Joined at the Hip

Joined at the Hip
by
Jeslyn Nighthawk

A/N: Much thanks to all of my reviewers! I\'ll put review responses at the end. I was surprised at how well this went over. This chapter is not nearly as good, and kinda short. My only defense is that it was ridiculously hard to write the transition for some reason. Next chapters will start with more of the challenge requirements. Promise! Super big thanks to Taya, my beta. Now on with the chapter!

Disclaimer: Don’t own them. And I think those stains will come out….

Chapter 2

\"What do you mean, you can\'t go any farther?\"

\"I mean, sir, that I am stuck.\" Hermione snapped, irritated. Her potion had been ruined due to her partner\'s incompetence, she had been given a detention that was, in her opinion, undeserved, and now she was stuck, literally, in the presence of her most surly professor.

\"Wonderful,\" Professor Snape rubbed the bridge of his nose, \"Can you move at all?\"

\"I don’t know, sir. Let me try.\" Hermione tried to move to the either side with no luck. With a sinking feeling, she stepped backwards, towards Professor Snape. After a couple of steps, she stopped, looking at her professor expectantly. \"Well?\" She ground out, \"Aren\'t you going to try? You got hit with the potion too, sir.\"

\"I am well aware of that, Miss Granger,\" he growled. With what appeared to be great reluctance, he took a step forward with no problem, made it two steps to either side before being stopped, and nearly three steps backwards. \"It appears, Miss Granger, that we are stuck together.\" Hermione thought she heard him mumble something after that, something along the lines of having known it was a bad idea to get up that morning, but she wasn\'t sure, and wasn\'t going to press the issue.

\"What should we do?\" Dear Merlin she sounded pathetic, even to herself.

Snape sneered at her. \"First, we will go see the Headmaster. Then, we will come up with a plan from there.\"

\"Of course, sir,\" Hermione mumbled, embarrassed.

\"Well what are you waiting for, you silly girl? Let’s go.\" With that he swept out of the room, dragging her behind him with the sheer force of the spell that bound them.

***

Dumbledore was twinkling at them. They were stuck together, and he had the nerve to twinkle at them?!

\"Let me get this straight,\" Dumbledore said, obviously suppressing a laugh. \"The contents of the Binding Potion, incorrectly prepared, splattered on the two of you, you came into brief skin to skin contact while still covered in the stuff, and now neitheryou you can move more than three feet from the other?\"

Hermione nodded, then scowled. It looked like the old coot was going to burst into laughter any moment. If he did, Hermione silently swore, he was going to find a surprise in his morning tea. One of Weasley\'s Wizard Wheezes latest prototypes.

Apparently Professor Snape agreed with her, though he was not nearly as harmless in his intentions. \"Albus, I swear by all that is holy that if you so much as chuckle about this I will not hesitate to cast an Unforgivable or two!\"

Dumbledore simply twinkled more. \"Of course, Severus. Do you have any ideas why the botched potion had this particular effect on the two of you?\"

Professor Snape sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. \"No. The potion should have exploded when the fluxweed was added early, but beyond that initial volatility it should have been useless. Completely non-reactive. The only conclusion I can come to is that there must have been another error made.\"

\"But there wasn\'t!\" Hermione protested. \"There couldn\'t have been! I followed the instructions to the letter. The only time I left Neville unsupervised was when I was talking with you, Professor.\"

\"As hard as this may be for you to believe, Miss Granger,\" Professor Snape sneered, \"You are not infallible. Even I make mistakes, in research, and I have much more experience than you.\" That out of his system, he continued, \"Still, your potion seemed correct until that point, so I may only assume there was something wrong with the fluxweed Longbottom added. I do not know what though.\"

\"That shouldn\'t be too hard to determine… Should it?\" Hermione had a sinking feeling.

\"No. It is probably something painfully obvious.\"

There was something he wasn\'t saying. \"So we should be able to fix this, right? It will be no problem?\" Did she always sound that whiny?

\"Miss Granger, even if we can determine what the problem is, we still have to research an antidote, and that could take weeks. Months.\"

\"Months?\" Her voice was barely a squeak.

The sneer on Professor Snape\'s face was positively evil. \"Yes, Miss Granger. Months.\" The implications of this statement seemed to sink in. The sneer faded from Snape\'s face, replaced by an ever deepening scowl. Not so funny now, Hermione thought bitterly , is it Professor? That’s right! You\'re stuck with me too! The scowl was getting more hideous by the moment.

\"Careful, or your face will stick like that.\" Oh my god! Did I just say that aloud?! Hermione began to giggle hysterically as the shocked looks on her Professors\' faces confirmed that she had. I\'m dead.

\"Excuse me, Miss Granger?\" Shock actually registered in the great bat\'s voice. Hermione only laughed harder and buried her face in her hands, shaking her head.

\"Severus,\" Dumbledore cut in, \"this is obviously a serious problem, but I doubt it can be solved tonight. I suggest the two of you return to the dungeons, and try and salvage what you can of the potion for analysis. I suggest you take dinner down there. I will send Minerva down later to act as a chaperone, as it is obvious Miss Granger will have to spend the evening in your chambers. We will look at this with fresh minds tomorrow.\"

\"WHAT?!\" Both Hermione and Snape exploded at the same time. \"What do you mean I have to stay in his quarters?!\" Hermione cried at the same time Snape bellowed, \"What do you mean she has to stay in my quarters?!\"

Dumbledore just twinkled some more, \"Well you will obviously have to stay in one of your quarters, and Severus, yours are the more spacious. More room to put an extra bed or two as the case may be. And as you are both unmarried, Minerva will have to act as chaperone.\" Dumbledore held up his hands to forestall any more protests, \"It is not thato noo not trust you, but the rumor-mongers will certainly have a field day with this, and Minerva\'s presence will head them off at the pass, so to speak.\"

\"Albus…\"

\"Headmaster…\"

\"Not another word,\" The twinkle was still there, damn him, \"Go. I will speak with you both again in the morning.\"

Once again Hermione was forced to follow as Snape stormed out of the room, the hapless Gryffindor in his wake.

TBC

A/N: There it is. The next chapter. Not as good as I wanted, but not too bad, I hope.

Review Responses:

Snapeaholic: I\'m so sorry. Damned spell check... I\'ve fixed it at LnLS, but am still figuring things out here. I will fix it as soon as possible. Thanks for your input.

ancientgirl: You know, I had the same vision when I looked at the challenge. Thankfully, that was not the point. Thanks for the review.

Lucie: I have gotten in contact with my beta, Taya, and she has thankfully taken on the project. This chapter, at least, has been beta\'ed. Thanks.

Velvetina: Three weeks. That\'s optimistic. I\'d have given it oneelf.elf. Thanks.

evil arachnead, Lydia, Sabrina, chibidaima, The Eight Weasley, and alicat: Thanks for your reviews!

ArienAstera: I\'m really glad you like it. I can make absolutely no promises about updates. I\'m one of the most sporadic writers I know. I will promise one chapter per school break at the least, unless this one is over before the end of summer. Which it should be. I have it mostly planned out.

Thanks all. LEAVE A REVIEW! PLEASE!