It Started With A Kiss

Chapter 16

Severus returned that evening and found her in the lab working diligently on her potion. He observed her from the door, worrying her bottom lip, as was her habit when deep in thought. She was reading her notes and seemed oblivious to his presence. He knocked on the open door making her aware that he was there. She looked up from her notes and the corner of her mouth curled up in a half smile when she saw him.

“Oh, hello Severus. Finished with your grading already?”

“It’s after 9:00 in the evening my dear. It doesn’t take me all night to grade 3rd year essays.” He said, amused at how she becomes so wrapped up in her work she loses track of time.

“I didn’t realize it was that late. Mind if I pick your brain a bit?”

“I’m at your service, Madam.”

“I’m not sure if I should go with the Black Opal flakes since that may react badly to the Powdered Obsidian.”

“Have you considered Salamander Blood or Pomegranate Juice? Though I think Salamander Blood would work best with the other ingredients.” He came over and looked into the cauldron, the potion was a dark blue and appeared to be the consistency of pudding. She was doing well, but the potion still had the potential to go bad if she was not careful.

“Wouldn’t Salamander Blood react badly with the Black Obsidian?”

“Only if it was whole or flaked, since you used powdered it should not have a diverse reaction. I would like to be here though to observe when you do add it, just in case.”

“Do you have any in the stores?”

“Yes, how much do you think you need?”

“Maybe 6 drops, I’ll have to calculate the proper amount.” She said picking up her quill and working the equations, she needed to determine the amount to use in the potion.

Severus watched as her quill flew across the parchment seeing the concentration on her face as she worked the Arithmantic equations. He thought that she would one day make an exceptional Potions mistress, with her ability to think outside of the old accepted views and ways, she would turn the world of Potions on its ear and drag it into the 20th century. He always wanted a wife to share his love of potions with, if she was also a Potions mistress that would be even better. Someone he could do research with, someone to develop new potions with, that would be his dream come true. Yes, if Hermione wished to pursue a career in potions he would find a master to take her on as an apprentice. He would do it himself but he did not want anyone to doubt that she earned her certification on her own and not because she was his wife.

“Five drops, it will take 5 drops of Salamander Blood.

“Do you have enough, Severus?”

“Yes, there is plenty in the stores.” He said.

“Tomorrow morning then it will need to be added by 7:00 a.m.” Hermione checked her potion one last time making sure the magical flame was at the proper temperature. She cleaned up the work area putting away her quill and journal.

“Shall I order tea from the kitchen or would you prefer something a bit more potent?” She asked Severus as she rose from the stool.

“A little more intoxicating I think, why don’t you order tea if you want.” He said as he took her hand and they walked through to their quarters.

Severus opened the concealed cabinet and poured a bit of brandy into his snifter. He joined Hermione on the sofa a cup of tea appearing in front of her on the table.

“How did your discussion with Draco go?”

“It went well, I didn’t have to Oblivate him. I did make him take a wand oath though, I didn’t tell him much but we did talk about the picture and the fact that his father had an older brother.”

“I can envision how he took that news.” Hermione said.

“He is dismayed that his father apparently deceived him all his life. I am hoping that Albus is able to get some pertinent information, we need to find out who this person is and how to draw him out into the open.” He said taking a swallow of his brandy.

“I wish we knew more about what we’re facing here, I detest the fact that we know so little. I wonder sometimes how long this is going to take, months or years?” Hermione said the tension apparent in her voice.

Severus brought his arm around her shoulder holding her close to him. “No matter how it long it takes love, we will see it through together.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Over the next several weeks, more and more incidents of strange sightings were reported. Hermiones’ potion experiment for her independent study was proving to be a success, she was testing it on nifflers first, and they were resisting some nasty hexes thanks to the potion.

“Severus” Hermione said as she raced into their rooms, “Come here, look at this. It works, it works!”

Severus had been sitting on the sofa, reading the newest issue of Potions Monthly when Hermione came racing into the room. He followed her into the lab a cage had been set up on the table with a niffler inside.

“I gave this little guy a 10 drops of the Shielding Potion, then I started casting hexes at him. Nothing too harsh, just ‘Impedimenta and a stunner, the niffler was unaffected by the spells.”

Severus looked at her, he knew she would not lie to him but still, totally unaffected! “Show me, Hermione.”

Hermione took the niffler from the cage and replaced it with one that had not been subjected to the testing yet. She fed it 10 drops of the potion and waited a few minutes, she then cast a stunner at it. The niffler did not react to it at all. His eyebrows rose high on his forehead.

“May I try something, Hermione? A more complex spell.”

“Be my guest, Severus.”

Severus took out his wand from his sleeve, aimed it at the cage with the niffler, and cast ‘Sectumsempra’ at the creature. To his amazement, it had no effect on the niffler.

“Congratulations, Hermione. It appears you have succeeded. Now you just need to see how long a dose of the potion will last.” He said.

Hermiones’ smile seemed to light up the room. She threw herself into his arms squealing, “I can’t believe it, I really did it, Severus.”

“I never doubted that you would. While you finish your notes and clean up I’ll order us some tea from the kitchens.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The next day Hermione headed to the Headmasters office, her journal containing her notes held closely to her chest. Approaching the gargoyle that protected the entry she gave the password and watched as the huge stone gargoyle slid to the side allowing her to step onto the revolving staircase up to the door.

Knocking on the heavy wood door she heard the elderly wizard call out for her to enter.

“Good afternoon, Professor.” Hermione said her excitement barely contained.

“Good afternoon, Mrs. Snape. I can see from the look on your face you have good news.”

“Very good, sir. The potion, it works.” She said as she handed him the large book.

He opened it and flipping through to her last entry a smile spread across his face as he read the results of her first test.

“This is wonderful, Hermione. You have done some amazing work here. I expect you will be conducting more test, yes?”

“Yes, sir, I still need to test to see how long the potion last and then it needs to be tested on human subjects. The preliminary results so far are very promising though.”

As their talk continued an owl flew to the window pecking at it insistently demanding entrance. Dumbledore waved his hand at the window, which opened enough for the owl to fly in; it landed on his desk holding its leg up for him to remove the parchment that was attached. Taking the rolled up parchment from the owl he broke the seal and unrolled it, his brow furrowed as he read the contents of the letter and Hermione wondered what could cause the headmaster to react in such a way.

“This is from a contact I have at the Ministry, in the Records Department to be exact, she was unable to find any information on the death of Julius Malfoy.”

“I was unable to find anything either in the back issues of the Daily Prophet.”

“That leads to one of two conclusions then, either young Julius’ death was hushed up or he did not die.”

“If he didn’t die Professor then where is he and why isn’t his existence known. Why is Lucius Malfoy even denying he ever had an older brother?”

“There is only one reason I can come up with, it’s not unheard of in old pureblood families especially ones as inbred as the Malfoys.”

“You think he may be a squib?” Hermione said. “Why would Mr Malfoy deny his existence because of that?”

“You must understand, Hermione, in old pureblood families such as the Malfoys it is considered a disgrace to have a child who is not magical capable. In the past, and even today in some cases, if a child did not show any magical ability by the time they were eleven they were either banished to a muggle orphanage or met with an accidental death which was more often the case.”

“You mean they were murdered. That’s awful, how could people allow it go on?” Hermione said shocked that such practices were and apparently still are practiced.

“Many would turn a blind eye to it unfortunately. However, these days some of these children are either kept by their families or more often, their memories are altered and they placed in orphanages or placed with other squibs and raised as muggles.”

“So, if Julius Malfoy is indeed alive and a squib he couldn’t possibly be the one causing these incidents. Which leads us back to square one. Though I do wonder why he’s dressed as a wizard and if his memory was altered how would he know about St. Mungos or Hogwarts?”

“Indeed, Mrs Snape, how would he know.” Sighed Dumbledore as he rose from his seat, “May I escort you to the Great Hall, Madam. It’s time for lunch.” He said, offering his arm to Hermione.

“I would be honoured, kind sir.” Hermione said, rising from her seat, her journal in hand as she took the headmasters arm.

“I’ll inform your husband of the news I received today.” He said, softly so no one else could hear, as he left Hermione at the Gryffindor table and walked up to the head table.

That night as Hermione laid asleep in her husbands’ arms an all to familiar misty dark landscape and three cloaked figures in the shadows.

“Hermione Snape,” she heard one of the figures speak, “stay on your current path, the answer you seek lies ahead. You must also proceed with caution, danger lies ahead for you that could endanger the child within you.”

“The…the…the child within in? Do you mean I’m…pregnant?” She could not believe what she just heard.

“Yes, you carry a child within you. He will one day be a powerful wizard and do many great things.” Another figure said.

“We will speak to you again.”

Hermione woke with a start sitting straight up in the bed. She could not believe what she just heard. How could she be…she didn’t feel any different….she was on the potion, so…how…she would have to go see Madam Pomfrey.

Severus felt Hermione when she awoke, he looked at her and saw that she was flustered. She must have had another dream, he thought to himself. “Are you okay?” He asked.

“Yes, I’m fine. They just paid me another visit in my dreams. They said to stay on my current path, that the answers lay ahead.” She didn’t want to tell him about her possibly being pregnant, not until she was sure. They hadn’t even talked about children, she wasn’t sure how he would take the news if she were indeed pregnant.