A Maid in the Devil's Manor

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters belong to JKR. All situations are mine. No $$$ is being made from this fanfic.
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Chapter 2 ~ The Response

Severus was at lunch in the Great Hall when he received Hermione’s message by owl post. He removed the letter from the owl’s leg and gave it a piece of his poached fish. The owl snapped its beak appreciatively and took off, sailing under the rafters and out a window. Severus broke the seal on the rolled parchment, and opened it. His black eyes slid from left to right several times as he read her short and to the point message. He’d send her a reply after he finished his meal.

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Severus entered his Potions office, walked around his desk and sat down. He pulled open a drawer and retrieved a piece of parchment. He picked up a quill and paused for a moment before he began to write.

Miss Granger,

I will meet you at your flat this Saturday precisely at noon. I would like to see your lab as well as read over your research notes. Please send your address ASAP

Professor Severus Snape
Potions Master

Severus rolled up the note, sealed it and whistled sharply. A resounding caw answered him, and a large black raven flew down from the rafters and settled on the back of his chair, preening the Potions Master’s hair affectionately. Severus opened his drawer and retrieved a bit of ribbon. The raven hopped down to the desk and stuck out its leg.

“Raucous, I need you to take this to a Miss Hermione Granger. Can you find her?” he asked the familiar. Raucous looked insulted at the question. Severus petted the bird soothingly.

“Of course you can,” he said gently. The bird cawed again, cocking his head and looking up at the Potions Master with one black shiny eye. Severus gave the bird a small grin as it hopped on to his shoulder. Severus opened the office door.

“Go on now, deliver the message,” he said with false gruffness.

Raucous cawed once more, then flew down the corridor, toward the main hall. Severus closed the door. He walked over to the bookshelf, pulled out a tome and the shelf swung inward, opening on his private study. He entered and pushed the secret door closed. He walked over to his liquor cabinet, took out a glass and opened the glass door. He looked over the bottles, and selected a smooth brandy. He poured himself a couple of fingers, replaced the bottle and walked over to the armchair in front of the fireplace. He sat down and took a sip of the brandy, savoring its taste before swallowing it. Then he turned his mind to Miss Granger’s project.

He wondered what her research would reveal. He didn’t doubt that she had found some new approach to dealing with the Killing Curse. When attending Hogwarts, she could always be counted on to find some original, completely unthought of method to find a solution to a problem. Severus believed her muggle upbringing had a lot to do with this ability. Muggles had no magic, so were forced to use their minds in order to create non-magical items that worked just as well as magic. Their world was full of such technologies. Cars that moved great distances by burning liquids inside them. Boxes that showed images by sending invisible waves through the air. Great metal bird-like monstrosities that flew faster than any broom, carrying hundreds of muggles to all parts of the world. How they managed to create such things was a source of constant wonder for him. And Miss Granger was the epitome of that creative ability. Coupled with her magical talent, she was a force to be reckoned with.

It was true that many wizards and witches had tried to develop a defense against the Avada Kedavra curse, but they lacked originality of thought, using the flawed theories of those that went before them. Miss Granger most likely had studied the failures, then found some other totally different approach. He was looking forward to reading her research. He wanted to see what that brilliant mind had come up with. He took another sip of brandy, relishing it before letting it slip warmly down his throat. Miss Granger.

It must not have been easy for the witch to write him and ask him to come read her research. Even more difficult to admit she needed help. She had always been rather self-contained when it came to work, spending hours alone in the library, rather than in big groups as the other students did, socializing more than studying. Pairing her up with other students for assignments was quite a chore…everyone wanted to work with her simply because she usually did the entire assignment herself and just shared it with her partner when done. No one learned a thing working with her. Severus always took points from her grade in those situations. He would simply ask her partner exactly how the assignment was done, and no matter how hard Hermione coached them, Severus would always prove they did no work. How she hated that. He chuckled, remembering how often she would storm into his office, demanding he fix her grade, and how he would only make her angrier by being snarky and dismissive, usually ending up shaving a few house points from her for her impertinence in the process. Those were the days.

As much as he had enjoyed torturing her until she was practically foaming at the mouth, he had also enjoyed her quick mind in the later years, after she had toned down a bit, and stopped trying to take over the class and let others answer his questions. She used to watch him attentively as he lectured, hanging on to every word as if it were wisdom she received at the feet of a Master. Which it was, but hardly ever appreciated. She had been the kind of student that made teaching worthwhile, a sponge for whatever knowledge was shared, and always ready for more.

She would irritate him to no end by asking for extra credit work, and he would scour his libraries to find difficult assignments designed to stump her. But she always managed to get the assignment in on time, and usually the quality of her work was excellent. Her researching abilities were formidable even then. Of course, this didn’t stop the Professor from giving her a lesser grade than she deserved. As a result, she was always reaching higher, constantly perfecting her work, hoping one day he would give her the grade she deserved. It was her last year when he finally gave her perfect marks in Potions. She had been speechless. If he had known that was what it would take to shut her up, he might have done it sooner.

But really, it worked out well in the end. She was a hard worker, exacting and a bit of a perfectionist. Anything the witch put her mind to, she gave one hundred and ten percent. And she had the tenacity of a chimaera when it came to solving a problem. Many times she had walked into his classroom utterly exhausted from studying and researching some obscure magical theorem, her bushy hair looking like a rat’s nest, dark circles under her eyes, her skin pale from lack of nourishment, and jumpy from lack of sleep. He would always find some way to dismiss her from class on her worst days, picking at her until she exploded, then deducting points, giving her detention with Filch and ordering her to her house for the remainder of class.

Yes, Hermione Granger probably still despised him for his treatment of her, but he was used to being despised. It meant he did his job well. Now was the big payoff, possibly. She might be the one to end the horror of the Killing Curse forever, with his help.

Severus finished his brandy with an appreciative smack. His thoughts turned toward the manor. If Hermione’s research proved promising, she would have the run of his lab and stores, and he would provide whatever she needed. The house elves would take good care of her as well, provided she didn’t try to convince them to take wages. Hopefully she was past that foolishness and see the house elves were perfectly content with their lot.

He would like to see the labs put to positive use. The last time they were used was during the Dark Lord’s reign. The horrible experiments that went on there during that time were too awful to bring to mind. But he brought them to mind anyway. Human subjects were used to test the terrible elixirs Voldemort required to sustain himself, all administered by Severus. The grotesque results were carefully recorded and used to further research. He had been heartless then, looking on the poor witches, wizards and muggles as if no more than lab animals. He was deaf to their pleas, and immune to their suffering. He was a seeker of knowledge, and then, no sacrifice was too great to further his goals. It was only after he sought to leave the Dark Lord’s service, and was turned to spy for the Order, that the horror of his existence was made plain to him. He still had to create and administer elixirs, but a little more of his soul was lost each time he forced the poisons down another’s throat via the Imperious Curse, each time he disfigured a child, or killed a young woman, or bled some poor wizard dry in the name of research and development for the greater glory of a Lord he hated. Even though he was working for the greater good, damnation itself was in every act he performed to keep his cover. If anyone in this world were bound for hell, it was Severus Snape.

He shook himself. This was not the time to sink into his dark reverie. There was work to do…work that might help redeem him somewhat. Those labs had to be cleaned. The manacles and shackles and instruments of torture removed and destroyed. The blood had to be cleaned from the floors. He only hoped all the stains would come up. If not, he would paint them, cover them in several thick coats, bury the lost lives beneath a bright white coating. Then Hermione could come, and with her brilliance, scour it clean with redemption. Yes, he liked the thought of that. No more lives lost by the Killing Curse, and he having something to do with it. Something to do with the preservation of lives, and not the destruction of them.

Severus looked at the time. It was a quarter to three. He had a double potions class soon. He pushed himself up from the armchair, scourgified the glass he drank from and returned it to the liquor cabinet. Gathering his robes about him, he left the study and headed for the Potions classroom.

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Hermione had made a quick dash home to retrieve some paperwork she forgot. She had brought it home to finish. It had to be turned in to the department head before she left work. She was hurriedly gathering the papers together, when she heard a tap on the living room window. She looked up and saw a large black bird glaring in at her. It had a parchment tied to its leg. She knew instantly that the bird had to belong to the Potions Master. It seemed to have his personality. Since the living room window didn’t open, she walked to the front door and opened it. The bird was bright, and flew in the front door the minute it saw she opened it.

Raucous flew in and landed on the back of her sofa. Cawing loudly as if rushing her, he stuck out his leg, his beady black eyes glittering at the witch approaching him cautiously.

Hermione was a bit put off by the bird. She saw it was a raven, and it seemed very unfriendly. She looked at its beak. It was long and wickedly sharp. She got within five feet of it and decided to address it.

“Now bird, I need to take that message off your leg. If I do it, will you peck me?” she asked it. She knew it understood her. All birds that delivered post understood human speech. Raucous cocked one eye at her. He liked menacing gullible people. He clipped his beak at her nastily, and gave a little birdie grin. Of course Hermione didn’t discern any change in the bird’s expression as she scowled at it. Only another bird could see the grin.

“Fine,” she said through gritted teeth. She didn’t have time for this. She had to get back to the Ministry. She pulled out her wand and pointed it at the bird, who fluttered nervously at this disturbing turn of events. Raucous knew what a wand was, and the nasty things it could do. He ducked his head apologetically and stuck out his leg.

“A little change of tune, eh birdie?” Hermione said as she pulled at the ribbon with one hand, the other holding the wand steady on the bird. The parchment slipped off. Hermione expected the bird to fly the coop, but it just stood there, looking at the tip of the wand and her.

“Waiting for a reply?” she asked it. The bird seemed to nod, still looking at the wand. Hermione lowered it and keeping one eye on the raven, unrolled the parchment. She read it and frowned.

“Saturday? That’s tomorrow. Shit,” she said, looking around the flat. She had to straighten it up. Hermione didn’t have much company, and like a lot of brilliant individuals, had clutter everywhere but where she worked. Pieces of discarded clothing, wrappers from candy, coffee cups and plates were everywhere. Well, she had meant to clean soon anyway.

Hermoine sighed and walked over to her cluttered desk, opened a drawer and took out a piece of parchment. Picking her quill up out of its ink bottle, she hurriedly scribbled down her address, blew on the ink and rolled the message up, sealing it with a bit of wax. She walked back over to the bird and set the wand down next to it in easy reach.

“Now, I’m going to tie this on your leg. If you peck me, I will turn you into a roast squab before you can get airborne. Got it?” she said to Raucous. The raven shuddered. “Good.” Hermione said as the bird stuck out its leg a bit nervously. She tied the message on.

The moment she did, Raucous took off out of the open door, leaving a large bird turd on the couch as he departed. The raven let out a series of caws that sounded suspiciously like gloating laughter as it winged away. Hermione let out a little curse and scourgified the couch. What kind of wizard had a familiar like that? One like Professor Snape, obviously. She looked at the time. Shit, she had to get back.

Hermione set the parchment down on the coffee table and apparated back to the Ministry. There’d be no quiet restful night for her tonight. She had to prepare for her possible patron’s arrival.

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A/N: I thought a little background about Severus’ use of the abandoned labs would be good, as well as his thoughts about Hermione’s ability. Of course, Raucous is in this story too. I love that bird. So far, his thoughts are pure. There is something very interesting about those labs though, that will play a part in heating things up between the pair. You’ll find out about it in later chapters. Please review.