, but she couldn’t tell that he felt anything more than friendship for her.

It confused her, because there had been times when she’d caught him looking at her and had been sure he was interested. It made her realise that she’d actually been quite confident that he liked her, her only worry had been that he liked Lily more. She’d been considering saying something about her own feelings to him for a little while now, but she worried that if she admitted to it he’d go along with it, even if he still had feelings for the other girl. Now she realised her confidence was mistaken; Severus didn’t seem to be attracted to her at all, and if that was the case then there was no hope. She was just pondering this at breakfast on Saturday when the stone on her chest grew suddenly hot, so hot it almost burned her, and she felt overwhelming emotions that were nothing like the usual Severus. There was a strong sense of euphoria and excitement, it was odd for such happy emotions to feel so wrong.

She looked up to see Severus stand from the Slytherin table, though he paused as a large bouquet of red roses suddenly appeared in front of him, obviously delivered by one of the elves with breakfast. He took them up, pausing to read the card that had been delivered with them, then stood and stared straight at Sirius Black, and the intense, overpowering feeling of love was enough to make her feel sick. She looked around then, realising the timing made sense. The next Quidditch match of the season was today, Gryffindor vs Hufflepuff, so everyone was at breakfast. A nice big audience for Severus’ humiliation. Hermione rose quickly and moved to intercept him, grabbing his arm and steering him up towards the head table.

“Let me carry those for you. We really need to go and speak to Professor Slughorn.”

She forcefully steered him along without waiting for an answer, and he feebly objected, “I need to talk to Sirius.”

“Yes, I know, we can do that after, but you should tell Professor Slughorn all about it first. I’m sure he could give you some great advice on how to approach Sirius.”

“I don’t need any advice, I have the flowers and look at this lovely poem.”

She nodded, but they’d reached the high table by then. “Professor Slughorn sir, I’m very sorry to interrupt your breakfast but something has occurred. Severus has been dosed with a potion this morning and is acting very unlike himself, and I suspect Sirius Black is to blame.”

Regulus had followed them from the Slytherin table, obviously having realised what was happening, and Sirius had seen that she was interfering with his plans and had risen as well, with James following behind him. They were all able to hear their conversation, and the teachers were listening intently as well. Professor Slughorn asked kindly, “What seems to be the problem?”

Severus scowled slightly, “Nothing, sir, I was just on my way to speak to Sirius Black and give him these roses.” He’d noticed Sirius standing nearby and went to grab the flowers from Hermione but she pulled away.

She smiled, “I’ll deliver them for you, don’t worry.” She walked over to Sirius and forced the flowers into his arms, “Here, these are from Severus apparently.”

Severus said quickly, “There’s a poem as well.” He cleared his throat and then began, “Your hair is-”

Hermione cast a Silencing charm on him, then smiled when he went for his wand only to notice she’d nicked it earlier. The Headmaster wasn’t at breakfast this morning but Professor McGonagall stood, “Right, all of you with me now. Horace, we shall head to your office.”

Potter objected, “But Professor, the Quidditch match!”

“Then you had better help me resolve this quickly Mr Potter. Come along now.”

The two Professors rose and swiftly left the room. Severus was glaring at Hermione, angry at her betrayal, but Regulus grabbed his arm and led him off telling him stories about his brother. Hermione walked behind the two of them, keeping a buffer of space between them, Black and Potter. Severus kept turning back to check that Sirius was still following him, with a pathetically sappy expression on his face that she hoped never to see again. Professor Slughorn dropped back to walk beside Hermione and asked quietly, “Do you have any idea what love potion he may have been dosed with? There isn’t a universal antidote.”

“It was Amortentia sir, and I suspect it was stolen directly from your storeroom during the potion incident on Thursday.”

He eyed her, then asked quietly, “Did you know this would happen? You seem awfully well prepared for this situation Miss Dagworth-Granger.”

“Yes, sir. I believe we may even find evidence this time which can be used to identify the perpetrator.”

He looked surprised for a moment but then shook his head, “One would think by now I would have learned not to underestimate you. I hope you haven’t gotten yourself into trouble procuring this evidence?”

“No, sir, though Severus may not be entirely pleased with my methods.”

“Ahh, between yourself and Regulus distracting him he hasn’t made a fool of himself at all, I’m sure it will be fine.”

She smiled and nodded. They’d finally reached his office, Professor McGonagall was staring fiercely down the corridor waiting for them to catch up and she did not look happy. They all piled into the room and took seats while Professor Slughorn fetched an antidote for the Amortentia which Severus drank down quickly. Hermione removed her Silencio and then returned his wand to him. She felt his emotions clear, he went from staring at Sirius Black feeling elation, admiration, and attraction, to staring at Sirius Black feeling anger, disgust, and mortification.

Professor Slughorn settled himself into the chair behind his desk letting out a soft sigh, “It seems someone slipped Mr Snape a dosage of Amortentia this morning, directing his affections towards Mr Black. I checked my storeroom while I was fetching the antidote and my entire stock has disappeared.”

Severus looked at Hermione who straightened her spine. She had half expected Professor McGonagall to pre-emptively try to dismiss their complaints but the other woman was just looking at her expectantly. Obviously she wasn’t surprised to learn that Hermione would have set a trap for Sirius Black, or that he would have stupidly fallen into it. She said primly, “Professors, I believe I can prove that Sirius Black was responsible for dosing Severus with Amortentia this morning, and by extension that he stole said potion from Professor Slughorn’s stores on Thursday while the class was distracted by a sabotaged potion. May I call a witness?”

Sirius said quickly, “I did no such thing, you can’t just keep randomly accusing me of things, I have rights.” He sounded worried though.

Professor McGonagall said, “If Miss Granger has evidence to present then it would not be a random accusation. Please go ahead.”

Hermione called, “Pipsy?” When the elf popped in she said, “Thank you for coming Pipsy, could you please bring the rest of E.P.I.C. in?”

Alfie had wanted to give the elves a name, and his elf Lopsy was just as excitable as he was. Together they’d come up with the name of Elvish Potions Investigative Crew for the team of elves. Apparently, Alfie often read Auror Harvey novels with his elf, essentially the wizarding equivalent of Sherlock Holmes, and Lopsy had quickly taken a fancy to the idea of being a detective. He’d taken charge of their investigation and had led their spying activities.

Pipsy bowed, “Yes Mistress.” A moment later three more elves popped into the room. Sirius Black looked nervous, and Hermione grinned at him.

She said, “Lopsy you took point on the investigation, correct? Would you like to present us with an update on the case?”

Lopsy said happily, “Yes miss, Pipsy asked about the kitchens as she’s new and introduced herself to all the other elves. She found that Mr James Potter is served by Mimsy, while Mr Sirius Black is served by Toff. We set a watch on both elves, taking it in turns, and this morning Mr Black came to the kitchens to ask Toff-”

Kreacher interrupted, scowling, “Kreacher overheard it! Kreacher overheard the nasty master asking Toff to put the potion in Mr Snape’s juice.”

Lopsy ignored the interruption, “Yes, Lopsy heard as well. We watched Toff and saw him send the potion to the table. We waited like miss said. Then Gilly swapped the vial-”

“Pipsy helped, she distracted Toff so Gilly could get the vial!”

“Gilly swapped it though, and Toff didn’t see! Gilly helped.”

“Lopsy made the plan, Lopsy is the leader!”

Hermione grinned at the elves, she found it amusing that they would exclaim any credit if they could give it to a wizard but amongst themselves would fight to have their efforts at serving recognised. She said honestly, “You all did really well, I’m very proud of you. You’ve served so well, and Lopsy I will be telling Alfie how well you did when I see him later. You are all the very best of elves. Gilly could you please give that vial to Professor Slughorn? Hopefully there is enough potion for him to test. Oh, and I have something for all of you, look. It’s a badge, not clothes, and it denotes how special you are, see?”

She gave the elves each a nice orange button with E.P.I.C. on it in big white letters. The elves all exclaimed with happiness over the buttons, Pipsy was hesitant, wary that it might be clothes after all, but when Regulus came over to pin one of the buttons on Kreacher’s tea towel, very solemnly as though he was conveying an Order of Merlin, the other elves all happily took one. Professor Slughorn was already examining the potion vial Gilly had presented to him and confirmed it was Amortentia.

All of the scuffling of the elves had given Sirius some time to come up with a strategy though and he said to McGonagall, “Professor this is completely unfair. They’ve come up with this plan and it’s just the word of their elves against mine, they don’t have any proof. Kreacher is my old family’s elf and he hates me! He’d say anything Regulus told him to. I haven’t done anything wrong, they’ve set me up.”

Lopsy shivered, looking as though he wanted to assert himself, but he didn’t.

Professor McGonagall considered, “Miss Granger, I do find it difficult to believe that an elf would deliberately harm a student in the way that you have described. Even personal elves are sworn to protect the students and not to act against them, even for pranks, and they all swear that oath of service when they are first brought to the school.”

Hermione smiled grimly, “May I provide a demonstration of how such a thing might be accomplished?”

Professor Slughorn nodded, looking eager and excited, as though he knew she had something planned and was looking forward to seeing how it would play out, “Please proceed.”

Hermione pulled a vial of potion from her pocket. It was bright red, glittery, and rather violent looking. She turned to the four E.P.I.C. elves and explained to them, “This is a vial of Pepper-Up Potion. The potion is used to treat minor illnesses amongst students such as the common cold and flu, and can also perk someone up when they are tired after a long night with little sleep. It has no harmful side effects, though it does cause steam to pour out of the persons ears. If I told you that my very good friend Gilderoy Lockhart was feeling a little under the weather and asked you to send him a dose of this for his breakfast, would you help me with that?”

Three of the elves looked uncertain but Pipsy immediately squeaked, “Pipsy would be happy to serve miss by helping misses friend.”

Hermione looked to Lopsy who said, “Lopsy doesn’t serve miss but if Master Alfie said it was okay then Lopsy would help the miss.”

Kreacher said, “Master Regulus would never trick Kreacher, he is a good master so Kreacher would, but only if he ordered it.”

Gilly looked doubtfully. “Gilly doesn’t like this. Gilly doesn’t know what to do. Gilly would punish herself.” She began twisting her ears. She obviously knew there was something suspicious going on, but she didn’t know how to express her mistrust or what to do about the request.

Hermione reassured her, “It’s okay Gilly, don’t punish yourself. You’ve done very well, you’ve all done very well.” She turned to the Professors, “Elves have not been trained to handle potions, or requests of this sort at all. Professor Slughorn are you able to identify this potion?”

He nodded sombrely, “It’s Fiery Fungicide, usually applied to plants which have contracted a frost fungus and is certainly not safe for human consumption. If an elf slipped that to a student in place of Pepper-Up we would have a murder on our hands.”

Pipsy began to cry, “Pipsy is a bad elf!”

“Stop, Pipsy. You are a good elf. If I had really asked you to do this I would have been a bad miss. Thank you all for participating in my demonstration. Elves are very vulnerable to manipulation from their human masters. They are all eager to serve and literally compelled against questioning their orders, Gilly is a free elf and she understood there was something improper to my request, but the other three can only trust their Master or Mistress and serve to the best of their abilities. They have not been trained to assess whether potions are harmful or helpful. To be clear, they are intelligent enough to do so but they lack the advantage of education. They also have no way of knowing who I am, and who I am not friends with. I’ve never spoken to Gilderoy Lockhart, yet they didn’t question me wanting to poison him. I would posit to you that Sirius Black has used this to his advantage by misrepresenting-”

“You’re lying, I haven’t done anything!”

McGonagall snapped, “Be silent Black.”

Hermione continued, “You will need to question his elf, but I wish to assert that this isn’t the elf’s fault and they should be discouraged from blaming themselves for it. I believe you will find at a minimum that Toff is responsible for dosing Severus with Amortentia today, and for slipping me that lust potion a few weeks ago. If you have kept incident records of other potions mishaps at meals then you will likely find that Toff can account for many of those as well, and a thorough investigation should be organised, not just of Toff but of all the personal elves. I would also like to file formal charges against Sirius Black for attempted rape.”

Sirius looked pale, “I wasn’t going to rape you. Merlin, it was just a kiss.”

Hermione ignored him and kept her gaze on the Professors. “Now that there is more evidence, I assume the situation will be investigated and that we will be kept informed?”

He said, panicked, “You know I wouldn’t have raped you, Granger! I couldn’t have, even if I wanted to, thanks to that potion you’ve been slipping me. Oh, should we find out how you’ve been doing that?”

McGonagall asked, sounding completely unsympathetic, “What potion is that and why have you not mentioned it before?”

Sirius hesitated, “It’s… well it erm. Gives me problems with my… It stops me from… I can’t have sex! I don’t have any problems when I’m on my own but as soon as I have a partner it just… fails.”

Hermione could feel Severus’ smug satisfaction, he was immensely pleased with Sirius’ discomfort and embarrassment.

Professor McGonagall said uncomfortably, “It sounds like you are experiencing a medical issue. I’d recommend seeing Madam Pomfrey, however we will conduct a full investigation into whether any elves have been drugging students. It is not a possibility that had occurred to me, thank you for bringing it to our attention Miss Granger.”

“If I may, Professor, you might find that Gilly could be of some assistance to you. Most elves are very uncomfortable saying no to orders of any kind, but Gilly is free and you saw she is already much more comfortable expressing her doubts than most elves would be. With some training she could provide assistance and advice to other elves if they receive unusual requests from students. Teaching them to deal with potions is one thing but what about other requests? A clever student could come up with plenty of ways to use the house elves to cause mischief and they should be trained for that potential.”

Gilly beamed, and the other elves looked a confusing mixture between jealous at the praise, and horrified at the reminder of her being a free elf. Free elves were usually shunned, and Gilly hadn’t quite fit in with the other three because of that. Professor McGonagall assessed Gilly, then said, “It is a good idea Miss Granger, I will recommend it to the Headmaster. Black, summon your elf, the rest of you may all wait outside.”

They stepped out into the hall where they found all of the seventh year Slytherin boys waiting for an explanation. Severus and Regulus immediately told them everything, while Potter stood awkwardly nearby shooting occasional glares at the laughing Slytherins. Hermione tried to give as much of the credit for the trap to the boys as possible, but her social capital amongst the Slytherin students was at an all-time high. The Quidditch players were incandescent with rage, all of those who had been on the team the prior year when they’d all begun vomiting on the day of the final and almost had to forfeit the match. Avery, who was the captain this year, declared that as soon as Professor Slughorn emerged he was going to ask him to reopen the investigation of that incident.

Apparently, all of Slytherin no longer ate anything in the Great Hall any later than lunch the day before any significant event, such as exams, Quidditch matches, duelling tournaments, or even Hogsmeade visits. This wasn’t so bad for the wealthier students who had plenty of treats from home or could call on their personal elves to deliver tea and snacks from the kitchens, but for poorer students like Severus… It was awful to think of him stocking up on non-perishable foods that he could store in his trunk just to get him through exams at the end of the year.

Hermione’s hatred for the Marauders just continued to grow. She wondered if this potions scandal would be enough to get Black expelled but she wasn’t sure, and so far she had nothing for Potter. She continued to trade his galleons whenever he refilled his coin purse but it hadn’t resulted in anything yet, and she wasn’t sure if it ever would. The only thing she really had on him was the Animagus thing, but she kept wavering on whether or not she wanted to out Remus as a werewolf. He was definitely complicit in their crimes, and yet she still had a bit of a soft spot for him, and she hated that it would hurt him more than it would hurt the others.

The Professors emerged both looking furious and Black followed behind them, he stepped up to Potter and snarled, “I’m banned from Quidditch!”

Potter looked at McGonagall, “But Professor, the match is today!”

“Then he should have thought of that before breaking school rules. He’s lucky not to be expelled, and he may still be as we investigate these incidents further. Black, report to Filch for your detention, now! I suggest the rest of you make your way down to the pitch if you wish to watch the game, and Potter you had better run if you want to make kick off.”

Hermione wished she could have skipped the game today but she’d promised Alfie she’d attend. At least Hufflepuff would have a much better chance of winning without Black, he was quite a skilled Beater and they weren’t easily replaced. Most teams had a couple of reserves but they usually practiced to replace Chasers, as they were the most likely to be injured during a match. Beaters usually caused injuries, it wasn’t often that they got taken out by a bludger and their position didn’t require much in the way of fancy manoeuvres, yet they had their own particular skill that didn’t translate well to any other Quidditch position, and Sirius Black was particularly talented.

Hermione made her way to the Gryffindor stands and, feeling annoyed that students were required to sit with their own house, made her way to where Lily and Remus had already claimed seats. The players were already in the air when she arrived, and she spotted a 5^th year Gryffindor girl looking particularly awkward with her beaters bat. Lily was practically vibrating with excitement when she sat down, and immediately asked what had happened. Hermione reluctantly explained, noticing with displeasure that Remus didn’t look at all surprised to hear about how Black had been dosing other students with potions. Lily looked horrified, but she didn’t have much to say beyond expressing her dismay at Black’s rule breaking.

They watched as Gryffindor quickly lost the lead to Hufflepuff, who immediately took an offensive approach with the bludgers. The Gryffindor Chasers clearly weren’t used to having to worry so much and struggled to make any plays in between dodging. The few times they did make it to the goal posts Alfie prevented them from scoring. Hufflepuff had taken a 130 point lead against Gryffindors 0 goals when Potter managed to snatch the snitch, winning the match for Gryffindor, by a mere 20 points. Considering they’d been expected to win this game quite handily this was barely a victory for them, and had basically just taken them out of the running for the house cup. Hermione was a little amused to think that this might be the first fact she had verifiably changed from her future, James Potter had won the Quidditch cup for Gryffindor every year he was at Hogwarts, but he was very unlikely to do so now.

Chapter Text

Hermione hung out with the Slytherin’s after the match. She’d slipped her shoes off so she could plonk her feet down onto Severus’ lap, and he’d actually given her a foot rob (through her stockings, but still!). He was taking his role as grovelling boyfriend very seriously, and she sensed only contentment and pride from him when other members of his house noticed them. When Severus had first begun dating her she hadn’t been thought well of. That had changed when she became a Dagworth-Granger, as opposed to an unknown bastard with a crazy Muggle-born for a mother. Now it had shifted again, taking Sirius Black down a notch was a serious accomplishment, and he was generally considered to be an enemy of the entire house. He really persecuted them all quite ruthlessly, although Severus was always his primary target.

Slytherin house had its own internal issues of course, but they all hated the Marauders, and they were starting to take notice of the fact that two of them had been hit. They all seemed convinced that Sirius Black would finally get what was coming to him, and although Hermione wasn’t sure this would be sufficient, it was clearly noticed that they were finally making headway on getting revenge now that she was involved. It was so odd to find herself on the same side as future Death Eaters. She didn’t like Mulciber at all, even though he was nice to her, he was an awful boy, and Rosier was just a petty rich boy, but she found Avery surprisingly tolerable. She didn’t want to feel pleased that they so obviously approved of her now, and she wasn’t sure how to feel about how important that was to Severus.

He really just craved acceptance. He was so used to being derided and hated by everyone that she didn’t normally notice how much it bothered him. It wasn’t as though he could do anything about it, and so he just suppressed his feelings and got on with things, but now that he had some measure of respect from his peers he was revelling in it. She supposed it was why Lily was so good at manipulating him, she knew how to compliment and praise him to make him feel good about himself. It had also made him easy for the Dark Lord to manipulate, and probably for Dumbledore as well. Hermione wasn’t great at that, she usually just made people feel inferior. That was something she’d need to work on, though. She decided to start immediately, by telling him the foot massage felt heavenly. It was true after all, and she enjoyed the triumphant feeling that trickled through the stone as he responded to her words, in addition to his renewed efforts towards her feet.

There was a moment where she felt the stone warm with a hazy feeling of lust and looked up to find a pair of black eyes fixed on her thighs where her skirt had ridden up slightly, though as soon as she looked up he turned away, cheeks splotchy and red with embarrassment, though she no longer felt anything through the stone. It made her wonder how often he was Occluding and hiding things from her, and how genuine what she did feel from him was. It troubled her a little, it felt a bit rude to give her a gift implying he was granting her access to his emotions and then not really following through on it. It’s not like she’d asked for this, it had been his idea, so why give this to her if he didn’t really mean it? She wiggled her toes to let him know to continue with the massage and he smiled sheepishly at her.

She was feeling lovely and relaxed when they went down for dinner to discover that the Gryffindor students were not sharing in her victory. It was to be expected really, the Marauders did tend to lose a lot of points for the house but they weren’t normally brought down from within, and most of them were disappointed at their worsened Quidditch prospects. Not that she really had any friends but they were all ignoring her, and Sirius Black was glaring murderously towards her throughout dinner. She didn’t know how Severus had put up with looks like that for the six years before she turned up. She had faced down Bellatrix Lestrange while being tortured under her wand and yet she was still afraid of an 18-year-old Sirius Black. It didn’t make sense, but she couldn’t help feeling unsettled. She really wished the hat had sorted her somewhere else, and so did everyone else in Gryffindor apparently.

She’d been planning to head up to the tower after dinner but she sought out Severus and headed down to the dungeons instead, complaining grumpily about all of her housemates despising her. He was sympathetic, but still rather gleeful. The Slytherin’s were all still quite pleased with the results, and her being ostracised wasn’t really too concerning to them. She waited until curfew was quite close before she headed back up to the tower, and it wasn’t until her watch buzzed that she realised her mistake. Severus had been a target of the Marauders for so long, and so he never went anywhere on his own, because of course they had the map and were well known for setting ambushes. Hermione hadn’t had to worry about that, they didn’t like her but they weren’t really in the habit of bullying women, too sexist for it, though they called it chivalrous.

She’d grown complacent. She’d shown her hand too much, made herself too much an enemy, and they were hardly just going to sneer at her and not do anything about it. The warning was enough for her to get a Protego out to defend from their first spell but she knew she couldn’t handle this. Severus Snape might be able to duel four versus one but she didn’t have anywhere near his skill. She would struggle against one of them in a real duel without the benefit of surprise. She’d already been hit by a Stinging Jinx by the time she had processed that she had no chance of winning this fight. She used her watch to send a message to Severus, just one word: help.

Hermione woke in the Hospital Wing some time later, feeling awful. Her eyes hurt and her vision was blurry, the skin down her left side felt as though it was on fire, and the bones in her left arm had a splintering pain whenever she shifted. It was unpleasant, and tears sprang to her eyes. She tried to remind herself that the Cruciatus Curse had been considerably more painful and she should be able to just shake this off, but somehow remembering previous pain, even it had been much worse, didn’t make her feel better. She lay in bed feeling miserable but cheered up significantly when Severus entered the room shortly after 6am, he must have gotten up early to be able to visit her first thing.

He asked softly, “Hermione, are you alright?”

He felt agonisingly guilty and she wanted him to feel better so she tried, “Mmm, I’ve had worse. Not as bad as Crucio.”

“What? You’ve had the Cruciatus curse used on you?”

“Oh. Yes, I was tortured a bit during the war, so really this is nothing to worry about.”

“That doesn’t make me feel at all better.”

“It’s okay, it’s not your fault.”

“We should have known they’d go after you! How are you going to get on living in the same bloody tower with them? I don’t know what we’re going to do.”

“Tell me what happened?”

“You were already unconscious when I found you, Regulus was with me. They were searching through your bookbag, they hadn’t found the little beaded bag yet though. I think they were looking for the cloak. There was a bit of a fight, but they managed to sneak off before McGonagall turned up. You looked… Merlin, Hermione you were a mess. You’ve got a broken arm on one side and burns all the way up the other, it was bad.”

“Was Remus there? I couldn’t tell how many there were.”

“I don’t know. It might have just been Black and Potter, they scarpered as soon as I turned up. They have alibis of course, and Regulus and I both lost points for being out after curfew.”

She blinked away tears, “Of course.”

“We should back off, this isn’t worth-”

“Don’t be silly. I’ll be more careful.”

She could feel how guilty he felt, it was almost painful, though from the tone of his voice she would have just thought him angry. “You live with them Hermione, what if they get into your dorm? You’ll never be safe.”

“They won’t get past the Caterwauling charm, they’ve already tried. I didn’t realise they’d still be looking for the cloak. I thought some of my stuff had been moved around the other day, I suppose when they couldn’t get in Potter asked Lily to search my things and when she didn’t find it they saw this as a good chance to search my person and get a bit of revenge. I can’t believe I’ve just been carrying my beaded bag around this whole time. Imagine if they’d looked in it?”

“I don’t want you to get hurt again, nothing is worth this.”

“I’ll be careful. I can look after myself, honestly, I just wasn’t expecting an attack like this from them. As soon as I’m out of here I’ll hide my bag in the room, and I’ll make sure not to get caught out alone in the corridors. I’d love to avoid the other Gryffindors, I don’t really like being stared at, but it will be safer to suffer that. Don’t worry, it will be worth it.”

The pain was bothering her. She realised now that the horrible prickling sensation in her arm was from Skele-Gro, she’d never experienced it before but recognised it from the description in the textbook. Before she could start crying and increase Severus’ guilt she whispered, “Will you tell me a story?”

He said sadly, “I don’t have nice stories, not like you with all your adventures.”

“Make one up then. Or tell me a not nice story. Anything you like.”

“When I was eight, before I met Lily, I attended the nearby primary school. No-one liked me there, but I had too many bouts of accidental magic which kept them from picking on me much, so I was mostly just ignored. That year though I had a new teacher and he hated me, he used to pick on me ruthlessly, and I knew I was going to be late to school and I just couldn’t face it. I returned home but both my parents were out so I was just sitting outside my house, upset. One of my neighbours saw me and was really kind, she took me to her house, made me a chocolate milk, and let me nap under a quilt on her couch. When my parents got home I was afraid I’d get in trouble, but my da wasn’t even mad, and I was so happy.”

She paused, “Is that a real story?”

“Yes, except I was in trouble as soon as the nice lady was gone and da didn’t have to pretend to be pleased to see me anymore. I spent the night in the attic with no dinner, dreaming of chocolate milk.”

“Sometimes I wish I’d travelled back earlier.”

“I don’t, I’m glad you travelled back now. I’m even gladder I’m not twenty years older than you and your teacher.”

“Me too. Professor Snape would never hold my hand and comfort me while I was ill.”

“You probably wouldn’t like it much if he did.”

She giggled, “I can almost imagine him occasionally doing something nice for a student, just to really intimidate them. It would probably be terrifying.”

“I’m glad you’re here Hermione.”

She pouted, “You’re glad I’m half dead in the hospital wing?”

“If you weren’t half dead already, I’d elbow you right now. How about instead of telling you my depressing childhood stories I read to you instead?”

She stared at him for a moment, suddenly enthralled. The idea of Severus reading to her definitely had appeal, but she hesitated for a moment. Could she really force him to read a romance novel to her? He’d agree surely. She happily pulled her battered copy of Sense and Sensibility from the bag and handed it to him. He looked at it and smirked but said nothing, simply sitting back, popping the book open and beginning to read. He looked so sexy in that moment that if she didn’t currently have a broken arm she may have just launched herself at him. Instead, she drifted off listening to his soothing voice.

Hermione spent another night in the hospital wing but was released in time for classes on Monday morning. Her broken arm was completely healed but she still had some burns on her left side, she’d have to return to have the bandages replaced after classes. After her first bandage change she headed to the library where she found Severus and Lily talking quietly together. They stopped as soon as she approached. From Severus she’d been feeling frustration and annoyance, though she grew immensely jealous noticing a tinge of attraction to his emotions as well. As soon as he saw her it all faded away, replaced with guilt and worry.

He helped her into her chair, “I should have escorted you to see Madam Pomfrey, are you alright?”

She sighed, “I’m fine. Where’s Remus?”

Lily shook her head but said nothing. Severus said grumpily, “Black has declared that anyone who talks to you is a traitor to Gryffindor. Remus doesn’t want to hang out with us anymore.”

She blinked, “Oh, of course. Sounds like Remus.”

Lily’s eyes flashed, “Well what did you expect Hermione? You did betray our house. You already lost all those points for us with the Peter thing and now there’s this huge investigation into Sirius over the Quidditch final last year.”

Severus snarled, “I thought you Gryffindors were supposed to care about fairness and justice, but you’re all bark and no bite. Pettigrew deserved worse than he got, and if the Gryffindor Quidditch team can’t win a match without resorting to drugging their opponents, then they deserve to lose. I’m not surprised you want to toss Hermione for being the only true Gryffindor amongst you.”

Hermione felt warmed by his defence of her, and added, “No-one, not even Slytherins, should be afraid to eat in the Great Hall. Do you realise that Severus practically starves himself during exams because he’s afraid your precious Marauders will drug him? Was I supposed to just sit idly by and let them get away with that?”

Lily’s eyes flickered towards Severus for a moment, looking genuinely concerned, before she said, “Sirius says you set a trap for him, that you deliberately goaded him into incriminating himself.”

Hermione rolled her eyes, “I suppose he makes it sound like I forced him to cause an explosion in potions, steal Amortentia from Professor Slughorn, trick a house elf into slipping it to Severus at breakfast, at the same time as anonymously sending him romantic gifts? All of that because I discussed love potions with Regulus and he overheard us, I hate to think what would happen if we’d been talking about poison or something.”

“You did it deliberately though didn’t you? And set a bunch of house elves on him?”

Severus said, annoyed, “So what if she did? He slipped her a lust potion, and it isn’t bloody okay! Would you rather her sit around and wait to see how he’d escalate next? She didn’t force him to do anything, and in fact he could have stopped harassing other students at any point, they all could have, but of course it’s Hermione’s fault that Pettigrew is a creepy little rat, and that Black is an unhinged psychopath.”

Lily said quickly, “I didn’t mean to imply it was your fault Hermione. I’m glad you got Peter expelled, but Sirius is… it’s complicated.”

Severus snarled, “It’s always complicated with him and Potter.”

She shot him a pleading look, “I’m sorry Sev. Don’t be mad at me, please.”

He glared at her but said, “Fine. You aren’t worried about being a traitor?”

She scoffed, “James tried to tell me to stop hanging out with you years ago, as if I’m going to listen to him now.”

No-one mentioned that she had listened to him, for a good portion of time.

After a while Lily added, “Remus isn’t mad at you or anything, I think he agrees that you did the right thing, but we always met up on Mondays because the others had Quidditch practice. Now that Sirius is banned he was pressuring both of us to hang out with him instead.”

“Yes, because Black is so narcissistic he couldn’t possibly spend an entire evening without a loyal sycophant to hang off his every word.”

She grinned, “Pretty much yeah.”

“Your boyfriend and his friends are all awful Lils.”

“James isn’t so bad now, and Remus is always lovely, but I will acknowledge Sirius is a bit rogue.”

They fell into silence then, apart from occasionally discussing their homework assignment, though Hermione could feel that Severus was stewing. They had a moment alone together when Lily wandered off to reshelve some books and she took the opportunity to ask what was bothering him.

“I always thought that if I could just prove that her precious Potter and his friends were up to something then she’d be on my side. It hurts to realise that even now that she knows she still supports them. I mean, Sirius tries to kill me, and nearly rapes you, and she says he’s ‘a bit rogue?’”

“Sometimes people can be very blind to the flaws of a person they wish to think well off,” said Hermione pointedly.

“What about Lupin? I thought you wanted to be friends with him.”

“No, it’s a relief really. I can feel less guilty about exposing him now. It’s hard for me to believe he deserves it, he’s had such a difficult life already and most of it isn’t his fault, but knowing he supports this” -she gestured at her injuries- “it’s enough. I am worried about the impact it will have on werewolf rights though. It troubles me.”

“That’s a manageable problem though. One badly behaved werewolf isn’t representative of the rest of them, isn’t that what you told me?”

Hermione smiled, “Fine. Well, I’m going to write to the Prophet tomorrow. I figure the Easter break will be a good time for me to meet with a reporter now that I have a home to go to.”

“I can’t believe you’re going to be gone for a whole two weeks. I won’t know what to do with myself without you here to remind to brush my teeth, and to eat my vegetables.”

“I’ll remind you via letters, don’t worry.”

Sirius Black was not expelled. She had a meeting with Professor McGonagall where she was told that extenuating circumstances were taken into consideration and he’d been given a suspension, the Quidditch ban was upheld, and he would have several more detentions with Filch when he returned after the Easter break. Apparently he had been able to prove that he had no intent to rape her, the love potion was just a bit of a prank, and he had an alibi for her attacker. Hermione could tell that Professor McGonagall was not pleased by the way her eyes and lips tightened whenever she said the words, ‘The Headmaster recommended’ and she just nodded and thanked her for the information. A Hermione who wasn’t already plotting her own revenge would have been outraged by the situation, she was rather indifferent. The unfairness of it rankled a bit, as she was sure Severus would have been expelled for any one of those potions incidents, but Sirius could get away with all of them, but it wouldn’t really matter whether he was expelled now or later.

The next three weeks passed without incident. She remained a pariah but she returned to spending all her time with the Slytherins, now that Black was suspended she wasn’t too paranoid about being attacked, though she did make sure to check the map more carefully before travelling alone. The Slytherins were outraged about Blacks non-punishment. Professor Slughorn had given them much more unofficial updates about the situation, relaying that Sirius’ house elf wasn’t exactly great at describing what potion he had been given or when, so they were having trouble tracing most of the incidents. Whether he was genuinely unintelligent or just loyal to Sirius was anyone’s guess.

They had him for the love potion he’d given Severus, the lust potion for her, and the potion that had half the Slytherin Quidditch team throwing up on the morning of their final match previous year but couldn’t pin him for much more. Apparently, the poor house elf had heard about the students getting sick and been in quite the tizzy about it and Black had been forced to admit to his elf that he’d made a mistake with the potion. He’d assured the elf that no harm would come to the students and convinced him not to tell anyone about the incident, but it sounded like he’d backed off a bit on using his elf to dose people with potions after that. Most of the incidents had happened the year prior and it was now too late for anyone to clearly recall the details.

On Friday the 17^th of March she gave Severus a big hug in the Entrance Hall before being dragged off to the carriages by Alfie to head to her new parents’ house for the holidays. She found herself feeling quite nervous, but it was a long train ride. Alfie and his friends were noisy but she didn’t mind, they were happy to let her read in the corner while they played exploding snap and traded chocolate frog cards after the trolley had come around. She prodded at Severus’ feelings wondering if the moodstone would still work over a distance and was pleased to find it as strong as ever. He felt sad, lonely, and wistful, which pleased her. She could only conclude that he missed her.

Edgar and Louisa met them at the Station to escort them to an enchanted limousine which would drive them to their estate. During the drive she was encouraged to tell them all about the incident with Peter Pettigrew, and about Sirius Black. They’d heard about it all from their letters of course, but she gave a more detailed account of everything. The holiday was busy. She had plenty to do studying for her N.E.W.T.s of course, the teachers had sent a lot of work for them to do over the holidays, but the Dagworth-Granger’s were also keeping their social calendar busy.

They spent a fun day early in the holiday visiting a chocolatier in Carkitt Market who taught them how to transfigure chocolate. It was the same theory as chocolate frogs, that was the only animal the manufactures found easy enough to create that it could be done in bulk but specialised chocolatiers could create all kinds of things. Any animal you could think of, and many you couldn’t. They also created people as wedding cake toppers which could be imbued with particular gestures to resemble the bride and groom. It was fascinating to watch and they got to try it out. Hermione created an otter which she charmed to use its paws to smooth its whiskers back. It was quite adorable. She helped Alfie with his Cerberus, he wanted to have the heads attack each other but they kept taking chunks out of each other’s faces before he could finish.

She wasn’t sure how she felt about the idea of putting so much effort into something that was just going to be eaten, but Alfie had no such compunction. He waited until they could show his parents and as soon as he’d received sufficient praise on his creation he bit one of the heads off. Hermione was given a box to take her otter home, she’d already decided to send it to Severus for easter. She also purchased some extra chocolate that she could turn into small rabbits to send to Lily, Marlene, and Remus. She’d continue to pretend they were her friends for the moment, and the chocolate wasn’t very expensive.

She wrote to Severus almost every day, even if it was just a short letter to tell him nothing interesting was happening. She could feel that he was lonely, but around the time that owl post would be delivered in the morning she’d feel joy from him and attributed it to receiving her letters. They also used their watches to communicate occasionally, they weren’t sufficient for a real conversation just very short messages, but it was still nice to keep in touch. She’d send him little reminders like ‘brush teeth’, ‘broccoli’, and a ‘cheer up’ when he felt particularly down one day.

She’d visited the Daily Prophet offices at the beginning of her holiday which was how she found herself waiting in a small café on Thursday morning watching with alarm as a much younger Rita Skeeter approached her table. Hermione almost blanched when she saw the woman. Was she really going to use Rita Skeeter to try to get Sirius and James into trouble for being unregistered animagi? She had no idea when Rita had become a beetle, she wondered if she already was one or not. Rita settled in front of her, snapping her bag open to pull out a piece of parchment and a quill.

“Miss Dagworth-Granger, Rita Skeeter of the Daily Prophet. You have a story for me?”

Hermione hesitated, “I didn’t give my name.”

Rita laughed, “You didn’t need to, I looked into that little mess with Peter Pettigrew’s expulsion. You seem to prefer to handle things on your own so I wonder what kind of story you have for me, hmmm? You said it was a safety scandal at Hogwarts? If you’re hoping to get Sirius Black into more trouble over this nasty business with the potions I’m afraid I can’t help you, we’ve already looked into it.”

There was something in the way she mentioned Sirius… “Are you acquainted with Sirius Black Miss Skeeter?”

The other woman gave her a sharp grin, “You could say that, he dated my younger sister. Broke the poor girl’s heart. Tell me what you have for me.”

“Before we start, I have some conditions. If I give you this story, anonymously of course, I will want your assurance that you’ll protect my identity and won’t indicate I’m involved. People will be suspicious of course, but you can take full credit for investigating, you needn’t even mention an anonymous source at all. Additionally, I want to know if you will have full control over the article?”

She scoffed, “I know how to protect my sources Miss Dagworth-Granger, and yes, I have final say over edits. Why do you ask?”

“This scandal involves a marginalised group and could be used to villainise them for the poor actions of one individual, I wish to ensure that won’t happen. I would like your promise that the article will criticise the administration of Hogwarts for insufficient safety measures, denounce the individuals involved, but won’t revile the group.”

Rita looked interested, but she took her time considering, “I can agree to that. If we have the school administration to criticise, I’m sure I can focus on that.” Her grin turned rather sharklike, “Tell me.”

“There is a student currently enrolled at Hogwarts who is afflicted with Lycanthropy. He was bitten as a child before his first year and Headmaster Dumbledore has taken special measures to allow him a place at Hogwarts despite his condition. He is taken to the Shrieking Shack each full moon and then sequestered in the Hospital Wing for a few days after his transformation to recover.”

Rita tapped her quill, “Unless he’s attacked anyone… Have the safety measures failed?”

Hermione smiled, “No attacks, but there was a close call. The student in question is Remus Lupin, one of the seventh year Gryffindor boys, friend of James Potter, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew. Two years ago Sirius Black deliberately tricked another student into investigating the shack during a full moon, telling him how to get past the tree that guards the secret entrance, and the student was only pulled out of the tunnel at the last possible moment. It was deemed a prank and the student forbidden from speaking of the incident and no further safety measures were put in place.”

“If the student can’t speak of it though… I can report on an anonymous source but not if it’s hearsay.”

“There’s more. Peter Pettigrew was not the only unregistered animagus running around Gryffindor tower.”

Rita’s eyes widened in surprise, but she quickly schooled her features, yet Hermione thought she caught a hint of panic. She was almost certain Rita could already turn into a beetle.

Hermione smiled and continued her story, “When his friends found out that Remus Lupin was a werewolf they came up with the idea of all becoming animagi so that they would be able to spend time with him during the full moon. I thought that exposing Peter would convince the other two to register, I haven’t checked but I don’t believe they have. The part that is worrying though is that Peter is still sneaking into the school on full moon nights so that he and his friends can take their pet werewolf out of the shack and run around the school grounds, and even through Hogsmeade with him. They don’t seem at all concerned about the risk that Remus could kill or infect anyone who might happen to be out and about.”

Rita tapped, “This boy Remus was admitted to Hogwarts despite his condition and instead of staying locked up for others protection he’s running around with his friends risking everyone’s safety? And they’ve been doing this for some time without Dumbledore even noticing?”

“Yes, exactly. A clever reporter might find a way to observe the whomping willow for the next full moon to see what they are up to, and two full moons would give you the time to prove it’s a recurring behaviour and that they have no intent to register, while you work to ‘investigate’ the identities of all of the students.”

Rita gave her an approving look, “Is there anything else I can do for you?”

“I was hoping the article could come out before June. That would be enough time for you to witness their behaviour for two months, but I’d like to see them all expelled before the end of term so we can’t wait too long.”

“How do you know about this Miss Dagworth-Granger?”

Hermione smiled, and lied easily, “I found out about Peter accidentally, but I was suspicious. He’s the worst of them at Transfiguration so it didn’t make sense to me that he was secretly an animagus. I watched them after that, I figured out that Remus is a werewolf as he always gets sick around the full moon, and while I was spying on them I found they’d created a map of the castle. It shows people’s locations on it. I managed to duplicate their work and so I watched them sneak about on a full moon. I haven’t seen them with my own eyes but it’s clear to me what they are up to. Speaking of which, you should stay outside the grounds until they’ve all transformed to prevent them noticing your presence on the map.”

Rita tapped her fingers again, “Do you have a way for me to see with any degree of detail from so far away, little miss genius? A scrying spell won’t work on Hogwarts grounds.”

Hermione smiled, “Of course Rita. You can borrow my binoculars; I’ll want them back though.”

Hermione had stripped her Omnioculars down to learn as many of the spells as possible until she could replicate them herself. Severus was brilliant at separating and figuring out the spells and together they’d made a set of binoculars with the zoom function and the ability to rewind and slow down time, but without any of the Quidditch information.

She showed Rita how it worked, and the woman’s eyes gleamed with excitement, “Can I buy these from you?”

Hermione blinked, “How much would you offer for them?”

“5 galleons.”

That was a decent price. Harry had bought them for 10 but there’d been a lot of price gouging at the world cup and those had more spells on them.

“I haven’t patented the spells. I would have to trust that you wouldn’t share them with anyone else in exchange for exclusive access unless and until I decide to sell them. If you promise, then you can have them for 4.”

“Done. I like you little miss genius, I’ll look into this werewolf business for you, and you let me know if you have any more juicy stories for me, or any more products like this.”

Hermione agreed. She wasn’t sure how she felt about Rita Skeeter, the woman was a gossipy menace, but it was probably worthwhile keeping on her good side.  

Early in the first week of the holidays they were sitting down to breakfast when Edgar received a note. He read it over twice before saying, “We’ve received an invitation from Septimius Prince for tea.”

Louisa looked surprised, “Septimius Prince? Why on earth is he inviting us to tea?”

“I expect he wishes to meet Hermione.”

Louisa looked at her, “Oh because of that Snape boy. Of course. Is he formally courting you now dear?”

Hermione winced, “We haven’t discussed it. We were already dating before I became someone who might require formal courting.”

“That won’t do.”

Edgar nodded, “I hope you realise that if he does become my apprentice I won’t be suffering him dancing around it like this, he’ll either court you properly or he’ll be up to his elbows scrubbing cauldrons.”

Hermione laughed, “I’ll let him know. I take it an invitation from Septimius Prince is unusual?”

Edgar nodded, “He’s a bit reclusive. There isn’t anything improper in it, we do know the man of course, everyone does. He did my great aunt’s portrait a few years ago. Mister Snape is estranged, is he not?”

“Yes, Eileen Prince was disowned for marrying a Muggle. Lord Prince did invite Severus to visit him during the Christmas holiday’s but there was no mention of anything further on either side as far as I’m aware.”

Louisa helped her dress for tea. She got along a lot better with the other woman now that she allowed her to dress her like a doll. Louisa had mentioned that she’d always wished they’d had a daughter, and she seemed to enjoy picking out robes for Hermione and telling Pipsy what to do about her hair and makeup. Hermione felt uncomfortable, she didn’t enjoy letting other people do things for her, but she forced herself to submit and found it worthwhile since it pleased the other woman. She was quite done up for tea with Septimius in burnt orange robes with flowery embroidery all over them. She thought she looked rather like a carpet, but knew better than to say so.

Prince Manor was forbidding but looked rather run down. A house elf showed them to a dining room where they found Septimius Prince already seated. They exchanged polite small talk for a while before Septimius turned to her, “Miss Dagworth-Granger, I’ve heard you have some involvement with my great grandson Mr Snape, is my information correct?”

She nodded, “It is sir. You might say he is my boyfriend. We’ve been dating for about five months.”

He narrowed his eyes and asked suspiciously, “Why?”

She laughed, but he didn’t appear to be making a joke. “Well, we like each other sir.”

“He doesn’t have much to recommend him, ugly little runty thing that he is, ill mannered, and poor. I also heard he was messing around on you with some other girl. Why would you waste your time? Surely your parents can’t approve?”

Hermione scowled at him, “He has plenty to recommend him, and I don’t see what business it is of yours. He wasn’t messing around with another girl, that was a misunderstanding and that’s all I have to say on the matter.”

He chuckled, “You really like him then girl? He was quite rude when I had him over for tea.”

“Well, if you spoke to him like that, I hardly see how you thought he might be polite.”

He smiled, “I’m still considering reconciling with the boy, tell me what you see in him would you?”

She crossed her arms over her chest, “He’s extremely intelligent and driven academically. I enjoy studying with him as he is willing to learn and not afraid of hard work. He’s brilliant at Potions which is an interest of mine, though I don’t possess his natural inclination towards experimentation. We make a great team because I’m very logical and structured while he is a bit more creative and inventive. He’s funny, in a witty, biting way, and he’s a good person. He has a very strong moral code that he won’t break for anything, even though he can be a bit odd about it sometimes. I like that he’s very straightforward, he isn’t always polite or charming but if he says something he means it. He’s honest to a fault sometimes. All of that is more important to me than whatever most people have to recommend them.”

Edgar said fondly, “Our Hermione’s an odd duck.”

Alfie said, “I like Snape too. He’s funny, and he’s a good Potions tutor.”

Louisa sniffed, “Didn’t he call you a dunderhead?”

Alfie grinned, “Only because I was trying to blow myself up.”

Septimius turned to Edgar, “And you won’t mind letting your little girl marry him, despite the lack of fortune and family?”

Edgar chuckled, “I don’t let Hermione do anything, she’s a thoroughly modern witch. If she’s got it into her head to marry Snape there’ll be no talking her out of it, and she has her own plans for him. I think she considers him a sort of long-term investment.”

Septimius turned to Hermione, “What plans do you have for my great grandson then?”

Hermione sniffed, “He’s a person, not a prospectus. We do have some plans together. Severus is hoping to complete a Potions Mastery once he finishes at Hogwarts. Edgar is probably going to offer to take him on, and we already have a few ideas for new potions. Then we might open our own Apothecary or just start our own potions brewery, we haven’t decided which yet, and we’ll continue research and development for our own line of potions, eventually branching out into other products. The plans aren’t finalised yet, his mastery will take two years though, so we have some time to figure out the details.”

“And what do you plan to do during those two years?”

“I’m keeping my options open, either a Charms or an Arithmancy Mastery but ultimately I’d like to do both.”

“Two masteries? Very ambitious. How is it you weren’t sorted Slytherin?”

She smiled, “Slytherin’s are rather looked down on in the current political climate. Sorting Gryffindor is a real Slytherin move.”

He barked out a laugh and then coughed. “Well, I’m glad someone is taking an interest in the boy, his mother certainly hasn’t done much for him.”

Hermione said sharply, “His mother can barely look after herself. If only he had some other family who could have stepped in to help him.”

Septimius eyed her, “Eileen made her own bed girl, running off with a Muggle.” He then added in a more friendly tone, “It seems you share my grandson’s proclivity towards rudeness, aren’t you concerned about embarrassing your new family?”

Hermione smiled, “They know what I’m like by now. If they minded my offending you they wouldn’t have allowed me to visit so I’m afraid to say they must not be very fond of you sir.”

He laughed, “Strange, if you’d spoken like that back in my day they’d certainly have hidden you away on some distant estate.”

Louisa said critically, “Hermione may do whatever she likes. If it weren’t for her Edgar would still be dying of Dragon Pox, we’re grateful she wants to be part of our family.”

Hermione beamed at the other woman who smiled back at her. The conversation turned to the progress of their potion, and soon after that tea was over and they returned home.

Chapter Text

When Hermione stepped out of her Thestral drawn carriage she found herself immediately pulled into a hug, Severus wrapping his long arms around her and saying quietly, “I missed you.”

She hugged him back, surprised but grateful, and they clung to each other for a long moment.

Alfie complained, “Stop hugging, I’m hungry.”

“You can’t be, I just watched you eat an army of chocolate frogs.”

He grinned, “Come on you can snog tall, dark and snarky later, when we aren’t blocking the carriages.”

“Yes,” said Sirius Black from nearby, “Do find somewhere out of the way to grease yourself up Granger, you’re making us lose our appetites.”

Severus looked up and smirked, “Not even back at the castle five minutes and you already can’t stay away from me.”

“Not that garbage again Snivellus, get a new joke and stop going on about that one.”

“Stop stalking me and get a new obsession. You really are like a dog with a bone.”

A few people snickered.

Sirius narrowed his eyes but before he could say anything Filch scolded him, “Out of the way you lot, can’t you all see you’re blocking the road?”

She split off from Alfie and Severus, the three of them parting ways to go to their respective house tables, Hermione lamenting no longer having any friends in her house. Black settled down nearby to glare at her disdainfully, but she only ignored him and let Lily tell her all about her sister Petunia’s wedding, how tacky it had been, and how awful her new brother-in-law was.

She was surprised at how quickly things seemed to go back to exactly how they’d been before the holidays. Remus rejoined their Monday night study sessions, reluctantly explaining that Sirius was contesting his Quidditch ban, hoping it would be lifted before the final, and so was continuing to attend practice. Lily had eased off a bit with her attempts to manipulate Severus, and so things were about as comfortable as they could be. Hermione found herself providing study timetables for people who actually appreciated them for a change, and Severus even kissed her on the cheek in thanks.

He was still being very attentive towards her, and if his feelings weren’t always completely platonic she would have thought he considered himself her actual boyfriend. He kept doing and saying nice things to her, which wasn’t abnormal, but he sometimes did them in more subtle ways, which was confusing. They were used to putting their fake relationship on display, but normally when other people couldn’t see or hear them they were careful to just be friends.

The last time they’d gotten at all carried away snogging had been in Slughorn’s hedges at the Christmas party, they’d snuck off together a few times since then but things had been odd between them. Severus had been very careful not to push things, only doing the bare minimum, and then Black had been suspended so they’d stopped. After he’d given her the moodstone, she’d been curious to know what his emotions would be like but they hadn’t kissed since, she hadn’t initiated anything and neither had he.  

She tried not to worry about it and instead focused on preparing for her N.E.W.T.s, and before she knew it two weeks had passed and she was settling in to watch Slytherin play Hufflepuff, her boyfriend against her brother. She still found it odd seeing Severus in Quidditch robes, remembering her stern Professor and thinking this had once been him. He was just a boy who wanted to be popular and good at sports. He was a decent player, though he wasn’t as naturally talented as James or Sirius, and Hermione knew he was jealous of their skill.

It was a close game, and she knew Alfie would be pleased at how many goals he blocked. She wondered if it would make things tense between them. Severus had managed to get one shot past her brother, but two others he’d made had been successfully blocked. Hufflepuff took a lead on goals but Regulus got the snitch before they could get too far ahead, winning the match for Slytherin 210 to 120. She consoled Alfie for his team’s loss and then accompanied Severus down to the dungeons for the victory party, watching him soak up congratulations from his other housemates and bask in their success.

The next day was Hogsmeade, Hermione had been planning to skip it so she could study but earlier in the week Severus had received a note from Septimius Prince requesting a meeting in the village so she decided to accompany him. Severus made his way to a private room at the Three Broomsticks while Hermione settled into a booth with Lily, Marlene, Remus, and James, since Sirius was banned from visiting the village. They still hadn’t given them their cloak back so she doubted he’d try sneaking down. They were all having butterbeers when Severus joined them, scowling at the world in general and barely even seeming to notice Potters presence. He was getting awfully used to hanging out with Gryffindor’s lately.

Lily noticed his mood and asked, “Merlin, what’s wrong Sev? Did the meeting not go well?”

Severus blinked, “It… no, I don’t know. He wanted to discuss the possibility of a formal reconciliation and naming me the Prince heir.”

Lily gasped, “That’s great news though, congratulations.”

“He has conditions. A lot of conditions.” Severus grimaced, “He’ll only consider it if I begin formally courting Hermione.”

Lily blinked, then smirked slightly before returning to a sympathetic expression and saying, “And you don’t want to be forced to marry her?”

Severus looked up then realised what he’d said. He paled, “Merlin, that’s not what I meant.” He floundered, looking for some way to explain himself, “I shouldn’t have said anything. I was just so surprised, he doesn’t even like me he just wants Hermione to join the family.”

Lily’s eyes narrowed, “Really? Why?”

Remus smiled, “Everyone wants to adopt Hermione lately.”

Hermione shook her head, “I’m bewildered. I didn’t think my tea with him went that well, if anything I thought I’d insulted him.”

Severus looked bemused, “Do you remember Auror Robards? He investigated the incident with Pettigrew. It turns out that Robards is courting Lyra Black who is somehow a cousin of mine, and she’s training to be a healer. She was visiting Prince Manor to care for my Great Grandfather during a recent bout of Pixie Pox. She introduced them and Robards told Lord Prince all about me, and about you, and everything that happened. Septimius is worried about the Prince legacy, he said he was impressed by your gumption, and he thinks you could improve the family name.”

“Oh, so he just wants me to keep bossing you around then?”

Severus chuckled, “Yes exactly.”

Lily asked, “So that’s it, you two are just going to get married so you can inherit?”

Severus flushed bright red, and the moodstone grew hot with his embarrassment. Hermione squirmed uncomfortably but she wasn’t sure what to say, it wasn’t like he’d really proposed to her.

After a moment of awkward silence he said, “I’m hardly going to propose in Hogsmeade, Hermione would hex me, and she’d hex Septimius Prince for some of his suggestions as well so it’s a moot point anyway, we won’t be reconciling if he insists on turning her into a broodmare. I told him she’d never agree to what he wanted, not even for all the gold in Gringotts, and he said he’d give me some time to rethink my attitude.”

Marlene said quietly, “Some of the old pureblood families can be really sexist, it does seem strange that he’d be trying to convince you to marry into the family at the same time as he’s looking down on you for being a girl though.”

Hermione nodded and gratefully took the opportunity to direct the conversation in a more general direction, “Does he not realise we’re only eighteen?” Well, Severus was eighteen, and she was pretending to be, though she was probably actually closer to twenty. She continued, “Why does everyone want us to get married so fast? Even Edgar was threatening to make Sev scrub cauldrons next year if he doesn’t start courting me properly.”

Lily said snippily, “You joined a pureblood family, I would have thought you’d do some research to find out what you’re getting yourself into first.”

Hermione frowned, “I mean, I know most witches and wizards marry really quickly, I just don’t know why. It seems counterproductive, we live such long lives, you’d think we’d take a bit more time choosing a partner we’re going to be stuck with for such a long time.”

Marlene said, “I forget you were raised in the Muggle world for so long. It’s because you have to start trying to produce an heir straight away, it can take years to have a baby. It’s easier for Muggles, isn’t it?”

“People are just getting married early because of the low birth rates for wizards?”

“Yeah, not everyone marries right out of school, most of us will court and make matches in the next couple of years. You can finish your education first if you’re doing an apprenticeship or something, but you don’t want to wait too long or everyone good will be off the market already. If you’re already steadily dating someone, like you and Sev, or Lil and James, then people assume you’ll marry pretty quickly,” she shrugged.

Hermione stared at her, realising she had known that, she just hadn’t put it together. It had been less common for people to marry so quickly in her time but that was because the low birth rates were better understood, and she couldn’t help saying absently, “That’s silly though, the low birth rates are the result of inbreeding so Sev and I, and even Lily and James won’t have to worry about that.”

Potter asked, “What do you mean by that?”

“Inbreeding causes a higher incidence of miscarriages, stillbirths, and squib births amongst the wizarding population.”

“Assuming that’s true, how would you know?”

Hermione hesitated a moment, caught, and cursing herself for it. She tried to think back to which bits of research were and weren’t already published at this time, attempting to dig herself out, “It’s just a theory of course, but you know that after Nott published his Pureblood Directory he was supported by Barnabas Burke who came out with his little paper about how wizards are superior to Muggles because we don’t have any genetic conditions? As ridiculous as it is to imply that health is an indicator of moral superiority, his data was explored further and shows that magic can heal genetic conditions. We already had some idea of that, of course, we know it heals common illnesses, and there’s the famous case of Pontius Peverell, the only known wizard to become a Squib as an adult. He contracted syphilis, tuberculosis, and the bubonic plague all at once. His magic healed him, but it never recovered.”

Lily frowned, “So you think Squibs are children who had genetic conditions and they used up all their magic healing themselves?”

“Muggles have a very good understanding of genetics and for them it’s well known that inbreeding results in a lot of health issues. We have generations of wizards who have been refusing to add anything new to their gene pools, I would speculate that all pureblood wizards began life with at least some genetic issues, they just don’t know it because their magic healed them in the womb. Some exhausted their magic doing so, becoming Squibs, while for others their magic was unable to heal them sufficiently, hence the issues conceiving or bringing a baby to term. Anyway, if my theory is correct then you won’t have any issues because you’re Muggle-born, and Severus and I are both half-bloods. It won’t change the cultural expectations though, I suppose.”

Hermione sat back while they all began discussing anecdotal evidence that either supported or disproved her theory, occasionally adding to the conversation, but she was distracted by Severus. He was very quiet, and when she prodded at his emotions he felt very conflicted. He didn’t seem to be paying much attention to the discussion, and she thought he was still thinking about Lord Prince. He was annoyed, a little worried, but with a slight sense of longing. She was curious, so she nudged him and proposed a walk around the village. A few minutes later he was taking her hand and leading her off to wander up the high street towards the Shrieking Shack.

She gave into her curiosity to ask, “What did Lord Prince want? Does he actually want you to marry me?”

Severus smirked, “I think he’d offer for you himself if he thought you’d say yes. He’s positively smitten with you.”

“How strange! Really?”

“He said you remind him of his wife, he told me she was a bossy little thing as well but that it’s nice to have a woman like that around if she has your best interests at heart.”

“What was the problem then?”

Severus sighed, “He said he’d name me as his heir as soon as we have a formal betrothal contract in place, that we’d both have to take his name, and produce a male heir to carry the Prince name. It would be a standard contract he said, which means excluding any fertility issues you’d be expected to bear as many children as required until we had a son. I told him you’d never agree to that and he waved it off, apparently if we have too many girls we can just terminate any extras before the pregnancy gets too far along.”

Hermione gasped, “No, he didn’t! Well at least you know me well enough to tell him to shove that idea.”

Severus chuckled, “Indeed.”

She could tell he felt rather wistful though. “You want to reconcile with him though, don’t you?”

He sighed, “It’s stupid I know. The Prince family isn’t even very wealthy anymore, they were in decline before he even took over. His father only passed away recently, Domician was the one who disowned my mother, and he lost most of their fortune. The Prince name is still respected, I think Septimius might be the last remaining wizard in Britain capable of painting magical portraits, but he’s not particularly powerful or influential. I shouldn’t care about any of it, and yet I stupidly can’t help wishing-” He dropped her hand and walked ahead, kicking at a rock that was lying on the path and sending it flying off into the underbrush.

Hermione smiled, “You’ve spent six years at Hogwarts having other students sneer at you because you have a Muggle surname, and no money, and even though it shouldn’t matter, and getting those things now won’t really make it better, you still want it.”

He turned back to look at her, his expression inscrutable, but she could feel how embarrassed and insecure he felt. His expression softened though, and his emotions were replaced with a strong feeling of fondness.

“You know me so well. Even the worst parts of me, and it doesn’t bother you.” She felt his longing again, “It’s not just the others though. My mother used to tell me stories about her family, from before she ran off. I used to imagine that some wealthy relative would come to take me away and save me from my father. I’ve wished for it so long and now he’s dangling it before me.”

She smirked, “I understand, I’m afraid I’m not going to pop out a Quidditch team of children just so you can become a Prince though.”

He grinned, “We could start another all-girls team like the Harpies.”

“Maybe you should find some Quidditch mad witch and pitch that to Septimius.”

“Hmmn, I’m not sure you’re so easy to sub out of this equation.”

He slowed to walk beside her and took her hand again. Hermione blinked in surprise, her heart fluttering. She smiled to herself as they continued walking. They’d reached the Shrieking Shack and she eyed the shabby building. There wasn’t much to it when you knew it’s real purpose.

Severus asked, “Do you think he might reconsider the conditions?”

She thought about it, “Yes, I’d say he might. It depends though, it’s like any negotiation. You should find out more about your competition, why is he looking for a new heir? Ask Slughorn, he always knows the gossip about everything, the more unsuitable your cousin is the more leverage you have.”

She felt a strong spike of anxiety from him and he asked hesitantly, “Would you ever consider it? If we could talk him out of the more ridiculous conditions?”

Hermione stared at the shack as his words washed over, and she froze. Severus had just asked if she’d ever consider marrying him. In that moment it felt like the most horrible thing to ever happen to her.

She blinked as her eyes flooded with tears and she said angrily, “No Severus, I would never consider marrying you just because you’ve finally figured out you have no chance with Lily and want to claim a bloody inheritance!”

She yanked her hand back and turned, walking away from him as fast as she could go without running, her emotions in turmoil. She could faintly feel Severus’ dismay, but she was too annoyed to care. What was he even thinking? He couldn’t just ask her… that. She wondered if she’d overreacted but her mind kept turning his words over and it really seemed like he was asking her to marry him just so he could reconcile with the Prince family.

She’d already felt confused enough, he was acting more and more like they were a real couple since the Easter break, except that he didn’t seem to be attracted to her, at least not particularly. She’d caught a few hints of lust towards herself, but also towards Lily occasionally, and even to Josephine Yaxley, so it seemed more like he was just being a stupid teenaged boy attracted to any girl who even looked at him, and not like someone who should be offering marriage proposals!

She got a pretty good head start on him but with his stupidly long legs he was able to catch up quickly, calling out, “Wait, Hermione, wait.”

Hermione, who had worked herself up into a good snit by this point, simply turned around and jinxed him. He stumbled right into her Impedimenta and she turned and ran, knowing she was stupidly making a spectacle of herself, but unable to stop. She realised that, despite stating they were too young to consider marrying, she had sort of thought they would one day. He was the only person who really knew her, and she’d thought they would end up together whenever he got his head out of his arse over the whole Lily situation.

Now he was ruining it all by proposing to her as though it were some kind of business merger. Their whole relationship was a bloody arrangement, at least to him, but for him to think they could take it as far as getting married without any real feelings! Maybe that was all she could hope for though. She was just too difficult, too much, and no-one would ever love her. Severus had realised he couldn’t have Lily and so he’d marry Hermione for money, it was only practical.

She was out of breath when she reached the Three Broomsticks, and her ultimate goal of one of the bathroom stalls. She sat down to cry quietly, quickly disturbed by Lily coming in to knock gently on the door and ask if she was okay. Bitch. Hermione stood, using her wand to clean the tears from her face before emerging to stiffly tell Lily she was fine and would see her back up at the school.

She was relieved to find Regulus waiting outside the bathrooms, and he extended an offer to escort Hermione back to Hogwarts, snubbing the red head completely. Hermione offered the other girl a polite goodbye and let him escort her up to one of the carriages.

They had only just settled in for the ride back to the school when he asked, “Soooo, what’s happened? Josie came running in saying you were in tears and had hexed Sev in the middle of the street.”

Hermione grimaced, “Technically correct, yes.”

He lifted a brow in enquiry.

She hesitated, unsure what to say. Regulus didn’t know their relationship was fake which made it hard to talk about.

“You can trust me, and it’s always good to talk about these sorts of things. You don’t have any girlfriends, at least not the type it would be safe to confide in.”

Hermione laughed, “God, imagine me trying to talk to Lily about him. Fine but you can’t say anything to anyone else. Septimius Prince has been considering reconciling and naming Severus as his heir but he wants us to get married. Severus just asked me how I might feel about that, and the answer is that not even I am so practical as to want a marriage proposal solely for the sake of an inheritance.”

Regulus laughed, “Please tell me you’re kidding. Merlin, what an idiot. Surely you realise he just said it poorly though, he’s not proposing just for the money.”

She nibbled her lip, “It’s not just that, it’s also… we’ve been dating for a while but we’re not very… okay so you know he gave me this?” She gestured to the moodstone.

He nodded, “Of course, who do you think suggested it and procured it for him in the first place?”

“Oh. You did?”

Reg nodded, “Sev asked me for a way to prove to you that he cares more about you than he does about that Evans skank, not his exact words, and I told him that if he was being genuine he should get you a moodstone. If it helps, he didn’t even let me list off the options he could consider if he didn’t really mean it.”

“Well, thanks, I guess. The moodstone though, his emotions are… I can’t tell that he feels anything for me more than friendship. Certainly not enough to propose on. He doesn’t even find me attractive!”

Regulus looked sceptical, “That’s impossible. He finds you attractive Hermione, I have no doubt about that.”

“He doesn’t though! I mean, a little bit, but I catch the same hints of lust from him sometimes when he’s talking to Lily, or to any girls really, even towards Marlene one time! He feels fond of me certainly but no more than that. I keep hoping his feelings will change but they haven’t.”

He shook his head, and asserted, “Nonsense. You are attractive, and Sev is totally gone over you, trust me. Unfortunately for us, he’s also the sort of idiot who would give a girl access to his emotions while also finding a way to hide them. He probably decided he’s embarrassed and didn’t want you to think he was lusting after you constantly, so he hid it from you somehow. You know I’m right.”

His words struck a chord with her, but she couldn’t be sure. Would he be able to hide that so completely? She had noticed that his emotions would blank when he was occluding, but could he really be doing that so constantly that she would pick nothing up, even though she kept checking?

She hesitated, “You might be right, I don’t know, but it’s been difficult. Sometimes I wonder if he actually likes me that much or if I’m just there, do you know what I mean?”

“You mean that you’re the only woman in existence who would give Severus Snape the time of day, and you pursued him and are the one to make all the moves? Apart from the whole disastrous marriage proposal today, of course.”

She laughed, “Right, apart from that. I think that’s a little harsh, but it’s hard watching him with Lily. He’s only with me because she doesn’t want him.”

“You’re only thinking this way because he pulled this stupid stunt with that moodstone. He clearly cares for you, more than he’s ever cared for Evans. He’s stupid but he knows you make him happy, while she only ever makes him miserable. He’s just very loyal and he and Evans promised to be friends forever, so even if she won’t keep up her end of the bargain he persists in trying to.”

Hermione stroked her pendant then sighed, “I’ll talk to him about it later. He might be a bit upset that I declined his hypothetical proposal.”

“Serves him right for making it a hypothetical. What do you want to do now?”

“Let’s go to the library. May as well use the time to study.”

Regulus groaned.

Hermione grinned, “Come on, you have O.W.L.s soon, you should be grateful my drama gets you some extra study time, the library will be practically empty today!”

Severus didn’t turn up for dinner that night, though Regulus smiled reassuringly at her. Hermione worried at her necklace, his emotions weren’t pleasant though they weren’t particularly alarming either. He was definitely upset, somewhat resentful, and disappointed. She’d hoped he would find her when he returned from Hogsmeade but he hadn’t, and although she would have preferred to talk things over she decided to leave it. She told herself to stop poking at the necklace, it only made her feel guilty, and it really wasn’t her fault he’d said it so poorly, or that he maybe had feelings for her but was using occlumency to deliberately hide them. He was an idiot. She still felt guilty.

The next day they saw each other in classes and he acted as though nothing had happened, simply ignoring the rumours. The rumour mill had determined that Septimius Prince had ordered Severus to propose, that he’d done a terrible job of it, and that Hermione had broken up with him over it. They surprisingly had most of it right, though she didn’t know if they would fake break up over it. When Sirius had teased them during lunch Severus took the opportunity to tell him that even if Hermione had declined to marry him, he still wasn’t available. Sirius continued to get ridiculously angry and incoherently splutter every time they implied his obsession was romantically motivated, and Severus had so much fun teasing him about it.

He seemed determined not to talk about it, and the first time Hermione noticed anything was different was during their next study group. She was helping Remus with his Ancient Runes translation and had just patted him on the shoulder, reassuring him he would do great on the exam, when she felt a strong spike of jealousy from Severus. She looked up in surprise to find him staring at her, his expression was mostly blank but there was almost a challenge to it, like he was daring her to do or say something.

She was confused but prodding his emotions further revealed nothing but a bit of worry and expectation. She stared him down, but she couldn’t really ask in front of the others, so she simply resigned herself to her curiosity and returned to her seat. He was aggravated when Lily asked him something about Potions, and contemptuous when Remus asked another question about a rune. All of his emotions were much more intense than normal, and she finally realised… He had literally been occluding all of the time before. Not completely, but hiding some things, and softening others, and now he was not.

He was also in a foul mood and not trying to hide it. When Remus asked about a secondary translation for Fehu Severus snapped, “Lupin that’s O.W.L. level, if you can’t remember that one then you have no business sitting for a N.E.W.T.”

Lily seethed, “Merlin Sev what’s up with you tonight? Just because Hermione broke up with you or whatever doesn’t mean you can take your mood out on the rest of us.”

He said defensively, “We didn’t break up.” Panic.

Lily narrowed her eyes, “What’s going on with you two then?”

Severus scowled, “You’re not our marriage councillor Lils, stay out of it.”

She sulked, “I was just trying to help, it seems like you need someone to talk to about it.”

Hermione said, “I think you’re right, Sev can I talk to you over here for a minute?”

She dragged him away from the table, pausing near one of the windows. The others could see them, but only if they turned around.

She spun and said, “You go first.”

He blinked, surprised. “That doesn’t seem fair, you were the one who wanted to talk.”

“Okay fine. Kind of hypothetically asking someone if they might consider marrying you for the sake of your inheritance is a terrible idea and it hurt my feelings. I’m sorry for running off and causing a scene, but it was very inconsiderate.”

His black eyes met hers with a serious expression, “That isn’t the only reason I would kind of hypothetically ask.” He reached out and gently tugged the chain around her neck, pulling the pendant out and wrapping his long fingers around it. He stared at it for a moment then took her hand and wrapped it around the stone. “What do you feel right now?”

“You feel angry.”

“Do you know why I am angry?”

She shook her head.

“Lily took it upon herself to spread the news that Septimius wanted me to propose to you. It was very embarrassing when I returned to find that everyone was aware I’d made such a hash of it that I drove you to hex me and run off in tears.”

“I’m sorry.”

He shook his head, “I’m not angry with you Hermione. I am angry with myself for being an idiot, and with Lily for being a gossip.” He considered her for a moment, “Regulus told me you think you aren’t attractive.”

She gasped, “That rat! I told him that in confidence.”

He smirked, “He told me to stop occluding my emotions from you. Is that something you want? Truly? They aren’t always nice, as I’m sure you’ve already noticed.”

She nodded earnestly, “Please. I want to know everything.”

He studied her face for a moment, “What do you feel now?”

Hermione prodded at his emotions, and her eyes widened as she felt it – attraction, arousal, desire. His black eyes were fiercely focused on her and he stepped closer, pressing her into the wall, as his nose nudged gently against hers. The moment she felt hesitancy and doubt creep in on him she surged forward, bringing their lips together in a searing kiss. She wrapped her arms around him and snogged him, forgetting everything else in that moment. His feelings intensified her own and she quickly lost herself to the moment. They pulled apart when they heard Lily cough, just in time for them to look absurdly guilty but not actually be caught in the moment by Madam Pince. They returned to the table rather sheepishly.

It was unusual for Hermione to find it difficult to concentrate. She loved to study. Normally she would sit down with a book and look up suddenly to find her wand vibrating with an alarm to let her know it was almost curfew and she needed to head to bed. Today was suddenly an unusual day. Severus’ emotions were just as distracting as her own. She was absent mindedly stroking the feather tip of her quill across her lips when she felt a flash of lust from him, looking up to find his eyes focused on her lips. He quirked an eyebrow, as if to ask if she was regretting her decision to feel all of his emotions. She flushed but just smiled shyly at him and tried to return to her work.

He was obviously enjoying her discomfort and distraction, as rather than returning to his own work he just sat back in his chair and stared at her, his emotions leaving her no doubt as to what kinds of thoughts he was having. She shot him shy looks from under her bushy hair, feeling pleased but rather embarrassed. This wasn’t something she’d ever experienced before, Viktor had been a gentleman and his kisses had been sweet. Cormac had been an awful brute, and while he had clearly lusted after her, he would have been the same with any girl he could get his paws on. Her only other kiss, with Ron, had been something borne of panic and desperation.

None of them had ever looked at her like this, so brazen, and yet in a way that made her feel special. Her shyness dissipated, and after a moment of consideration she stretched her arms behind her back, pushing out her chest. It was something she’d noticed Lily do previously which had caused Severus to feel attraction to the other girl, but Hermione had never considered doing such a thing deliberately. She felt like she must look silly, but Severus didn’t seem to think so.

She returned to her reading, smirking slightly under her hair, when Remus said, “Seriously? The two of you need to go and get a room. Some of us are trying to study here.”

Hermione looked up. Remus looked amused, while Lily was staring impassively at her textbook. Severus quirked an eyebrow at her and she sighed, “I’m just not in the mood to study tonight, sorry.”

She rose and packed her things. Severus said nothing but immediately copied her. He took her arm and walked her out of the library, escorting her down towards the dungeons. He dragged her behind a tapestry, but instead of kissing her like she’d expected he just wrapped his arms around her, burying his face in her hair. Hermione hugged him back.

He asked softly, “I take it my feelings are not entirely unreciprocated then?”

“I don’t know which feelings you mean specifically, but I can confirm that I find you incredibly attractive.”

He squeezed her tighter, “Attractive? Me?”

She could feel his cautious disbelief, and she hummed happily, “Yes, you. Very attractive, all of the time.”

He chuckled, “Your hair isn’t the only thing about you that’s crazy, thankfully. I realise now how stupid it was to hide my feelings. I wanted more time to figure out if you might return them before I admitted to it, but didn’t consider the fact you wouldn’t admit anything as you’d now be sure I only thought of you as a friend. I’m so used to occluding my attraction to you that it’s practically automatic.”

She considered that for a moment, “Oh, yes. That and you’ve been so careful recently when we’ve snogged. I thought you must have realised how I felt and you were being very polite about it.”

He groaned, “Merlin, Hermione, no. I came in my pants in the bloody rose gardens. I was embarrassed and I’ve been desperately trying to avoid a repeat.”

She started, “Did you really?”

“Do not make me repeat it.”

“I liked the rose garden.”

He snorted, “You didn’t come in your pants.”

She said cheekily, “I wish I had.”

He pulled back, staring at her intently. He blinked slowly, “May I touch you?”

Hermione smiled, “You probably shouldn’t. We should talk more.”

He trailed his fingers down her back, dragging them over her hip as he looked down at her body. “You can talk; I’m listening.”

She smiled, “Are you paying attention though?”

“To you? Always.” His left hand held her hip as the right traced gently up her side, his hand ever so slightly brushing the side of her breast before coming to caress her cheek. “I’ve thought of touching you so many times. You are lovely.”

She sighed, “How long?”

“The night we made our agreement. I was so overwhelmed, it all seemed so insane, but I couldn’t help but feel glad that you’d picked me, even if it was just for my skill at Occlumency and Potions. And when I proposed our fake relationship and you just casually mentioned that we’d have to start snogging, as though it was no big deal, and you wouldn’t mind kissing me… I was in trouble after that. How long for you?”

She laughed, “I tried very hard to convince myself that the only reason I was disappointed you’d only asked me to be your fake girlfriend is because it would be nice to be desired, and not because I actually wanted you to ask me out for real.”

“Wait, seriously? The whole time? Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Are you joking? After you’d just fake asked me out just to make another girl jealous?”

“Well, alright, but what about after that?”

“I’m sorry, when? When you were following her around like a lost little puppy dog doing everything she asked and constantly choosing her over me? When you ditched me to go out with Marlene? When you gave me a moodstone that proved that you still find her attractive and pretty much just feel platonic friendship towards me? If I’d ever gotten even the slightest hint that you were over her I’d have said something, but I still find it hard to believe that you like me more than her based on the way you’ve been acting.” 

Severus’ hands stilled where they’d been gently stroking her lower back, “I’m an idiot.” Before she could panic too much, thinking he was about to admit he wasn’t over Lily, he continued, “You gave me some advice about Lily, ages ago, about how she’d be more interested in me if she thought I was into you, and that seemed to work. Reg kept telling me my desperation is deeply unattractive and that I should stop being such a loser, and I figure the same sort of thing would work with you too.”

Hermione shoved him back slightly, crossing her arms over her chest. “Explain.”

He looked sheepish, “I was trying to make you jealous.”

She closed her eyes and said angrily, “I don’t know how you can be so smart and so stupid at the same time. What the hell?”

He muttered defensively, “It was your idea, and it seemed to be working well until I totally screwed things up at Valentine’s. It’s good advice, it worked perfectly on me. I’ve been half out of my mind watching you with Lupin, and you keep flirting with him, and you went to the ball with him!”

Hermione gaped at him, “I have never flirted with Remus!”

He narrowed his eyes at her.

“Anyway, you’re a dunderhead. You were infatuated with Lily, so much so that you wouldn’t even think of actually asking me out, and your future self spent his entire life bloody obsessed with her, his patronus was a doe for Circe’s sake. How am I supposed to even think I could compete with that? I’m still half convinced you’d drop me if she showed a real interest in you, she’s so much prettier than me, and nicer, and not so bossy. Everyone adores her and I’m just-” she felt tears pooling in her eyes, and stopped talking, trying not to cry.

Severus tugged her towards him, enveloping her in his arms as he said, “Shhh, Hermione. I’m sorry, I realise how stupid it was, I was just afraid. Please don’t cry, I’m so not worth it.”

She laughed against his shoulder then continued sobbing anyway.

“You are wonderful. I don’t deserve you, but I will try to be less of an idiot in the future. She is nothing to me in comparison to you, I’m sorry for making you feel that she was.” He smoothed her hair, pressing a gentle kiss against her head and she sighed.

She felt her watch buzz and a moment later the tapestry was pulled open. Sirius looked them over and laughed, “She’s crying, did you propose again Snivellus?”

Severus’ stupefied the other boy before she even saw him draw his wand.

Hermione gasped, “I thought you weren’t going to hex them anymore!”

“I can’t help but hex him when he looks so gormless.” He hit the unconscious Sirius with a few more spells, then said, “Let’s get out of here before someone comes along and finds him.”

Hermione followed bemused but then stopped and turned back to quickly rummage through the unconscious boy’s pockets.

Severus eyed her, “What are you doing?”

She almost laughed at the feeling of jealousy that flashed through the stone over her rifling through Sirius’ pockets, and a moment later she pulled out a blank piece of paper, flourishing it at him. “I gave my copy of the map to Skeeter. I miss it already, and I don’t see any reason to let them keep this any longer.”

Severus smirked, “You just don’t want him to interrupt our next snog.”

Hermione flushed, but didn’t argue. They made their way down the corridor, and she considered what he’d told her.

She asked, a little angrily, “So what about you, why didn’t you say anything?”

He shrugged, “At first, I just didn’t think you’d like me like that, I mean why would you? You’re so far out of my league I still find it rather difficult to believe. It didn’t help that the whole school was speculating about whether I was threatening, drugging, or cursing you to go out with me. Not exactly a confidence boost. Sometimes I thought you might but I didn’t want to risk ruining things, and I just thought I should enjoy what we had while it lasted, you know? Being your fake boyfriend is the happiest I’ve ever been at school, and if I told you I liked you and you didn’t feel the same you might stop snogging me, soooo…”

Hermione laughed, softening a little with his admission, “So, what, you thought we could just get fake married? Were you ever going to say anything?”

He flushed slightly, “I thought you knew. I was hiding my attraction, but I didn’t hide all my feelings, it’s just…” He shrugged, “It’s a bit embarrassing to be lusting after you all the time, and I figured that even if you might like me enough to be in a relationship, you wouldn’t return those sorts of feelings and I didn’t want to put you off.”

She frowned, “I mean, I could feel that you were fond of me but without any attraction I’d assume you just wanted to be friends, or thought of me like a sister or something.”

“I have never, not even for a moment, thought of you like a sister. I am sorry. Now that you and Reg have both pointed it out to me I can see how stupid it was to hide it completely, but it never occurred to me that you’d think I wasn’t attracted to you, because, I mean really, look at you.”

Hermione flushed slightly, “Seeing you constantly pining after Lily isn’t exactly confidence building for me Sev, and I could still feel that you were attracted to her, more than you are to me, so…”

“Oh, err, well. I mean I suppose she’s not going to stop being pretty just because I don’t like her that way anymore, but I don’t. Like her that way, I mean. I don’t find her more attractive than you either, I have more feelings for you, which makes it easier to occlude them all.”

Hermione doubted that was true, and it must have shown because he stopped them in the corridor, pressed her against the wall and kissed her.

He pulled back and said seriously, “Lily is my friend, and I will always care about her in some way, but she’s not you. You are beautiful, generous and kind, but also so feisty and vindictive, which is bloody hot. Every time you come up with a new plan it makes me so hard. Seriously, you just casually pull out a Dark Arts book for punishing your lovers? Most men would be terrified, I was aroused. You should have seen the way you lit up when you were explaining your little scheme with the house elves and how easily you’d caught Black slipping me that love potion. As annoyed as I was that you hadn’t warned be about the plan, you were so beautiful in that moment. My favourite thing about you is that if you ever choose to be evil I know you would be the scariest Dark Lady to ever exist, and the only reason you aren’t is because you’re fundamentally so good.”

Hermione smiled, “Sorry, are you saying you like me more than Lily because I have the capacity to be evil, and she doesn’t?”

He smirked, “Think about it. Lily would make a lousy Dark Lady, you’d be terrifying.”

“I don’t think that’s the compliment you think it is.”

He shook his head and said softly, “Most people aren’t really good, they just lack the ambition or capacity to be evil. You though? The only thing that stops you is your heart.”

Chapter Text

Hermione had been having fun with Sirius this week. She and Severus had charmed several pieces of paper to appear like their map, but only included the portion of spell work they’d put in to specifically insult people. Sirius kept stealing them, but she’d hidden the actual map in the Room of Requirement. It was funny, but Severus was worried he would try to retaliate against her again. He’d become even more protective now that they were both on the same page about their relationship being real.

He still wasn’t hiding anything from her, and he felt jealous practically every time she even looked at another boy. She found it amusing, he was even worse than she was. She’d given Regulus a hug when she’d seen him on Thursday and thanked him for helping them figure things out and Severus had practically seethed with jealousy, though his expression had been mild, giving nothing away.

On their way down to dinner that night she’d commented, “I noticed you felt… rather jealous, earlier. You know I’m not interested in Reg, right?”

Severus scratched at the back of his neck, “I do. Sorry, I can’t help it. I know it’s silly.”

Hermione smiled, finding his embarrassment adorable, and dragged him into an alcove for a quick snog. She moulded her body to his as she stroked her tongue into his mouth, until he pulled back, gasping.

She insisted, “You know I don’t like Reg that way, right? And he doesn’t like me either.”

He wound his hands into her hair, tilting her head back so he could nibble at her throat. “I know.”

“Why do you get so jealous then?”

“I don’t know, I just don’t like to share your attention.”

“I’m not going to stop having friends because of your rampaging jealousy.”

He mumbled against her skin, “Wasn’t going to ask you to.”

“Good. Well as long as that’s cleared up please continue to feel ridiculously possessive over me. I think it’s rather cute.”

“Hmmm, I wasn’t going to ask you to stop having any friends, but I think you should stay away from Lupin.”

“He’s my friend, and I already assured you I won’t go near him on a full moon.”

“Insufficient. You shouldn’t go near him, at any time, ever.”

“Why not?”

“You’ll get fleas.”

She smiled, “Really? Is that the only reason?”

“Also, because he likes you.”

“He does not.”

Severus sucked hard on the side of her neck, giving her a hickey. After a moment he pulled back to survey his work. “He does.”

“I don’t believe you, and even if he did it wouldn’t matter. I don’t like him back and I’m allowed to be friends with whoever I like.”

“You flirt with him.”

“I do not!”

He pulled back and narrowed his eyes at her. He was being mostly playful but she could tell he really saw Remus as some kind of romantic rival.

“I don’t like him that way. I only like you that way.”

His expression softened, “He likes you though.”

“I really don’t think he does.”

“Go on and look, I’ll show you.”

She couldn’t help but feel curious, so she slipped into his mind, falling into his inky black eyes and landing in a series of memories. The first was after Hagrid had mentioned werewolves and she’d gone on a rant about anti-werewolf legislation. She was expounding on how it didn’t protect anyone and only made a marginalised population more vulnerable, practically encouraging them towards a life of crime. In the memory Severus was listening to her with interest, thinking that she looked radiant when she was really fired up about something, until he noticed the enraptured expression on Remus’ face and leant over to wrap an arm around her to remind the wolf that she was not available.

The next memory was of the Valentine’s dance and she watched herself chatting away to Remus and to Marcus Belby while Severus seethed with jealousy. He tried to converse with Marlene and Lily so she’d think he was having an equally nice time, but whenever she wasn’t paying attention he’d settle into a sulky silence. She then watched herself dancing with Remus as he blushed and fumbled clumsily through the steps, though he was smiling broadly as she began to lead him. She caught Severus’ feelings of frustration when Lily begged him to dance with her when all he wanted to do was hex Lupin so that he’d never dance again.

She watched herself speaking with Remus outside the library and she recalled the conversation, he’d been asking her for help removing Black’s collar and she’d been furious. Severus felt comfortable watching the two of them while Lily nattered on about how she’d struggled with the potion they’d brewed the week prior, until Hermione smiled sweetly and batted her eyelashes at Remus. She couldn’t even recall doing that, but Severus noticed it and he glared at them, angry that she was flirting with the other boy.

Lily said from beside him, “It’s great how you and Hermione are so trusting of each other. If James flirted with another girl like that, I’d be so jealous, but the two of you never seem to worry over each other. I’m so glad that she never seems concerned about our friendship, most girls would be, knowing how close we are, but not Hermione.”

Severus grunted noncommittally.

“Her and Remus are so cute as friends. Sometimes I think they’d make a great couple, if she wasn’t with you already, of course. It’s nice that he now has someone in Gryffindor who’s just as nerdy as he is. I love seeing them stay up late in the common room together, geeking out over homework.”

She felt Severus’ stomach drop at the idea that she was spending so much time with Remus. She’d never mentioned it to him. He couldn’t help but scowl at her as she finally turned and walked over to them, and she scowled right back at him. Severus stepped closer to her, narrowing his eyes at Lupin and glaring at him, barely paying attention to whatever her and Lily were discussing. He tried to reign his jealousy in, but he was sure she’d been flirting with him, and the wolf had liked whatever she’d just said to him. He was practically panting after her.

He gently nudged her out of his head and she blinked at him, standing before her in their little alcove.

“Severus. Your head is messed up.”

He snorted, “Tell me something I don’t know.”

“Do you… not find the things Lily was saying a little odd? I mean, doesn’t it seem like she was trying to make you jealous?”

His brow furrowed. “No. She was saying the opposite, that it’s great that we can trust each other.”

“She said it in a way that made you feel jealous though.”

“She didn’t mean it like that. She doesn’t know that we weren’t really together then.”

Hermione hesitated, wondering if she should push. She’d never noticed Remus having a crush on her but seeing it from Severus’ perspective suddenly made it obvious. Perhaps if he saw Lily through her memories he’d understand. But she worried that it wouldn’t work, or that he’d think she was just being petty. It would seem a bit hypocritical to refuse to stop being friends with Remus at the same time as she tried to stop Sev being friends with Lily. She decided to let it go for now, Lily did seem to have backed off a little with the flirting, but perhaps she’d suggest it the next time the other girl tried something.

Instead, she said, “Seriously though, how have you been Occluding so much? I mean you gave me this like two months ago, but I barely felt any of your real emotions.”

“I had a lot of headaches.”

Hermione eyed him incredulously.

“Okay, so I was taking two pain potions a day and it was exhausting.”

She frowned, “I don’t understand why though. I mean, why give me the moodstone if you wanted to hide everything from me?”

“I wasn’t hiding everything! I wanted you to know how much I care about you, I just didn’t want you to see… all of that.”

“Your attraction to me?”

“I thought you’d think I was gross or creepy.”

“And your jealousy?”

“I know it’s not exactly… healthy. I thought it would scare you.”

“I don’t mind you feeling however you like so long as you don’t attempt to control my behaviour.”

“Right. Like by demanding you stop flirting with Remus?”

She laughed, “I wasn’t flirting with him.”

He raised an eyebrow at her.

“I was threatening him! Well Sirius, actually.”

He groaned, “You’re so sexy when you try to look menacing. No wonder he looked like he was about to go into rut.”

“He did not!”

He smirked, “Does he have to literally start drooling for you to get the idea?”

Hermione rolled her eyes, “It doesn’t matter. He’s my friend. Kind of. Full moon this weekend, and then again next month, and then Rita will skewer him and he’ll hate me forever.”

“He won’t know it was you.”

“They will all know it was me,” she said flatly.

“Maybe. I suppose I can put up with him leering at you if it’s only for two more months.”

“You’re ridiculous.”

He kissed her lightly, “I don’t disagree. I’m never going to take that charm off you, you do realise?”

Hermione chuckled, “I’ll agree to that, but only if you let me give you one.”

His lips stilled and then attacked her with even more fervour. He felt ecstatic. “Fuck. I love that you think that’s necessary.”

Hermione tugged on his hair then and began nibbling on the shell of his ear. “You’re mine now Severus. Of course it’s necessary.”

He groaned, and pressed his body against hers, digging his erection into her belly. “You’re mine. Say it.”

“Yes, I’m yours. Only yours.”

“Good.”

Her stomach rumbled, and he pulled back to smirk at her, “I’m sorry, I’m keeping you from your dinner. We’d best get going or we’ll even miss the pudding.”

Hermione panted but stood up, smoothing her hair and her robes. She said primly, “Well you’d best lead the way before I decide to eat you.”

His black eyes glinted dangerously, and he whispered, “Don’t make promises you’ll come to regret. Now come on, let’s go.” They left the alcove they’d hidden away in but they didn’t make it far down the corridor before he stopped, spinning into her, “You know I would never cheat on you, don’t you? Not with Lily, not with anyone. I’ll wear whatever charm you want me to, but you can trust me, even without it.”

Hermione touched his face softly, stroking his cheek. “I know Sev, you’re an honourable man, I’m giving it to you for the same reason I’m keeping mine, protection.”

He quirked his lips into a half smile before kissing her on the cheek. “Good, now come on, I thought you were hungry. Stop dawdling.”

“You’re the one who was dawdling!”

He smacked her lightly on the bum and she yelped, then giggled. They made it to dinner just in time for her to grab a serve of bread-and-butter pudding, which would have to tide her over until morning. The other Gryffindor’s gave her disapproving looks but she ignored them. She could feel how smug and self-satisfied Severus was about making them both miss the main course. She didn’t begrudge him, she found it rather cute how excited he was about their relationship now. He was usually so mature and serious, but he seemed very young when he was enthusiastic about something.

The next day was Saturday and they met early as usual. The weather was lovely so they made a nest of conjured blankets and pillows under a tree by the lake and practiced their Occlumency. They were both so skilled now that practice was probably a moot point but there was no harm in keeping up the skill. Severus very cheekily sent her a wave of arousal, calling up memories of their recent snogging sessions. She let him watch it, dwelling on the feeling of his nose nuzzling against her neck as he kissed her.

He pulled out and asked seriously, “Do you actually like my nose?”

She smiled, “Yes, I do.”

He looked doubtful, “You know there are healers who could use transfiguration to shrink it down a bit, it’s expensive but-”

She grinned cheekily, “Do you think they could make it bigger?”

He laughed, “Silly witch.”

“Seriously though, please don’t do anything to your nose. I like it just the way it is.”

He smiled shyly, “Fine, your turn.”

She knew he’d expect her to do the same thing, and though she briefly considered thwarting his plans in the end she just transmitted a feeling of arousal into his mind, waiting to see what he’d show her. He’d crafted a memory, where after she’d joked about being hungry enough to eat him he’d told her he had something for her to eat if she wanted to.

The Hermione in his memories had licked her lips then dropped to her knees before him, placing her hands on his thighs to caress him as she unbuttoned his trousers. He looked down at her as he slid into her wet mouth, watching as her lips surrounded his cock. The fantasy faded quickly, he didn’t have enough detail to make a convincing false memory of the scene. She pulled out of his mind and looked at him.

He was lying next to her, trying to look relaxed and nonchalant, but she could feel his emotions; a bit of shame, but mostly hopeful. She wasn’t sure if this was his way of asking for a blowjob, but she was hardly going to give him one right now either way. She considered for a moment though, their snogging had become more intense but they hadn’t really progressed.

She didn’t like the idea of being caught in an intimate position, and assumed he didn’t either, but after they graduated… Well, she thought perhaps she should encourage his fantasies just enough to let him know she was interested, even if she wouldn’t want to do anything at school… Unless they could sneak off to the Room of Requirement…

Severus said with resignation, “Don’t worry about it. You know I’d never make you do anything like that if you don’t want to.”

Hermione patted his cheek affectionately, “Don’t be silly Severus. I was just pondering the possibility. I haven’t thought of anything to give you as a graduation gift yet.”

His eyes lit up and he grinned.

She smiled back a little shyly. “Now, your false memory was not very convincing. I don’t think you had the sensations quite right.”

He raised an eyebrow, “Probably not. I hardly have a dearth of real experience to draw from.”

Hermione hummed in agreement, “Yes that’s true, but you see my mouth isn’t just wet, it’s also quite warm. See here…”

She rolled until she was on her stomach next to him and grabbed his hand, bending his fingers so she could slip one into her mouth. She slowly drew it in, caressing the pad of his finger with her tongue, then sucked gently. His black eyes stared at her, unblinking, as though if he stopped looking for even a moment he would miss something precious. She could feel his passion and excitement burning through him as she sucked harder, sliding his finger slowly out of her mouth before pulling it back in. She repeated the motion a couple of times before allowing it to slip out, and rolling back to her side of the blankets. She bit back a smile as he subtly adjusted his trousers.

He looked back at her and said gruffly, “Graduation is much too far away. How on earth am I going to get through exams?”

“Poor boy.”

He smiled but then looked away uncomfortably, flooded with insecurity.

She poked him, “Hey, what’s wrong?”

He looked back at her, then sighed, “I’m drooling over you like a lovesick puppy and you’re unaffected. I want you to… to want me, but I have no idea what I’m doing. I don’t like feeling inadequate.”

“Silly Sev. I’m not unaffected. I want you just as much as you want me, trust me.”

His eyes heated and he turned to kiss her but she rolled away again, giggling. “No more of that. Do you realise we only have six weeks until exams? This is not the time to be distracted.”

He scowled, “Fine, what’s on our study schedule for today?”

“We were supposed to be finished with Occlumency 10 minutes ago, to begin practicing Transfiguration. Here, Accio Rock. Turn this into a labrador.”

“If I do, can I kiss you?”

“Do you want me to add snogging sessions to the study schedule?”

He smirked, “Yes.”

He pointed his wand at the rock and tried. It became a weirdly shaped furry blob, with three legs and no discernible face. He cursed and turned it back into a rock, before giving her a sheepish look.

Hermione laughed, “If you get it right in the next fourty minutes you can have a snog, if not you’ll have to keep practicing.”

He nodded and turned to the rock, his jaw set with determination. Hermione summoned another for herself, she’d mastered this in class of course but practice was always welcome. Professor McGonagall had suggested this might be on the N.E.W.T. exam. Any dog would be fine, but there were always points given for style so a recognisable dog breed would earn extra marks. She tried making a poodle today, though she thought she’d use a dalmatian for the exam, as she seemed to have less trouble with those for some reason.

After they’d both succeeded they settled back onto the blankets for the promised snogging session, though it wasn’t very heated and they soon found themselves cuddled together. Hermione was stroking the silky Slytherin green tie, imagining what Harry and Ron would think if they heard she’d gone back in time and ended up dating Severus Snape.

Severus asked, sounding curious, “What are you thinking about?”

She smiled, “The horrified expressions my friends would make if they could see me snuggling with you of all people.”

He smirked, “You don’t have to go to the future to experience the horrified expressions of people at the idea of you snuggling with the greasy git of the dungeons.”

“I know, but Ron could make some very comical faces. It would have been amusing to see, until he started yelling at me.”

“I’m sorry you miss your friends.”

“I’ll always miss them, but I’m glad to be here, now.”

He stroked her hair and her thoughts drifted again but she never could stop planning.

She said hesitantly, “I think we need to talk seriously about the future.”

He tensed slightly but said fondly, “What about the future?”

“Where are you going to go when we graduate?”

“I don’t know.”

“Are you ever going to tell me what happened with your parents?”

He was silent for a while, but she waited patiently until he spoke. “My father… hurts my mother sometimes. I’ve tried to stop it, but I couldn’t do anything, he’s so much bigger and stronger than I am, so most of the time there’s no point even trying.”

He said the last part all in a rush and she could feel how guilty and ashamed he was. She rolled over to wrap her arms around him, squeezing tightly. “Oh Severus, that isn’t your fault.”

He grimaced, “I was finally of age this summer. I’ve hexed him accidentally a few times, but this was the first time I could use my wand… and I cursed him. My ma stopped me, and then he was furious. He wanted to throw me out, and she agreed. I spent the rest of the summer sleeping on the streets, since Lily still wasn’t speaking to me.”

Hermione wailed, “Oh, I wish I’d found you sooner! I got here in July, I was just staying at the Leaky, waiting for term to start. I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”

She pressed kisses all over his face until he smiled. “It’s fine, it isn’t your fault. I can’t go home though. I wrote to her once at the beginning of term and she’s angry at me, she said I only made things worse for her and that she doesn’t want to see me.”

“It isn’t your fault! You aren’t responsible for his anger, how can she blame you, and not him?”

“I don’t know,” he said sadly.

Hermione snuggled against him and began to cry.

“Why are you crying?” he asked, sounding amused.

“I’m just sad, and I’m sorry things have been so awful for you and I haven’t always been around to help you.”

He stroked her hair, and she could feel his affection for her, and looked down to see the faint pink glow of the moodstone shining out from beneath her shirt.

“Anyway, it doesn’t matter now, but I can’t go home. I can’t go with you, can I?”

Hermione sniffed and wiped her tears away. “Afraid not. Edgar won’t allow us to live together unmarried. Do you- do you think you might want to marry me?” She added in a rush, “Not that I want to pressure you into anything of course, it’s just that it will change our plans depending on what you want to do. If you did think you might like to get married then we could perhaps talk to Septimius and see if he can be reasonable about reconciling and you could live with him, or if you didn’t want to get married then perhaps I might not live with Edgar, he can keep his dowry and we could find a place together, but then that would damage our reputations and if you did want to reconcile with Septimius later it might become more difficult, and it could affect customer relationships when we finally-”

He cut her off by pressing a soft kiss to her lips, “Hermione, as adorable as it is to let you ramble on like that the answer is yes. I accept your proposal.”

Hermione stuttered, “I d-didn’t propose. I was just asking hypothetically.”

“I believe I was told off for hypothetically broaching the topic of marriage. Shall I run off in tears and hex you?”

Hermione scowled, “No-one has to propose right now, but I can’t plan properly if I don’t know whether you want to marry me or not.”

He smirked, then rolled her over, pressing her into the blankets with his body. He pinned her down and kissed her, then pulled back and whispered against her lips between kisses, “Yes. I will. Marry you. Silly. Little. Witch. Thank you for asking me.”

Hermione smiled, “I’m not asking you. I’m telling you that if you want to get married you should let me know soon so that we can approach Septimius and organise a meeting.”

Severus nibbled gently on her lower lip. “Why won’t you ask me Hermione? Do you not want to marry me?”

She pouted, “You’re the boy, it’s your job to ask.”

“That sounds like sexism. I think we should overturn gender stereotypes, don’t you?”

She closed her eyes and laughed, “Don’t quote me.”

“You’re very quotable though.”

“Fine. Expect a proposal Mr Snape.”

He chuckled, “Will it be romantic? I want to be swept off my feet.”

“Obviously.”

They were snogging again when Lily stomped up to them saying loudly, “Ugh, what is with you two? You’ve been dating for ages but suddenly you can’t keep your hands off each other.”

Severus stopped kissing her but didn’t pull back, merely rolling to the side so that they remained cuddled together on the blanket.

He said, “Hello Lily, what can we help you with?”

“You said Marlene and I could join you for Charms practice.”

Severus checked his watch, “Indeed, well let’s get started then. We were going to practice Bubble Head Charms in the lake, followed by Drying Charms when we’re all done.”

Lily grinned, “Race you.”

She and Marlene took off into the lake and Severus just rolled his eyes. The two of them followed at a more leisurely pace, after vanishing their blankets, and Hermione began slowly to plot. Not revenge this time, but how to propose marriage to someone. It was an odd thought, but it did appeal to her. She wondered how much of this was Severus being lazy and not wanting to propose himself, how much was him knowing that it was something she would enjoy doing, and how much was him liking the idea of being proposed to, because she realised he would. He’d never say so, but secretly it would delight him if she planned something elaborate.

That night was a full moon. Hermione lay in her four-poster, wishing she still had the map. She’d had to give hers to Rita though, even without the cloak the boys would at least disillusion themselves to reach the tree and would only be visible in their animagus forms as they emerged, so she’d need it to identify them.

She was sure Rita would find her own way to confirm the map was accurate and reliable. It was something Hermione had always found odd about the woman in her time, Rita Skeeter was not afraid to do the legwork required for real journalism, she did genuinely investigate and dig into things, she just chose to sensationalise her work, and deliberately misinterpret the truth at times.

She couldn’t have kept their copy of it either, not with Sirius so assiduously trying to steal it back from her. She missed having her beaded bag, but she wouldn’t risk retrieving it now. It had become a habit for her to watch them carefully on full moon nights, to ensure they wouldn’t run into any students while they were roaming the grounds. She couldn’t do anything once they absconded the grounds and headed into the village, but it made her feel better.

She still couldn’t believe they’d approached Hagrid’s hut earlier in the year. When he’d told her they’d set off the Caterwauling charm she’d placed on Severus’ potion bench her heart had almost stopped. She’d seen Peter eyeing it at Christmas but she hadn’t assumed they’d try anything with a werewolf in tow. She’d tipped Rita off about that, and assumed she would find a way to interview Hagrid. He wouldn’t have reported it, of course, if anything she’d bet he was leaving food out to try and befriend them.

In the end she spent a very restless night, tossing and turning under the bright light of the full moon, guilt and worry for Remus gnawing at her.

Hermione was beginning to develop a complex about Severus’ Patronus, and she thought he had as well. They’d learnt the charm in Defence at the beginning of the year but Severus hadn’t managed a corporeal one. Lily had coached Severus and Remus during their study sessions and Remus had managed it months ago, but Severus was still only producing mist. They’d moved on to practicing other things, but now that the Quidditch season was over for Slytherin they had added an extra night studying with Alfie and Reg on Tuesdays. Hermione had suggested he work on it again. He seemed hesitant, and she noticed that although he should be focusing on happy memories, every time he said the incantation there was a flicker of fear to his emotions. Hermione set Alfie and Reg practicing banishing objects then crossed the room to him.

“What’s wrong?”

“I just can’t do it, that’s all.”

“I know you’re bothered by something, I can feel it. Talk to me.”

He scowled at her. He didn’t like being reminded about the moodstone but she just stared at him calmly. He closed his eyes, “I’m worried about what form it will take.”

Hermione stilled, surprised, but she pressed gently, “What are you worried will happen?”

His eyes snapped open, “I’m worried it’s going to be a bloody doe! It shouldn’t be, I know it shouldn’t, because I don’t love Lily, but I can’t help but worry.”

“Obviously a doe would be a bit embarrassing, but it won’t really matter if it is one. You don’t have to summon a corporeal Patronus for the exam if you don’t want anyone to see it. It will be okay.”

He winced, “Hermione I’m not worried about the examiners seeing it, I’m worried about you. It shouldn’t be a doe but what if it is, and then you think I’m in love with Lily and you leave me.” The last part seemed to spill out of him and he looked mortified after he said it.

Hermione smiled, “Severus it won’t be a doe, but even if it was I wouldn’t leave you. If you tell me you aren’t in love with her then I will believe you no matter what your Patronus does. It will be okay I promise.”

He looked sceptical, “Really?”

“Yes, I promise. I mean really, we don’t even know why Patroni take the forms they do. For most people it matches their Animagi form, if they have one, but not always. We know even less about why they change. It’s possible that the theories about unrequited love are true but there are hardly extensive studies on the topic, it’s just self-reports. I mean, consider, how does a spell you cast know that your love is unrequited? Some couples keep their individual Patroni, while others will change to end up with a matched pair, and no-one really knows why.”

He rolled his eyes, but seemed amused, “I did read your essay you know, you don’t need to quote it at me.”

“Then you know my conclusion was that it’s based on our own perceptions and expectations, and not anything to do with the truth or strength of anyone’s feelings. Consider Lily and James, everyone talks about how cute their matching stag and deer are except that they don’t actually match. His stag is a red deer, and so her Patronus should be a hind to match, but instead she has a white-tailed deer. Is that because they have close, but not quite, matching personalities, or is it because she saw his stag and didn’t know enough about deer species to recognise what type of doe to produce?”

Severus stared at her, “How do you know that about the species of deer?”

“Professor Snape’s doe delivered the sword of Gryffindor to us but we never knew who cast it. We speculated a lot and Harry insisted it matched his mother’s Patronus so I got him to identify the species in a book we had about local fauna. I then told him it didn’t match his dad’s stag. I just didn’t know who had gotten it wrong, if Harry picked the wrong species, if Professor Snape hadn’t actually matched Lily’s Patronus, or if the stag and doe just never matched properly in the first place; now I do. So, anyway, all of that just to say that even if your Patronus does turn out to be a doe, we won’t know why, and it might just be because that’s what you expect it to be. If you tell me you don’t love her I will still believe you, now stop worrying every time you say the incantation and summon your Patronus.”

He stared at her for a moment, and her necklace grew warm with affection. She met his eyes with a calm confidence that felt genuine in that moment. She really didn’t think his Patronus would be a doe but so what if it was? She trusted Severus, and the research on matching Patroni really was vague. She stayed until she stopped feeling that tremble of fear every time he said the incantation and then wandered back over to Alfie and Reg to check on their progress. She was just adjusting Alfie’s wand movements when a silvery blur glided past her, flying around her in a circle. She spun to watch as it flew back over to Severus before vanishing in a puff of mist. A raven. She’d known it wouldn’t be a doe. Severus’ smug feelings of satisfaction perfectly matched his expression as he smirked at her from across the room.

Chapter Text

On Saturday they assembled their pile of blankets and cushions by the lake again for their weekly Occlumency practice. Hermione had a feeling it would be a repeat of the previous weeks experience and she was right. He flashed arousal at her, and she showed him a memory of her admiring him in his Quidditch uniform that then led to a false memory of snogging in the Quidditch changing rooms.

He pulled out and asked incredulously, “Is that really what you think the changing rooms look like? All decked out in Slytherin green and snakes?”

She laughed at the expression on his face. “That’s what the Gryffindor rooms look like, I just replaced the red and all the lions.”

“Merlin, that must be garish.”

“That’s Gryffindor for you. Garish is our middle name.”

He smirked. When she entered his mind he showed her an image of them making out in the rose garden during Slughorn’s Christmas party. Hermione was wearing her red dress robes, no outer robe, and after Severus pulled back from snogging her his hands slid the sleeves of her dress down her shoulders, before pooling around her waist exposing her bare breasts. In Severus’ imagination her dress easily slid off without even undoing the zipper, her bra magically disappeared, and her breasts were huge. Ridiculously huge. Comically larger than they’d been a moment before in the image.

She pulled out laughing and said, “What on earth was that?”

“What do you mean? Is it not a convincing false memory? Can you give me some tips as to what I got wrong?”

She laughed harder. “Oh I see what you’re up to mister. You think if you imagine my boobs inaccurately, I’ll show you the real thing.”

He flopped back against his cushions. “Worth a try, wasn’t it?”

“Hmmn, give me a second.” She closed her eyes and imagined a new memory to present him. “Your turn again.”

As soon as he entered her mind she sent him the image, she’d imagined MacNair’s bulky, muscular body in the Slytherin Quidditch uniform but stuck Severus’ head on it. She quickly added herself running her hands over his bulging muscles then kicked Severus out of her head. She’d meant it as a joke but she could immediately feel his insecurity and hurt.

He looked at her resentfully. “I have been working out you know.”

Hermione stared at him in surprise. “Sev, I like the way you look. Wait, you don’t actually wish my boobs were that big do you? They looked ridiculous.”

“No.”

“Well don’t sulk, I was doing the same thing. Maybe you should show me your muscles so I can get a more accurate idea of what they look like.”

She could still feel his hurt and feelings of inadequacy. She looked at him more seriously, scooching over to rest her head on his chest. “What’s wrong?”

He laughed humourlessly. “Nothing.”

She waited until he sighed and continued, “I am not nice to look at Hermione. I can assure you it doesn’t get any better with my clothes off. I’ve heard plenty of comments about it since the lake incident.”

Hermione felt saddened, the idea that not only had Severus suffered through being exposed like that but that students had mocked his body afterwards as well. She had heard the comments, mostly about him being skinny and pale, and some mention of scars on his back. Hermione liked his thinness, and she had plenty of scars of her own. She realised that not all the affection in the world from her was going to resolve his insecurities but she still had to try. She rose up and pressed a soft kiss to the tip of his nose, then settled back down.

“Do you believe me that I like your nose?”

He blinked at her for a moment but said, “Yes.”

She could tell he didn’t really believe her though. “Do you really think I would lie about it? I’ve never lied to you before. I like your nose.”

He thought about it seriously then said, “Tell me something you don’t like.”

“I don’t like it when you scowl. You look ugly when you scowl, and it reminds me of Professor Snape. I didn’t like your teeth before you fixed them. I’ve always had a thing about teeth honestly, and sometimes when we used to kiss I felt a bit grossed out about it. If I didn’t like something I wouldn’t lie and tell you I did.”

“Okay, and you like my nose.”

“Yes, I like your nose, and I also like the way you look. I like your body. I’ve always preferred skinny guys to big muscly ones really, even though that’s what most girls prefer. I know you’ll probably continue to worry, I have my own worries too, but I’m quite certain I will like you without your clothes, and in this case I think my opinion counts the most.”

His cheeks flushed, but he smiled. “I will try to believe you. What do you worry about?”

“I have scars too. I usually wear clothes which cover them, and Professor Dumbledore gave me a ring that puts a glamour over them though I don’t like to wear it all the time as it drains my magic, but they are quite ugly.”

Severus said quietly, “I have scars too.”

“Not quite like mine.”

She hesitated but he was going to find out about them at some point, if they were going to get married. She felt a little guilty for not telling him earlier actually, he wasn’t expecting her to be covered in hideous curse scars. After looking around to check there wasn’t anyone nearby she pulled her glamour ring off then parted her robes and pulled her shirt and vest up slightly to expose her stomach, showing him the bottom edge of the raised purple scar she had from the Department of Mysteries.

“This runs up between my breasts and finishes just under my collarbone.”

Severus reached out a hand to stroke the skin of her belly then ran his fingers over the scar. She shuddered slightly at the touch, the skin there was very sensitive. She pulled her shirt back down to cover it again then looked at him.

He leaned forward and kissed her. “You’re beautiful. Thank you, Hermione.” Then he added cheekily, “I’d love to see more of your scar sometime.”

The following Saturday was the Quidditch final, Gryffindor vs Ravenclaw. Hermione had never really cared that much about her house team’s chances for the cup. She knew the results of the match were interesting for Severus, Slytherin was currently in the lead by a large margin, but there was always a chance that either Ravenclaw or Gryffindor could thrash the other team and cause a sudden upset. Slytherin should win the cup, because the two teams were reasonably well matched with Black still banned from playing, but they were all still worried.

Hermione had listened to them rant about the unfairness of the Quidditch schedule for a while but she couldn’t bring herself to care, so she proposed the idea of skipping the match to Severus. He looked torn so she quickly reassured him it was fine if he wanted to attend the match but she was not going. The moment he changed his mind and agreed to skip it with her though she felt bad, and immediately talked him into attending after all.

“It’s the last match of the season, during your last year at Hogwarts, and your team is still in the running for the cup. You have to attend! You’ll have plenty of time to hang out with me on a picnic blanket in the future but this is your last Quidditch game as a student. I’ll just be practicing spells and revising anyway, it will be boring for you. Maybe I’ll brush up on Potions theory while you’re away since you’re ahead of me on that anyway.”

He grabbed her hand and leaned in closer to her, purring, “Hermione, it’s the last match of the season, during your last year at Hogwarts, and your team is still in the running for the cup. You have to attend. I know you don’t like Quidditch but come anyway, I’ll sneak you into the Slytherin stands and you can sit with me.”

“Bloody Quidditch. Fine, but if you make me go I’m going to cheer for the stupid Gryffindors.”

He leaned in, arching an eyebrow, and then smacked her lightly on the bum.

She laughed. “What was that for?”

“You will not cheer for James Potter.”

“Woohoo! Go James! Best seeker ever—”

He cut her off by pushing her up against the wall and kissing her. They were interrupted a moment later by Avery coming out of the common room.

“Right in the middle of the corridor? Have some shame you two.”

Severus turned to scowl at him.

“So, little Viper of Gryffindor. How are you liking your teams chances now that you’ve had their best beater banned from the team for us?”

“I don’t like anyone’s chances. Quidditch is a stupid game and I’m only coming under protest.”

Avery just smiled and they made their way down to the pitch together. She settled down and opened her copy of Advanced Potions Making to revise potion effects and proceeded to ignore everyone, but she wasn’t as grumpy about it as she pretended to be. Severus had his arm around her, and it was rather nice. She’d never attended a match with a boyfriend before, and she didn’t often get to attend with friends since hers were usually playing. She put her book down and snuggled into him to watch the match.

It quickly became clear that Ravenclaw was going to win. Gryffindor were trying, but unfortunately for them Sirius had really been quite a good beater and they were feeling his loss. Ravenclaw had pulled ahead by 80 points when the snitch was spotted, the two seekers went after it but James merely blocked the other seeker from catching it and then gave a cheeky bow towards the Slytherin section of the stands. They all groaned. He had denied his team the chance to win the match so that Ravenclaw could pull ahead enough on points to win the house cup. He’d sacrificed Gryffindor’s victory in this match so that Slytherin would lose overall.

Hermione just yawned. She could feel the rage coming off of Severus and she would have liked to make him feel better but she just couldn’t care that much about Quidditch and thought he’d probably find any comfort she tried to offer condescending.

MacNair spat at her angrily, “I thought you Gryffindors were supposed to be about sportsmanship.”

Severus scowled at him. “Do you see her up there on a broom? No? Potter is a prat but it’s nothing to do with Hermione.”

MacNair looked a little abashed but said nothing.

Avery said, “McGonagall looks pissed at least. They’ll be at this for ages. If Potter is determined not to catch the snitch he’ll let them go on forever. I’m not going to sit here and watch this.”

Severus suggested, “We should get the whole house to walk out together, make a statement.”

The other boy nodded and began whispering to the others in the stands behind them.

Hermione whispered to Severus, “Is it better or worse if I stay for a bit after you all clear out? The one little Gryffindor left behind in the Slytherin stands when you all walk out?”

Severus leaned in to kiss her cheek. “You’re such a little snake. Don’t bother though. Come and make sure I don’t drown my sorrows in butterbeer.”

She packed her book away and happily left the Hogwarts Quidditch stands for the final time. She did feel a little fond but was too relieved that she might never have to watch another game of this stupid excuse for a sport in her life to be too sad about it. She accompanied Sev to the Slytherin common room but left him to complain about Gryffindor with the others and retreated to one of the loveseats to pull out her book again.

She’d been sitting there for a while when Severus flopped down next to her and pouted. “You’re a bad girlfriend. You are supposed to be comforting me in my time of loss, not ignoring me to study a textbook you’ve already memorised.”

Hermione smiled. “Would you like me to cheer you up?”

“Yes, obviously.”

She said slowly, as though she was thinking about it as she went, “Well… I suppose… if you thought you could convince your dormmates not to walk in on us, you could sneak me up to your room. I might be convinced to show you my scar, if you think that might put you in a better mood.”

He perked up immediately. “Really?”

“Perhaps. It would depend on how upset you are.”

“Oh, I’m devastated. Completely torn apart. I don’t know how I will survive to see another dawn. Excuse me, I’ll be right back.”

She laughed as he went over to talk to Avery, who smirked and looked over at her. Hermione felt her cheeks burn, but pretended not to notice and continued reading her book, feeling rather surprised at her own audacity, yet not regretting it. Severus returned quickly and tugged her up the stairs to his room and into his four-poster. Hermione peeled her school robe off and set it down on top of his dresser then hopped onto his bed. She turned to look at him as he stared at her.

“Take your robes off,” she ordered.

He did and then joined her on the bed when she leaned back into his pillows and patted the space next to her. A whispered spell later and the curtains closed around them, dimming the light. She pressed herself against him, pleased but surprised to find he was already hard, and kissed him. He had propped himself up with one elbow while his other hand settled just above her hip and rubbed small circles, gradually drifting down toward her butt. Hermione let herself sink into the kiss for a moment then moved her hands to tug the bottom of his vest up.

He pulled back from the kiss to say, “I thought we were going to be undressing you, not me. I’m the one who needs cheering up.”

Hermione tutted. “I never promised to be the only one undressing. Take this off.”

He hesitated for a moment then pulled the vest over his head. Hermione pulled her own off and kissed him again, her hand tracing over his body until she reached the top button of his white shirt. She immediately began the work of unbuttoning him, stroking his skin as she revealed it. Severus quickly followed her lead, although he decided to work from the bottom up, and his nimble fingers were far more efficient than her clumsy attempts. He reached the top and peeled her shirt open, staring down at her. She’d been wearing her nicer bras on Saturdays for a while now, just in case, and today she was wearing a cream-coloured bra with mauve lace.

She watched as his eyes roamed over her, but he said, “I thought you were going to show me your scar.”

“Oh, that was just a joke, I meant to show you my breasts.”

He laughed. “Yes, but take your glamour off.”

“It’s ugly, and I can just leave the glamour on. I usually only take it off to sleep.”

“Nothing about you is ugly.”

Hermione slipped the ring off then watched as his eyes ran over her, following the curve of the scar as it ran between her breasts. His fingers immediately reached to stroke it and when she shuddered, he paused, “Does it hurt?”

“No, it feels nice actually, it’s a little odd though. You don’t have to touch it if you’d rather not.”

He bent his head to press a kiss to the top of it then ran his hot tongue down, tracing the curve of the scar between her breasts. Hermione shivered, feeling herself flood with heat in response. She’d left his shirt half unbuttoned, gaping open down to his belly button, but in that moment she couldn’t think about her attempts to undress him. All she could feel was the warm wetness of his mouth, his soft, silky tongue caressing her skin, his hand clutching her hip. She sighed and parted her legs almost involuntarily. Severus’ warm palm trailed up her side, covered her bra clad breast, and squeezed.

She let out a little yelp. “Too hard.”

He pulled back, abashed. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine, if you take your shirt off I’ll forgive you.”

He sat back, making quick work of his remaining buttons before pulling his shirt off. She looked at him, all pale skin and wiry black hair. His shoulders were rather broad, creating a nice triangular shape down to his trim waist. He was thin, she could see his collarbones clearly, and his ribs showed when he breathed in, but he wasn’t unpleasantly skeletal. He had a thin smattering of hair across his upper chest, which turned into a much thicker trail below his belly button that disappeared into his tented trousers. He was perfect.

Hermione licked her lips then reached out a hand to run it through the hair on his chest. She looked up into his eyes then and could see his uncertainty, her moodstone had escaped to rest on his mattress behind her somewhere pulling at the chain around her neck but she didn’t need it right now.

“You’re perfect. I want to kiss you all over.”

He pounced on her then, his mouth hot against hers, his tongue stroking fiercely into her mouth. Hermione moaned and then used her hands to nudge him on top of her, slotting him in between her parted legs. She ran one hand up his bare back, stroking him softly, while the other moved to tuck his hair behind his ears and pull it out of their mouths. She shifted her hips slightly, rubbing herself against him, and he groaned into her mouth. “Fuck. How far are we going?”

“Nothing removed below the waist, but I want to make you cum in your pants again.”

He ground himself against her. “That won’t take long.”

She turned her head and kissed his throat, while her hand travelled down to caress his ass and encourage his thrusts against her, drawing another strangled groan from him. A moment later he groaned out, “Hermione, fuck.”

He jerked against her twice and then stilled, his weight dropping onto her. She continued to caress him until he rolled off her. She looked down at the wet patch she could already see spreading on his trousers and smiled. He smiled shyly back at her, and with his lips all puffy and red from kissing, his hair dishevelled, and no shirt, he was so adorable it made her heart ache. His hand caressed her stomach gently and he said tentatively, “I’d like to make you cum too.”

She happily obliged, grabbing his hand and sliding it up inside her skirt along her stockings. She parted her legs, hooking one of them over him, until his fingers met her core. She took his pointer and index finger and stroked them gently against her clit.

“Merlin, you’re so wet I can feel it through your stockings, is that normal?”

“You turn me on. And I may or may not have been creating a very interesting fake memory for our Occlumency practice next week instead of watching that boring Quidditch match.”

He stroked her with his fingers, copying the rhythm she had showed him as he asked, “Oh really? What would that memory be about?”

“Aahh, you’ll see, it’s, mmmm, a surprise. No more talking now,” she commanded.

She wiggled around, his fingers weren’t quite hitting the right spot, but a moment later she felt him enter her mind. She could feel his lust and his movements suddenly became much more precise.

“Oh, a little... Yesss, just like that, oh Merlin, yesss, I’m going to… aaahh Severus.”

He stroked her through her orgasm, letting her throughts direct him into reducing the pressure as she jerked with aftershocks, and Hermione panted. That was easily the best orgasm she’d ever had and she could feel his smugness as he picked up on the thought. It prompted her to kick him out of her mind. She opened her eyes to look up at him, he looked very pleased with himself and she giggled, snuggling closer to him.

“This is nice. Thank you, I really enjoyed that.”

“My pleasure.”

“Oh my, how polite.”

“I am a little put out though. I didn’t even manage to get your shirt all the way off in the end, and you still have your bra on, while I’m half naked.”

“That just goes to show that I have more dedication towards undressing you. Try harder next time.”

She sat up and began buttoning her shirt up again. She watched him as he pulled his own shirt over his arms and then set to buttoning it up again.

She reached out to stroke his chest again then said, “What’s your opinion on pre-marital sex?”

He froze. He blinked at her. His mouth opened, then closed.

Eventually, he said through gritted teeth, “It’s best to wait. The magic for the bonding ceremony is generally thought to work better if both people are virgins.”

“So, we should wait then.”

He said sourly, “Yes. I would prefer to wait.”

She laughed. “If that’s the case then I hope you’re planning a very short courtship phase, because I am going to struggle to keep my hands off you.”

“You’re the best almost fiancé in the world. Short courtship it is.”

Hermione adjusted her pendant, nestling it back into place between her breasts. Severus looked at it for a moment, then said, “I wish I had one of those for your emotions.”

“I’m terribly fond of it. So many times I would have no idea how you really feel without this, you’re usually so impassive. At least I communicate.”

“I communicate, it’s just terribly ineffective and leads to dreadful misunderstandings. That rock hasn’t even really helped with that though, has it?”

“That’s true. Well, we can get another one if you’d like.”

They both fixed up their clothing, Severus ducking into the bathroom to change his pants, and then returned down to the common room. Hermione blushed at the knowing looks from the other boys and then Severus escorted her out to the grounds for a walk before dinner. The Quidditch match was still going and Hermione wondered how many points Ravenclaw would win by in the end. She had a feeling it would be excessive. She worried Severus would become upset again but he remained cheerful as they traipsed across the grounds together.

Hermione spent the next week, in between scheduled study times of course, feeling tentatively excited for their next Occlumency lesson. Her fantasy had started as a vague, half remembered dream, but she’d liked it. Severus had used their lessons to show her something he would like (her, sucking his cock), and she wanted to show him something in return.

Something she might like to try sometime. She wasn’t too embarrassed about wanting to be spanked. Severus had started it by smacking her on the bum a couple of times, and she was almost certain he would like that part as much as she did, whether he realised it yet or not. She was worried about the Professor/Student part of her fantasy though.

She’d realised, after discussing Professor Snape with Severus, that although neither of them particularly liked the man, Severus did feel inadequate compared to her memory of him. He might be brilliant at Potions but he wasn’t a Master with years of experience both brewing and teaching. Severus was usually the one to explain things to her, since Professor Snape had never taught her the N.E.W.T. level curriculum, but there were occasionally things she’d learnt from her O.W.L. classes which she was able to teach to him. He wanted the knowledge but didn’t enjoy being shown up in his best subject, even by himself. She found it a bit annoying sometimes, but she did understand.

Severus was now a talented Occlumens, but he wasn’t a spy who had spent years lying to the Dark Lord and living to tell the tale, instead they used their abilities to come up with silly fantasies as practice for generating false memories. He was talented at wordless, wandless magic, especially for his age, but he couldn’t wave a hand dismissively at the idea of silly wand waving knowing he didn’t need one at all. He knew far too much about the Dark Arts for a student, but he wouldn’t be called in to the Hospital Wing to heal curse injuries or analyse dark artifacts. He wasn’t a hero. Yet.

One thing Severus had going for him which Professor Snape didn’t though was that she had never found him attractive. Professor Snape was too cold and off putting for her to ever have considered such thoughts, until now when his younger self had melded with the memories of her former Professor, leading her to this moment, and her worries that showing Severus her teacher fantasy would be a terrible idea. She almost changed her mind, but she had more faith in Severus than that. If she could trust him when he told her he didn’t love Lily, then he could trust her when she told him that dressing him up in a frock coat in her fantasy didn’t mean she preferred her former Professor to him.

As soon as she felt Severus’ presence in her mind she fed him the false memory, not even waiting for him to call it up. She was approaching the door of the potions classroom and after knocking she heard Professor Snape call, “Enter”.

She stepped into the room. There she found Severus, and it was her Severus, but he was dressed up like her former Professor. Her Severus was a little less broad in the chest, but overall healthier looking, and he didn’t have the permanently etched scowl lines in his face yet, and hopefully never would. She had put him in the frock coat, the billowing black robes with all the little buttons, and the dragon hide boots.

The Professor eyed her dispassionately. “Miss Granger, attend to your workstation.”

Hermione walked through the classroom, it was set out the way Professor Slughorn had it in this time, and she headed to the workbench in the back which she and Severus used. Sitting on her desk was a jar of bluebell flames and she eyed it nervously as she approached.

Professor Snape said coldly, “Do you recognise these flames? I believe you once set my robes on fire Miss Granger.”

She said, carefully, “I’m sorry you were set on fire sir.”

“You don’t intend to admit to your wrongdoing then?”

“No, Professor.”

He smirked. “I don’t need a confession though Miss Granger, I know it was you. Do you really believe I would allow you to go unpunished?”

She bit her lip nervously and shook her head.

“Good girl. Remove your robes then place your hands on the desk, palms down.” Hermione hesitated at the odd request until he snapped, “Now!”

She complied, removing her school robes and placing them on the stool before positioning herself as requested. He eyed her, his expression cold, but there was a hint of warmth in his eyes. He smirked, then walked around behind her and saying, “Lean forward more.”

She gasped when she felt his hand touch the back of her thigh, gliding up her stockings and over her butt cheek. He kept going, pulling her skirt up and tucking it into her waistband, exposing her stocking clad bottom to the cool dungeon air. His hand returned to gently stroke her, and then -smack- he hit her with his open palm.

It wasn’t very painful, Hermione had trouble imagining the sensation and she’d decided against trying to hit herself to find out what it would really be like. Severus had smacked her playfully a couple of times but she didn’t really know what it would feel like to be spanked.

In the memory she jerked forward with surprise but Severus just smacked her again, saying tersely, “Hold still. Miss Granger.” Smack. “You will not.” Smack. “Light members of the faculty on fire.” Smack, smack. “Do you understand me?”

“Yes, sir. I’m sorry.”

He stroked her bottom again, and she could feel warmth pooling in her core at the sensation.

“Sorry doesn’t replace the robes you ruined with your little stunt.” Smack.

He hit her harder this time, she imagined a stinging sensation followed by warmth, and then the pleasant feeling of his hand kneading her through her stockings. Then he pressed in behind her, she could feel his erection against her bottom through his trousers and she whimpered.

He purred, “I think I might be convinced to forgive you.”

He hit her again and then his hand slid forward, over her hip and coming to rub at her clit through her stockings, the way Severus had the other night in his bed. He said softly, with a hint of mocking to his tone, “You’re very wet. You like this, don’t you Miss Granger. Are you a dirty little girl who enjoys being spanked by her Professor?”

She felt her cheeks heat with embarrassment but there was no point denying it when he could clearly feel the evidence. “Yes sir.”

He’d placed his left hand on the desk next to hers to hold himself up as he leaned into her, and she stared at their hands, one small and tanned, one large and pale, with long, delicate fingers. He moved a finger to lightly stroke the back of her pinky finger, an affectionate, reassuring gesture. He said fondly, “Good girl. Would you like a reward now for enduring your punishment so well?”

“Please sir.”

His fingers stroked her harder through her soaked stockings and she gasped, closing her eyes. The memory focused down onto the sensation of Severus’ fingers rubbing her, which she’d borrowed from her real recollection of the other night, but it was his voice saying, “You’re such a good girl,” which tipped her over the edge into her orgasm. The memory ended and she stilled her mind as Severus withdrew.

She looked at him, trying to contain her face, unsure quite how she was feeling. She wanted to laugh, she did feel happy and rather pleased with herself, it had been a good memory, yet there was a hint of hysteria to the feeling as well. She was definitely embarrassed, and nervous.

Severus stared at her, his cheeks were flushed, his eyes wide, and he breathed heavily through his nose. A moment later he rolled towards her pulling her into his arms.

“Hermione, you are going to be the death of me. Bloody hell, what was that?”

“A fantasy.”

He pulled back to look at her, his expression forbidding but she could feel that he was excited and aroused. He asked cautiously, nonchalantly, “You would like me to do that to you? Punish you by spanking you?”

She said coyly, “Only if you’d like it.” She was quite sure he would.

He rolled them until she was on top of him and then his hand came down and smacked her. “Ouch.”

He caressed her bottom, “Too hard?”

“No, I was just surprised. I haven’t done anything to be punished for, you’re supposed to tell me what I’ve done wrong first.”

He pinched her, “You are a little tease. A delicious little minx, showing me lurid fantasies that I’m not allowed to act on yet. That’s what you’ve done wrong.”

“Hey, you’re the one who started it. If that’s a punishable offence then maybe I should be spanking you!”

He chuckled, then kissed her. “Perhaps you should. Gods Hermione I have never wanted anything as much as I want you right now.”

She could feel it, his desire was almost overwhelming, and she grinned. “A very short courtship.”

He mumbled against her throat, “The shortest.”

Her wand buzzed, reminding her of the time, and she rolled away from him. “Time to study. Shall we work in tandem today and see if we can transfigure something bigger than a dog?”

“You are actually trying to torture me. Transfiguration? Now? My friends are right, Gryffindors really are an unsporting bunch.”

Chapter Text

Hermione had begun to regret their make out session in his bed almost immediately. It had been a spur of the moment decision, and although she’d thoroughly enjoyed it, she didn’t enjoy the speculative looks the other boys were giving her. Even in her day girls had faced accusations of being a slut or a whore for going off with a boy, even in a steady relationship.

It had been bad enough the time she’d slept in his bed, even though they’d all known nothing was happening. She and Severus hadn’t gone very far, and she knew Sirius Black had made it much further with his conquests, but she was realising there were significant cultural difference between the houses, and perhaps between the times as well.

Most of the people she’d known during her time, even the purebloods, had not been saving themselves for marriage. Ron and Lavendar certainly hadn’t, and neither had Ginny. She thought Parvati might have said something about it improving the strength of the binding spells, but she had no idea if that was true or not. Severus seemed to think it was.

In the end she decided to just ask Marlene. She’d been helpful when Hermione had asked about early marriage customs and would probably know just as much about this. So, one night when they all went up to bed Hermione asked, “Is it true that marriage bonds are stronger between couples who haven’t had sex yet?”

Marlene perked up. “Are you going to shag Snape?”

“I don’t know. Depends on the answer to my question.”

She shrugged. “Most people say so. Some think it’s nonsense though and makes no difference.”

“What do you think?”

“You know I dated Sirius Black right?”

“I did know that, yes.”

“Sirius thinks it’s just purity culture lies that they use to control their children so they can maintain their blood lines. He had some really convincing arguments about it, he even showed me some research he’d done, although I later found out he’d bullied Remus into helping him.”

Hermione felt surprised for a moment, then she laughed at the idea of Remus doing research so Sirius could use it to convince girls to sleep with him. “Did it work? Were you convinced?”

“I mean, yeah, he’s kinda right. Virginity’s not that big of a deal. Loads of people do stuff and it’s fine. I don’t get why magic would care if you’ve had sex, but not if you’ve sucked someone off. I have heard that too many partners does mess with it though, but it’s probably fine if it’s the person you’re gonna bond with.”

“So did you..?”

Marlene looked amused. “Nah. I’m not the fastest broom in the shed but I’m not gonna risk pregnancy at sixteen. It’s alright for you Muggle-born but contraceptives aren’t so easy to get a hold of for the rest of us.”

“They aren’t?”

Lily answered, “You already know that wizards have really low birth rates. There’s not much demand for the Contraceptive potion and it’s a difficult brew. No healer is going to give you one just so you can have pre-marital sex.”

“Couldn’t everyone just use Muggle methods then?”

“Purebloods can’t exactly go and pick up a prescription for the pill—assuming they even know about it, or trust it enough to think it would work—and good luck convincing a wizard to wear a condom.”

Hermione eyed her curiously. “Have you and James?”

Lily paused brushing out her gorgeous, silky red hair, to say, “No. I can’t risk it.”

Hermione cocked her head.

Marlene leaned forward, eager to share the gossip. “James only introduced her to his parents for the first time over Easter and it didn’t go very well.”

Lily shot her friend an annoyed look.

Hermione asked, “Really? You two have been together for ages though.”

Lily said, “His parents were dying, he didn’t see the point. Now that their Dragon Pox has been cured they are taking more of an interest.”

Marlene asked Hermione, “You met them, didn’t you? How did that go?”

“Oh, they hated me. They thought Sev was going to poison them and I told them if they didn’t want to take our potion they were welcome to go die instead.”

“Did you really?”

“Not in those words, but that was the gist of it.”

Lily smiled, with reluctant admiration. “You’re insane. I wish I could do that. They seem so stuck up.”

“Yeah, I got that impression too.”

They fell into silence for a moment and then Hermione mused, “What does it even mean for a marriage bond to be stronger? How can you tell?”

“Some people can see them. It just means the effects’ll be stronger, or there’ll be more of them. Sometimes you get wild stuff, like shared power, shared thoughts and memories, even magical resistance. Other times it’s just little things, tingling when they are nearby, shared lust, sleep better next to them. Pretty random really.”

“Interesting. Shared power sounds amazing.”

“Yeah with a husband like yours? For sure. It’s luck of the draw though. My parents can just find each other and get a bit of mood bleed. Probably like that moodstone thing you’ve got.”

“Were they virgins?”

“Eww, I don’t know. Probably.”

Hermione laughed. “Sorry, I’m just curious.”

Hermione still wasn’t sure how any of it worked, and part of her itched to go into research mode, but exams were only a few weeks away so it would have to wait. She doubted she’d be able to find anything conclusive anyway, and if she had any chance of ending up with some kind of power sharing with Severus she wasn’t going to risk it just to have sex.

It hadn’t occurred to her to worry at first that after their snogging session in his bed Severus might expect things to get more heated between them. She was relieved to realise they seemed to be on the same page about not progressing things where they could be caught. They’d still sneak off into an alcove or behind a tapestry to snog, but there was an unspoken rule that they wouldn’t remove any clothing. Even without the map Sirius Black continued to stalk them through the castle so they had to stay on guard, and there was always the chance of being caught by a teacher or one of the prefects too.

For the first week nothing seemed to have changed, but on the Monday after she’d shared her Professor Snape fantasy things grew heated. She was on her way to the library when Severus spotted her across the hallway and her necklace flooded with lust, stopping her in her tracks. She’d just had History of Magic, the only class she didn’t share with him, so she told Remus she’d catch up with him later and took a detour. Severus stalked her down the corridor and dragged her into an alcove.

He was practically feral, kissing her passionately and grinding against her. Severus’s fascination with her ass had inspired her spanking fantasy in the first place, and since sharing that fantasy with him he seemed even more enamoured of it. While they were snogging his hands found their way up her skirt, caressing and kneading her butt cheeks through her stockings.

She was just beginning to worry that she might have to tell him to stop when he pulled back with a gasp, told her she was beautiful, kissed her gently and then fled to the bathroom. She’d felt his growing arousal and then feelings of pleasure and realised he was getting himself off while she waited for him.

He'd been unfocused all night during their study session, to the point that she’d dragged her necklace out to the front of her robes so he’d stop distracting her from her Ancient Runes translation. She’d shot him a reprimanding look as she did so, but quickly moved to reassure him when she saw his expression. She leaned over to kiss his cheek and whispered, “I like it but you’re very distracting and not all of us got to relieve ourselves in the bathroom after that snog. I need to study and you should too.”

He blushed but she just smiled and returned to her homework. Whether he took her advice to study or not she had no idea. Lily eyed the pendant with interest but said nothing. Now that Severus wasn’t stupidly trying to make Hermione jealous he was a little less agreeable towards the other girl and she seemed to have settled into just being friends, becoming much less pushy. She was far easier to tolerate now.

He was so distracted on Thursday in class that he almost ruined his potion, when Hermione pointed out to him that he needed to lower the flame before adding Murtlap Essence he flushed and hissed at her, “This is your fault you know. Why did you have to use our workbench for your little scene?”

Hermione just grinned at him and continued with her own work.

They stayed back after class as they still had approval from Slughorn to use the classroom on Thursday afternoons and she was chopping ginger root for their latest experiment when her moodstone warmed with affection and she looked up to see Severus admiring one of the knives she’d given him as part of his potions kit for his birthday.

“I’m glad you like your birthday present.”

He smiled softly, “I love it. It’s easily the best thing I’ve ever received.”

He put it down and came up next to her to wrap his arms around her from behind. A moment later and he was kissing the back of her neck, sending a shudder down her spine.

“I can’t stop thinking about it. I want to bend you over this desk, I want to tug your stockings down, and then smack your bare bottom until it’s red. You’ve been driving me mad all week. I don’t know how I’m going to get through exams when all I can think of is you.”

She turned around in his arms, reaching up to caress his face and asked seriously, “Did you really like it that much? I did think you might enjoy the idea of spanking me but I didn’t expect you to be quite this into it. I want to try it but I’m not sure it’s something I’d like to do all of the time.”

“Hermione, it’s not that. I do like the idea of spanking you but it’s not the content of the fantasy, it could have been about anything really. I’d still have been happy because your fantasy was about me. When I thought of trying to convince you to turn our fake relationship into a real one I thought the best I could hope for was tolerance. I thought you’d close your eyes, or turn the lights off, and imagine I was someone else. I never thought you’d come up with a fantasy where you focused on the look in my eyes, or the feeling of my hands on your skin, or the sound of my voice whispering dirty things into your ear. The idea of you thinking about me like that is intoxicating. You actually—” He cut off, and his feelings suddenly grew heavy with doubt.

Hermione said quickly, “I find you very attractive Sev. Your eyes are stunning, I love your nose, your jawline is gorgeous. I love all the little ways your lips quirk, the way your eyebrows arch so expressively. I adore when you blush like this, your skin going all splotchy and red is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. I can’t wait to see you with your shirt off again, I want to kiss you all over, I’ve never found anyone as sexy as you are. Oh, and your voice, you send shivers down my spine, literal shivers, especially when you do that purring thing. I could listen to you read a bloody phonebook and I’d get wet. As much as I adore your insecurity it really is unnecessary in this case.”

His black eyes stared at her intensely and he blurted, “I love you.”

He panicked immediately. She’d barely processed what he’d said before his lips crashed into hers. His panic was overwhelming. He obviously hadn’t been ready for that confession and was worried about her reaction. His tongue swept into her mouth, capturing hers, his arms holding her tightly to him. There was so much intensity to his emotions, he was so frightened she could practically taste it. She wanted to stop him, to tell him it was okay, but before she could do anything they were interrupted.

There was a noise from the corridor, and they sprung apart just before Slughorn entered the room. The Professor gave them a knowing look before asking how they were progressing this evening. Hermione straightened up and launched into an explanation of their progress and what they were working on, hoping he’d be satisfied, but he’d clearly decided to keep an eye on them.

She didn’t need the moodstone to tell her how unhappy Severus was. He was grinding ingredients down as though they’d personally offended him, he felt heavy with despair and anger. She wished to comfort him, at the same time as she wanted to scold him. His reaction was excessive, they’d already practically agreed to get married, surely, he didn’t think a confession of love was unwanted? Unless he hadn’t meant it and regretted saying it? But no, that was stupid.

They finished their potion and fed it to one of the test mice, turning it’s fur dark red. They’d found a way to incorporate powdered gemstones into their hair potions, they were starting with garnets since they were on the cheaper end but would have an obvious effect. The mouses fur had taken on the dark red colour, and it was slightly clear and glittery, as though it was now made of the gemstone.

Slughorn exclaimed happily over their progress. Severus accepted the praise with ill grace then began to hastily pack his things. They were stuck with Slughorn accompanying them to dinner in the Great Hall and she realised Severus was probably going to bolt as soon as dinner was over but she pre-empted him saying, “Let’s skip pudding tonight. Meet me in the entrance hall after you’ve eaten something.”

He looked as though he was thinking about refusing but his emotions settled slightly, and he nodded before making his way into the hall. Hermione ate quickly but she could feel his eyes on her, intense as she ate.

Even Lily said, “Sev is staring at you even more than normal.”

Hermione nodded, “He’s being very silly today.”

She declined making any further comment, simply pushed her half-finished plate away then rose, noting that Severus copied her immediately. She smiled at his eagerness as she walked out into the Entrance Hall.

When he reached her she took his hand and said, “Let’s go for a walk shall we?”

The sun was low in the horizon, the water rippling orange with the reflection of its dying light as they began to walk towards the path that circled the lake. As soon as they’d left the castle Severus spoke, “It’s fine Hermione, just forget I said everything.”

“You can’t take it back. Unless you didn’t mean it?” She levelled the challenge with an arched brow.

“I didn’t mean to say it.”

“Is it really so bad that you did though?”

He scuffed his feet against the ground, kicking up dust and rocks as he said petulantly, “No, it’s not bad. I just panicked but it’s fine really. You needn’t make a fuss about it, and you don’t have to say it back.”

“If you’d given me a moment to respond I would have.”

He flooded with hope but he tried to play it cool. “Would you?” he asked, with a forced air of casualness.

She laughed. “I love you, you idiot.”

He squeezed her hand but said nothing, and he didn’t look at her. He continued walking around the lake, a slight smile on his face, you’d never know from looking at him how triumphant and euphoric he felt.

After they’d made it about halfway around the circuit he teased, “I can’t believe the first time you said you love me you also called me an idiot.”

“It’s your fault for being so silly. If you hadn’t panicked, I could have said it back immediately without the qualifier.”

“Hmmn, and yet you claim to love me, so as much as you complain you must secretly enjoy my idiocy.”

“Oh, it’s not a secret. I’m used to being the smartest person around, and yet I still find myself overwhelmed by your intellect sometimes. I feel so inferior when we’re working on a potion and you’ll just pop out an idea, and I have to sit there for 10 minutes thinking it over before it begins to make any sense to me. It makes me feel better to know that as smart as you are when it comes to magical theory you can be so stupid about other things. You’re a very adorable idiot.”

He pulled her into a hug. “I’m glad you think so. It’s hard to imagine that the girl responsible for feats such as breaking into the Ministry to battle Death Eaters and escaping Gringotts on the back of a dragon could ever feel inferior to me. We both know where I would be without you and it’s nowhere good.”

She squeezed him. “I do worry about the war. Especially now that graduation is so close. I really hoped that if I gave the Headmaster all the information he’d get things resolved a bit sooner. I don’t want to get more involved, but I do worry about what will happen.”

“You don’t have to get involved if you don’t want to.”

“I’m worried about Rita’s article. It’s going to be a distraction from the war. I’m wondering if I should give him a warning about it. She wrote to me last week and it’s going to be a big dramatic reveal; it will cause a huge scandal.”

“You’re too nice. The scandal is deserved, you realise that. Sticking a werewolf into a shack is not a sufficient security measure, and he should be accountable for that. You said it yourself, just because he has greater concerns doesn’t give him the right to neglect his job and put student safety at risk.”

Hermione smiled. “It’s cute that you listen to me when I talk but it’s much less cute when you use my own arguments against me.”

“If you are going to warn him, you’ll need to do so at the last minute. He’ll try to interfere, but you’re right, he’s going to suspect you no matter how innocent you look so giving him a bit of time to prepare might not be a bad thing.”

“You’re right, I will figure out the timing. It’s only a week away, I hope nothing goes wrong.”

“It won’t. You’ve done all you can. I love you.”

“I love you too, silly man.”

“Do you plan on insulting me every time you say that?”

“Yes, I need to keep you humble after all.”

“Insufferable wench.”

“Obnoxious arse.”

He smirked. “You like my arse.”

She smacked him on said arse. “Yes I do.”

“I like yours too, you know?”

“Do you really? I had no idea. It’s not like you’ve spent the past week completely fixated on it or anything.”

“That’s entirely your own fault, you with your dirty little fantasies.”

“Sure, blame me for everything.”

“Oh, I do. I think this is all just an elaborate plan you’ve concocted to make me perform poorly so you can beat my N.E.W.T. scores.”

She gasped in mock affront. “How dare you. Well fine, I shall stop distracting you so you can’t complain and blame me if I do beat you.”

“Too late for that.”

“Surely not. We could stop snogging entirely until exams are over if you think that would help you concentrate.”

“Not a chance. I think we should snog more.”

“Nope, I’m not going to risk it. What if I do beat you, you’ll sulk insufferably.”

“We are going to tie and there will be no sulking.”

“I won’t snog you again unless you promise to absolve me of all responsibility for distracting you.”

He stopped, tugging on her arm to pull her into an embrace and tried to kiss her. She turned her head away from him, dodging his lips and giggling. He grabbed her hair to hold her still as she squirmed against him. He kissed her but she held her lips together in a tight line, containing her laughter.

“Impossible minx. Fine, I, Severus Snape, hereby resolve that Hermione Granger will not be held in any way responsible should I perform poorly on my exams due to my distraction with her delicious derriere. Satisfied?”

She gave him a quick, but not quite chaste, kiss. “Very. Now let’s head back to the castle, I don’t think you ate anything at dinner but we might make it back just in time to grab some dessert.”

“Who wants dessert when I could have you?”

“None of that Mr Snape. Go eat something.”

On Saturday they met by the lake and it seemed they were both in agreement that they would now use their Occlumency lessons exclusively to practice creating sexual fantasies about each other as false memories. Hermione had crafted one of them snogging in her bed up in Gryffindor tower. She basically just took the experience they’d had in his bed and shifted the location.

On his turn he immediately pushed forward his own false memory, and she could feel how eager he was to show it to her. In the memory he was in the library, scrawling a note about a potion alteration into the margins of his textbook when Hermione startled him.

“Mr Snape, please tell me you are not defacing school property.”

He looked down and realised he’d just accidentally written in a library book, not his own textbook. He turned to look at her saying, “I’m sorry Madam Granger, I didn’t mean to.”

She realised then that he’d cast her in the role of librarian. The Hermione in his false memory had her hair up in a messy bun, curls spilling out of it the way they did when she was brewing. She wore thin, wire frame glasses, with a white ruffled blouse, a dark grey vest, a tight pencil skirt, and chunky high heeled shoes. It wasn’t anything like what Madam Pince wore and Hermione found herself intrigued by his sense of fashion. She could actually imagine herself wearing something similar.

The librarian Hermione sniffed with disapproval. “No matter how sorry you are you’ve still just scrawled all over a brand-new library book.” She pulled the book over to look at his notes and smirked. “Adding a clockwise stir? Very clever. I could almost forgive you, considering this is technically an improvement to the text, if it weren’t for your messy handwriting. Stand up, you shall write lines until this scrawl of yours improves into something legible.”

Hermione was amused. It was a common complaint she’d made about his messy handwriting, and about his tendency to write in books. She hadn’t realised at first that for Severus parchment was a valuable resource that he didn’t have an endless supply of. Once she had she’d stopped nagging him about it, even though it still made her fingers twitch to see him scrawling all over the margins of his books.

In the fantasy she placed a piece of parchment in front of him and ordered him to write lines, but the librarian Hermione perched herself on the desk before him, next to the parchment, allowing her pencil skirt to rise up showing off her thighs. Severus gulped but began to write as instructed, ‘Stir three times anticlockwise then add a clockwise stir. Repeat seven times.’ His eyes strayed to stare at Hermione’s legs, the pencil skirt having risen improbably higher. It had been too tight earlier to now be rucked up so high, but it was a minor complaint.

Madam Granger noted his distraction and tutted, “Are you having difficulty concentrating, Mr Snape? Your handwriting seems worse than ever.”

He looked down at the parchment, to see that his writing had indeed grown more shaky and illegible. She hopped down from the table and stood behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist and then allowing her hands to stroke up and down his stomach, progressing slightly further on each downward stroke. He was incredibly aroused, his cock aching, twitching each time her hand came closer. He could feel her soft breasts pressed against his back.

She said huskily, “We shall practice and see if you can’t learn to resist distraction. Write.”

He shakily picked up the quill again and began to write, stopping to gasp when her hand brushed against his cock. She backed off until he began to write, and as soon as he did her hand stroked him again through the fabric of his pants. She would only touch him so long as he continued to work on the lines, and he focused desperately on trying to write the words while her hands teased him deliciously.

He was on the verge of orgasm when she pulled away tutting, “This won’t do. You haven’t improved at all Mr Snape.”

He gasped and turned to look at her, “Please keep going.”

Hermione smirked. “Naughty boys who don’t do their homework don’t get to cum.”

He turned back to the parchment and began writing again, carefully inking the letters and moaned when her hand returned. She stroked him as he managed, with great difficulty, to write the line neatly. She then brought him to completion. The intensity of his orgasm shot through her in the memory and she slipped out of his mind as she lost her concentration on the connection.

When she met his eyes, she giggled.

He asked, mostly amused but with a hint of uncertainty, “Are you laughing at me?”

“I like the librarian outfit, where did you get the idea for that?”

“I’m not sure, I’ve always liked those skirts though.”

She shook her head, “Terribly uncomfortable. I have one but I never wear it, too hard to walk in.”

His eyes lit up. “I’d like to see that.”

“Hmmn, and do you like it when I scold you for your messy handwriting?”

He laughed. “No, not really, but I think I’d like it better in that context.”

“We’ll have to try it sometime then and see if there’s any improvement.”

He smouldered at her but she distracted him into transfiguration practice before he could start snogging her.

He rolled his eyes. “I love you, even when you boss me about with your ridiculous study schedule.”

She poked her tongue out at him. “And I love you, but I’d love you even more if you could Transfigure a dog with four legs that aren’t all wonky.”

He sighed and summoned a rock to begin practicing.