Brewing Glory

The next morning Hermione awoke to find her professor sitting next to the bed, reading the Daily Prophet as he reached over to the bedside table to pick up his glass of fire whiskey. She groaned, shifting in the bed, her whole body aching. She was surprised at how dimly lit the room was, considering it was probably well into the day. Then again, she was in the dungeons.



“Get up Miss Granger,” Snape said, taking another sip off his glass and setting the paper down upon the table. As Hermione leaned up tiredly, he rested his arms on his knees and stared at Hermione. “We have a few things to discuss.”



Hermione shook her head, getting the hair out of her eyes before slowly coming to her senses. “Yes we do. Dumbledore trusts you, and all along… you’ve been lying to him,” her voice quavering as she bit her lip, remembering all that had happened the night before.



Snape scoffed and rolled his eyes, leaning back in his seat before returning to look at her. “You don’t even know the beginning of it, silly girl. I’ve told you once and I’ll only tell you one more time. Do not talk about things you know nothing about.”



“How do you expect me to sit here and say nothing after last night?” Hermione snapped, her anger getting the best of her.



“After last night, you are lucky to be alive with the way you spoke to the Dark Lord,” he said, rather annoyed. Getting up and beginning to search in one of the bookshelves of the room that held many old, dusty books, he finally stopped at one of them and pulled it out slowly, and thrust it into her hands. “Your mouth will get you slaughtered. Read the first few paragraphs about the Infractus Corpus curse.”



“Is that what—?”



“Just… read it,” he said, giving her a deathly stare.



She averted her eyes to the book, traced a finger over the front cover before opening it slowly. She coughed when a bit of dust came in contact with her lungs, but brushed the pages off and began to read about the curse. Apparently, it was a dark curse that made the body weak and very vulnerable, not only physically but mentally as well. She would be very emotional and not able to do many simple tasks on her own. The curse could be lethal if not taken care of. Hermione was to take the antidote every day, partake in activities that would be good for her health, and put special oils in her bath water.



“So this explains why I’m feeling so tired,” she whispered, gazing down at the book before it was ripped from her hands by Snape and put back onto the bookshelf.



“Yes. The curse will remain until you have properly been taken care of. So,” he drawled, folding his arms beneath his cloak, “You will stay here until you have been properly healed.”



“But why not the Hospital Wing?” Hermione asked, “Couldn’t they take care of me there?”



“Think Granger, think,” Snape sneered, “With that big head of yours; you would’ve thought you might’ve figured it out by now. The Dark Lord has his eye on you, to stay in such a public place such as the Hospital Wing, your mind would be penetrated, making you weaker than you already are.”



“But why is he after me? I thought he wanted Harry?” Hermione asked. Her arms were tired from holding herself up; she fell back on the bed to stare at the ceiling. She only lay briefly, for a strong hand grabbed her arm and pulled her up and she found herself face to face with a livid Snape.



“You will not lie down unless I say you can, do you understand?” He snarled, his nose almost touching her own. He glared at her before letting a terrified looking Hermione go and walked over to the table to grab a small vial. “You are to drink this, and then you must take a bath with your oils.”



“Yes, sir,” she said quietly, getting up and grabbing the vial. She drank it whole before a sour sensation made her face wrinkle in disgust. “Yuck!”



Snape only let a smirk play around the edges of his mouth before he took the vial from her and gave her another small bottle. “Three or four drops into your water will do, Miss Granger. Get going. The bathroom is there on your right.”



Hermione took the small bottle and crossed the room to the room on the right. When she entered, she found it was a nicer lavatory than she had expected. The tiles on the floor were silver and green, the walls embroidered with the Slytherin House Serpent. She pulled back the shower door and turned on the water. She began to take off her clothes when, she realized she had nothing to change into. She opened the door to find that Snape was once again sitting in the chair beside the bed and he looked up at her in question.



“Yes?”



“Sir, I was just wondering… What am I going to change into after I am finished?”



He quirked an eyebrow and propped the paper he was holding before looking back at it. “I’ll take care of it. Get a move on or all the water will have gone.”



Hermione sighed and turned back into the bathroom shutting the door harder than she would have liked to. She removed her clothing and stepped into the warm water which sent a shiver down her spine. As she got comfortable, she put a few drops of the bottle into the water before setting it down. The bath was very soothing, giving her temporary goose bumps on her arms and legs. All of the things that had been worrying her such as Voldemort, her friends, and staying with Snape suddenly vanished.



When she was finished, she rose from the bath and took one of the dark green towels with a silver snake on it and wrapped herself in it. She felt much stronger than she had before the got in the bath, but figured it was only temporary and was the effects of the antidote. Hermione opened the door slowly, hoping it had given Snape enough time to leave the room and put her clothes in there to wait for her. To her surprise, he had not even moved, and gave her a nasty look when she came out.



“Professor!” she gasped, immediately trying to cover herself out of instinct, even though she was already covered with the towel. “I thought you might’ve already left—”



“I’ll get your clothes,” he said angrily, storming out of the room to levitate her clothes onto the bed and slammed the door shut.



Hermione sighed. This was going to be a long week.



After she changed into her night clothes, she decided it wouldn’t hurt if she wondered out of the room in which she was staying. The room next to hers was abandoned but it immediately caught her interest. She gasped in amazement at all of the books on the shelves, some dark arts books, but educational all the same. She ran her hands across the books, looking around to find two black leather chairs sitting by a fireplace that was crackling softly. Hermione looked around to see if Snape was in sight but he was not. Walking over to the chair, she took note of a liquor cabinet that was just above her reach. She stared at it before taking a seat into the chair and gazed into the fire that seemed to make her feel loads warmer. She noticed a book that was sitting on the table that sat in-between the two chairs and picked it up, examining the front cover.



“Enjoying yourself?” a voice behind her drawled, making her head snap back to find a pallid, smirking Snape hovering over her.



“Professor, I was just looking at your book, I didn’t mean to invade your privacy,” she said, immediately putting the book back where she found it, and folded her hands, trying to look innocent.



Snape strolled around the chair before taking a seat across her. He pulled out his wand and two cups sat on the table between them, steaming. He picked one up before raising his head to look at her and asked, “Tea?”



She found this incredibly surprising that he was asking her if she wanted a cup of tea, but decided to decline incase he wanted to poison her to get her off of his case.



“No thank you, sir,” she said, shifting a bit in her seat. “I just wanted to know why… Voldemort wants me?”



He raised an eyebrow at the fear in her voice and set his cup down gently on the table and leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms. “Miss Granger, the Dark Lord has been hunting down those that are muggle-born since he has risen. He is not fond of such… people and insists that all that come in his path are dead, or tortured until they beg for death. As such, you are also the best friend of the famous Harry Potter and part of the fabulous Golden Trio. Therefore, your being, your mere existence, is an annoyance to him and he only plans on keeping you alive for information on how to become closer Potter. If, in fact, you are able to give him this information, your life may be spared, then again, it may not. The Headmaster and I have spoken, and my job is to keep you safe and help you to block your mind and defend yourself against such curses that have been placed on you now.”



“So you are going to teach me Occulmency?” She asked, shocked at all of this that had been thrown her way in such little time.



“Yes, and not only that, I am going to teach you spells your insufferable know-it-all brain has only dreamed of,” he said quietly, his voice just above a whisper. His voice sent a shiver down her spine and she shook slightly, folding her arms to try and keep herself warmer.



She paid no attention to his insult, for she had heard the phrase ‘insufferable know-it-all’ many times in her years at Hogwarts. She only thought, sitting there quietly, the silence between them lingering.



“Might I mention, you are not allowed to leave under any circumstances, is that clear?” Snape asked firmly, as he unfolded his arms and leaned forward to look into her eyes intently. It seemed almost as if he were trying to pry into her mind.



“What?” Hermione snapped, automatically standing to look at him. He stood as well.



“I said, you will not leave, under any circumstances,” he said slowly, as if speaking to someone who did not speak proper English.



“I heard you the first time!”



“Didn’t seem like to me Miss Granger, you—”



“I don’t want to hear it!” Hermione said, louder than she meant to, and stomped her foot into the floor as if she were about to have a childish fit.



“You will not interrupting me when I am talking to you!” Snape roared, his mere presence becoming intimidating. But Hermione did not let her guard down.



“I’m leaving,” she hissed, stomping away from him and making her way towards the door. She almost screamed when she felt her arm being grasped again by a firm hand. “Let me go!”



Snape pinned her against the wall, holding her arm tightly and staring down at her furiously. “You will not leave until I say you can, do you understand me?”



She squirmed beneath his firm grip but it was no use. She jerked herself free for what seemed like a moment before he swiftly waved his wand and the door locked. Hermione’s eyes widened, and then a flash of fury arose when she locked eyes with Snape.



“What?” he asked tauntingly, “there is nothing you can do. As much as I’d like you to walk out that door right now, you can’t, and there isn’t a bloody thing you can do about it.”



Hermione brushed past him quickly and opened the door to her room and closed it with a very loud slam.



For the next few days, Hermione did not speak to Snape. In fact, she barely saw him except for when he came to give her the antidote and the drops for her bath. There wasn’t a day that passed that she did not think of Harry and Ron and the worry they must be experiencing. The most they knew was that she was away being properly taken care of due to what had happened the night with Voldemort. She especially thought of Ron, who she had missed seeing and being around. She had grown quite fond of him over the past year.



Hermione sat on her bed one night, reading a book that she found in the room, when a knock at the door told her Snape finally wanted something to do with her.



“Are you decent?” he snapped from the other side of the door.



“Yes,” she said in a bored tone, not even bothering to put her book down when he entered and took his place in the chair next to her bed. She felt his eyes staring at her and closed her book shut and set it down on the table.



Snape pursed his lips before speaking. “We are to begin Occulmency this evening.”



Hermione sat up in her bed, feeling especially tired today. The potion she was given was not helping her as much as she normally did, and something inside her wanted to say Snape was giving her less antidote to make her feel horrible. “Alright then, teach me.”



Snape’s face wrinkled in disgust and she immediately knew she said something wrong. “You don’t just teach someone Occulmency. Get on your feet, Miss Granger, and take out your wand.”



She got to her feet and took her wand from the bedside table and watched as he passed back and forth, his hands folded behind his back. He looked especially like a bat tonight, his long black cloak swaying behind him.



“So, you know how it goes Miss Granger. I am going to try and penetrate your mind, and you try as best as your big head will allow—”



“My head is normal thank you,” she said, cutting him off.



He stopped and stared at her before continuing and drew out his wand unexpectedly, leaving her no time to try and block her mind. “Legilimens!”



He sorted through her mind as she clenched her eyes shut as many scenes of the last few weeks flew by. He saw her holding hands with Ron as they walked down the hallways of Hogwarts; he saw her writhing in pain on the cold floor beneath Voldemort, staring up at Snape thinking, traitor, traitor, traitor, and feeling the pain of betrayal and faith within the wrong person. He saw, even felt, the many times she watched him in class as he humiliated her and her friends, how she watched his every move and respected the way he taught the subject she desired, Potions. He saw the respect she always stored away, he felt it, and at that point, he left her mind, and Hermione found herself on her knees on the floor, crying, begging him to stop.



She sobbed quietly before taking a moment to look up at the expressionless Snape who towered over her, his wand arm slowly lowering to his side. He said nothing, but pursed his lips. The silence between them seemed to hang like smoke, and was suffocating both of them for a loss of words.



“Get up, Miss Granger.”



Hermione slowly rose to her feet, getting control of herself and picking up her wand from the floor. She stared him straight in the eye, knowing that he now knew she respected him as a teacher, despite the rule breaking with Harry and Ron, and the hateful words. “You can continue, Professor,” she said firmly.



He slowly raised his wand, this time giving her time to be prepared, and then, “Legilimens!”



Hermione felt him enter her mind once more, but this time, the scenes began to cut out as though it were an error within a film, a scratch on a tape. The scenes weren’t clear, nor were any words, it all seemed to fade slowly, when she opened her eyes again and found herself on her knees once more.



“Very good, Miss Granger, although you can’t seem to stay on your feet for more than a few seconds,” Snape said coolly, stuffing his robe back into his cloak. “I doubt we will need anymore lessons, for you are… an acceptable Occulmens. What you now need is to learn how to reverse it. Try to penetrate my mind.”



“W-what?” Hermione sputtered, her wand almost slipping from her hand.



“Try…to penetrate my mind…” he give a small smirk and added, “Miss Granger.”



“But s-sir, you are a very accomplished Occlumens.”



“Don’t tell me things I already know. It is now up to you to use Legilimens on me. Now do it,” he said, his temper rising a little.



She raised her wand at him and performed the spell. The next thing she saw was a bunch of scenes that were very cut up and choppy, skipping like the scenes she had just seen when she had blocked her own mind. He completely shut his mind and they returned to the present.



“You need to say it like you mean it.”



“I’m trying,” Hermione said weakly, “I’m not strong enough.”



“Say it like you mean it.”



Hermione took a deep breath before readying herself and yelling, “Legilimens!”



The next thing she knew, a clear and very steady vision appeared before her eyes. She saw Snape and Dumbledore talking one night when all of the students were in bed. Dumbledore was pacing his study as Snape sat in a chair, apparently deep in thought.



“I’ve been searching and searching for where the answer may be Severus,” Dumbledore said. His face was concentrated, and he looked like he had not slept for days. His face had only a little bit of color. He turned to Severus and threw up his arms, “But there is something I am missing! Does he not trust you enough to let you know?”



“He trusts me greatly Albus, but not enough to let me know where the bits and pieces of his soul reside,” Snape said, picking a few strands of hair out of the way of his eyes. “Although, lately he has spoken only of the one that resides within Potter.”



Dumbledore stopped, and took a step closer to Snape. “The time is coming Severus.”



Snape nodded, and looked up at Dumbledore, his eyes glittering as if he just remembered something important. “But he’s waiting. He wants Hermione Granger first.”



Dumbledore looked as if the only remaining color in his face drained, but he quickly regained himself. “Hermione Granger?”



Snape nodded.



“And what is it he wants with her?”



“Information. Perhaps her life. He wishes for me to bring her to him.”



Dumbledore eyed Snape, “Promise me you will do all that you can to keep her alive, Severus.”



He gave a curt nod before standing and Dumbledore embraced him, patting him on the back.



“You are a good man Severus. I do not know what I would do without you.”



That is when the scene ended, and Hermione found herself standing in front of Snape once more, his face not showing any emotion whatsoever. He had shown her that scene for a reason. But it was all so confusing. Why would he show her that when he knew exactly how she felt about him being Voldemorts most loyal servant? When he knew about her feelings of betrayal and putting her trust into what seemed like the wrong person? Was there something inside him that wanted her to know that everything would be okay, that his loyalties truly resided with the Light? Hermione was so deep in thought that she almost didn’t realize Snape told her good night and closed the door.