A Sacrifice for Love

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Snape sat in his office for quite a while after Pansy had gone. He was stunned at what had just happened, and not because Pansy had ambushed him in that way. She was a Slytherin after all. What shocked him was the information she had given. Or more specifically, the name of the potion he had given to Hermione.

The AS Studying potion had been one of Amy’s favorites because it allowed her to stay up and study for up to 29 hours without the usual side effects of that type of potion. It had been something he had helped her with for a few days when she was testing it. He had demanded she give him some credit for it when she patented it, which was evident in the name. AS stood for Amy and Severus.

Now that he had a name for the potion he remembered it. It wasn’t unusual that he would not remember it because he had brewed it only once before Amy’s death. He had been tricked by a ghost into kissing Hermione Granger and then setting the following results into effect. Amy knew him better than anyone, even Albus, and she would have known about his attraction to the annoying Gryffindor girl. No wonder she had not come to see him.

So Hermione had been telling the truth about the potion being fake, he mused to himself. He had honestly thought she was lying to him. If the potion were fake, like Pansy had said, then that meant that Miss Hermione Granger did love him. He could hardly believe it.

He couldn’t deny his feelings for her any longer. He wasn’t sure he wanted to, anyway. She was a beautiful, intelligent, passionate witch and he was in love with her. He wasn’t sure when it had happened and he really didn’t care. Voldemort was dead, and while there were still Death Eaters out there, he could move on with his life and be happy.

He considered what Pansy had said and sighed. As much as he hated it, he was going to need help.



Pansy didn’t bother to tell anyone what she had done, but the next day she felt extremely smug about it. She would be the one who succeeded where the men had failed. That day, when they entered the Potions classroom, Snape was waiting. He watched them all sit at their desks and when they were ready, he instructed them to begin the potion on the board. He watched them all carefully waiting for something.

It wasn’t too long before he got what he was waiting for. Harry had added more than the three drops of dragon’s blood and their potion had begun to smoke heavily. Snape sneered at them and with a wave of his wand, vanished the potion. He glared down at the two unfortunate boys.

“Detention tonight at eight o’clock. Do not be late.” he said in his silky voice before returning to his desk. When he sat down, he couldn’t help but glance at Hermione. She was staring at him with a little smirk and turned to Draco, who was sitting behind her.

“Meet me in the Library at eight? We can... study.” She said in a loud whisper that carried across the room. Harry and Ron turned to glare at her but Draco smiled and nodded slightly. To Hermione’s surprise, Snape did not deduct points from Draco. He had actually raised an eyebrow and smirked at her.

She began to feel confused and not just a little aroused. Damn him for being so sexy, she thought and then forced herself to concentrate on her potion. Snape raised his hand to hide a smile. Harry and Ron were staring at him, horrified. Before he had covered it up, they had seen the smile and to both, Snape smiling was not a good thing. Harry just hoped he had not found out about their plan.

Soon class was over and as they got up to leave, Ron asked Snape “Will we be serving detention with Filch or Hagrid tonight?” It was a fair question considering for the last month he had sent all of the students to Filch and Hagrid for detention.

Snape smirked at them. “Neither, you will be here with me. Do not be late.” he said coolly.

Ron paled and hurried out of the classroom with Harry close behind. They did not have a good feeling about tonight’s detention. The rest of the day went quickly. Harry had found the more you dreaded something, the faster time seemed to go and before they knew it, they were standing outside Snape’s classroom.

He was waiting for them and when they came in, he locked and warded the door. This made both boys extremely nervous. He motioned for them to sit and they did. He paced in front of them for a moment. Harry would have sworn Snape looked nervous. Finally Snape stopped and faced them.

“You know, I am sure, about Hermione...” he said tentatively and realization dawned on Harry. The plan had worked. It was a second more before Ron realized what he was talking about. Both boys nodded.

“Well...” Snape glared at them as if it were their fault. “I made a mistake.” He growled in frustration. This was not easy. He wasn’t someone who asked people for help, especially not people like Potter and Weasley and he also hated admitting to mistakes.

Harry raised an eyebrow. “What would you call a mistake, Professor? Shagging your student or telling her she was bad afterward?” he asked wryly. He was surprised when Snape just sighed and sat on the edge of his desk.

“In a way, Potter, both of them were a mistake. But I did not give you detention so we could discuss my mistakes. I gave you detention so you could help me rectify them.” He waved his wand and a roll of parchment appeared on the desk in front of Harry along with a quill and ink.

“I want you to answer these questions, to the best of your knowledge. You will keep this quiet. If I hear any rumors about this, you will regret it.”

Harry and Ron looked at each other and then Harry unrolled the parchment. It had a list of questions, all concerning Hermione. They looked at each other again and grinned. Snape saw the grins and scowled. This was humiliating but it had to be done. He did not know how to win her back but he would find the answers and these two would help him.

“Professor, would it be alright if we discussed this?” Harry asked. Snape nodded and left the room.

“He wants us to help him?” Ron asked incredulously. Deep down he had not believed Hermione loved Snape or that he loved her. He had thought it was just a fluke of nature that had gotten them together in the beginning.

Harry nodded and smiled. “He is lucky I don’t hold a grudge and that I want Hermione to be happy.” He said staring at the door Snape had disappeared through.

Ron shook his head. “It’s just too weird. What does the first question say?”

Harry read the parchment “What are her favorite colors? That’s an easy one. Green and silver.”

Ron rolled his eyes. “Sometimes, I think she should have been a Slytherin.” Harry smiled and wrote the answer down.

“What is her favorite flower?” Ron read over Harry’s shoulder. “How are we supposed to know all of this? She may be a girl but she doesn’t act all girly all the time.”

Harry sighed. “She likes jasmine. She uses jasmine scented stuff all the time” he said rolling his eyes. Sometimes he didn’t understand Ron’s luck with women.

They went over the list together, laughing at some of the questions. Some were obvious and others took a lot of thought to answer. Harry was glad when they reached the last question. It read: As Hermione’s best friends, what do you think she looks for in a mate?

Ron gave an answer first. “Intelligence”

Harry nodded. “A sense of humor”

“Someone not interested in Quidditch.”

“Maturity”

“Someone observant”

“Someone who won’t take her for granted”

“Someone who she can trust.”

“Someone who loves her”

Harry wrote down all the answers and set the quill down. “Well, I wonder what he plans to do with all this information.” He mused.

“I plan to convince her that I love her and want to be with her. Thank you.” Snape said quietly from the door.

Harry nodded. “We want her to be happy”

Snape nodded. “So do I” he admitted.

Harry and Ron made their way to the door. Harry waited until Ron left the room before turning back to Snape.

“I know you went through a lot in the past, at the hands of my father and his friends, and also with Voldemort. Dumbledore told me some and then I have witnessed what Voldemort did to his Death Eaters, but I want you to know something. The pain Voldemort put you through will not compare to what I will do to you if you hurt Hermione. She is my best friend and I love her more than anything. Don’t hurt her.” He warned.

Snape considered him for a moment and then nodded solemnly.

“I will do my best not to hurt her.” He promised.

Harry nodded and left the room, leaving Snape to make his plans.