A Song for Severus ~ (Not Update, but Edit)

Chapter 23 ~ Preliminary Practice

Albus walked Severus through Hermione’s lab. It was larger than his own lab, Severus noticed with a slight scowl. But then again he was ‘only’ Hogwarts' Potions Master. He just needed a shoebox sized lab for the tons of work he was required to do.

Severus snorted.

Albus blinked at him.

”Is everything all right, Severus?” Albus asked the wizard.

”Oh, just fine, Albus. Just fine,” Severus replied a bit jealously.

Albus’ blue eyes twinkled behind his half-moon glasses but he said nothing.

The wizard examined everything closely. Hermione had plenty of equipment, all new…gleaming cauldrons, bright glass distillers, mortars and pestles, bowls, measuring cups, utensils…you name it, it was provided.

The ingredient stores were well stocked, though Hermione would need more for this particular project. There was a small enclosed area with a large window in front. Venom collectors and heavy dragon hide gloves lined the shelves. There was a small little raised platform, the top bordered on all sides with panes of thick glass. Presumably the snake would rest there while being milked. Grabbers and restraining sticks hung from the walls. There was also a small cooler.

Albus opened a door at the back of the lab and walked through, followed by Severus. The room seemed to have been hollowed out rather than constructed and was quite warm. Torches immediately flared up and hissing began. In the middle of the room a pit filled with scattered boulders, hollowed logs and rock piles was brightly illuminated. A small pond rested in the center of the pit. Several King cobras slithered about then rose with hoods spread, swaying slightly as they looked at the two human intruders. They were of a good size but not fully grown. Their forked tongues flickered out in warning.

“Very nice,” Severus said, looking about for the grabber, which rested against the wall. It was about twelve feet in length. Severus looked back at the pit consideringly. Hermione was going to have to be quick if she wanted to catch a cobra. There were many places for the snakes to hide and elude her.

At that moment, Hagrid appeared, carrying a cage full of twisting hissing snakes. They weren’t cobras however and appeared to be grass snakes, relatively slender, green, olive or brownish in coloration, with a distinct black-edged yellow or white crescent on each side of the neck. The half-giant shouldered his way through the door and greeted the two wizards.

“Hiya Perfessor. Headmaster,” he said cheerily, walking up to the edge of the pit and looking down on the hissing snakes fondly.

“Hi meh beauties!” he greeted the snakes, who did not return the greeting, their glittering eyes resting on the cage of snakes. “It’s suppertime! Eat up!”

Hagrid opened the cage and shook the smaller snakes out into the pit, some of the creatures clinging desperately to the door before Hagrid managed to get them to let loose. The sound of hissing increased as the new additions were added to the pit.

“That’ll get ‘em going,” Hagrid said, watching as several snakes struck.

”Hagrid, am I correct in assuming that the killing of reptiles is…prohibited in England?” Severus asked the giant as they watched the mayhem. Snakes were protected in England due to intense persecution by humans in the past.

”Aw, that’s just people killing ‘em. Killing each other is fine,” Hagrid replied.

Severus watched dispassionately as a large cobra unhinged its jaws and went about the slow process of swallowing down a limp snake, then looked at Hagrid.

”A bit cannibalistic aren’t they?” he said to Hagrid, who shrugged.

”That’s why they call ‘em Kings,” Hagrid replied, “They eat other snakes, though they like lizards too. I guess they’d eat a rat in a pinch, but I’m try’in to keep them to their proper diet. I could’ve gotten bigger ones but Hermione’s so small. If a full grown King cobra rose up, it’ll be taller than her…and they’re scary enough.”

No doubt Hagrid knew about Hermione using the snakes for some kind of experiment, but Severus seriously doubted if the Headmaster had given him all the details. Not that Hagrid was untrustworthy…Albus trusted the half-giant greatly. But most likely he would be horrified at the idea Voldemort had a son and worry over it constantly. A worried Hagrid was an annoying Hagrid to say the least. He’d be questioning Albus ceaselessly.

Severus studied the snakes. Voldemort’s familiar Nagini hadn’t been nearly as picky about what she ate. She did fine on muggle body parts and small children. The Potions Master shuddered a bit at the memory of Peter dismembering bodies left over from the revels and feeding the hideous snake.

Albus stared down into the pit, a slight pallor on his face. He clearly wasn’t taken by the cobras. No, Albus Dumbledore definitely wasn’t a snake person.

Severus looked at Hagrid thoughtfully as the giant watched the cobras feed, egging them on enthusiastically. Same old Hagrid. The more terrible the creature, the more he longed to coddle it. Well, if he ever got down in that pit, the coddling wouldn’t last very long at all. The snakes would be resting on his body as if he were a boulder.

“Hagrid, will you be feeding the snakes?” the Potions Master asked.

“Yeh, I will,” Hagrid said absently, concentrating on the snakes.

Severus looked thoughtful. “How often?”

“Every two-three weeks,” Hagrid replied, “The snakes ‘round here aren’t too big.”

“I see,” Severus said as several well fed snakes slid toward the rocks to find a place to hide and digest their meals. “I imagine you will show Miss Granger how to feed them. It is something she needs to know if you should be otherwise occupied.”

Hagrid looked at Severus.

”You know, I never thought ‘bout that. Yeah, she needs to know that, she does. I’ll let her do a feeding when she moves in. She’ll love it,” Hagrid said with a broad smile.

“I’m sure she will,” Severus said dryly, smirking to himself.

He turned to Albus, who was still staring at the snakes.

“Headmaster?” Severus said to him.

Albus snapped out of it.

”Ah, yes Severus,” he said, blinking several times.

“I would like to utilize Hermione’s lab to brew the elixir,” Severus said to him. “Hermione is going to need several samples with which to work, not to mention what I require. My own lab is not secure enough.”

”Certainly Severus,” the Headmaster replied, “I kept you in mind when designing it.”

Ah, so that’s why Hermione’s lab was so large. Severus felt less insulted now.

”How is Hermione doing, Severus? Is she excited?” the Headmaster asked as they left the snake pit area and returned to the lab.

Severus rolled his eyes. Was she excited? Did dragons fly? Did bugbears drag off small children? All Hermione talked about was how she was going to approach the experiment, and that seemed to change every day. The witch was insufferable and Severus was having a time getting his last bits of nookie out of her before she started her work. Then he would be pussyless.

“Quite excited, sir. She can’t wait to begin,” the Potions Master replied darkly.

Albus grinned.

“She has amazing powers of concentration. I seem to remember her in her seventh year, working on her end-of-term assignment, walking about Hogwarts looking quite…unlike herself,” the Headmaster said.

He was being generous. Hermione had been required to create an original potion for her final. Well, not required. The students had a choice of what to work on and a month to complete it. Of course, the witch picked the most difficult and challenging assignment. Hermione looked like a zombie, pale, drawn, shadows under her eyes, her hair tangled all over the top of her head and her robes buttoned wrong as she moved about the castle. She did manage to make a potion that temporarily changed the eye color of the person who drank it to blue. Severus gave her less than perfect marks because it did nothing to blue-eyed persons. She had been furious. It was the Potions Master’s last jibe at her before she graduated. Yet, when Hermione received her final marks…she found the dark wizard had indeed given her perfect marks for overall performance.

When Hermione approached Severus about her marks after the ceremony, he said snarkily, “It is not too late for me to change them, Miss Granger. I have several days in which to do so if I am so inclined. Now that you have graduated, I am free of you, and you are free go out into the world and harass some other Potions Professor, the gods help him,” then stalked off, robes billowing, Hermione smiling after him.

That was the moment Hermione realized that Professor Severus Snape was actually…human. And most likely the kick that got the wheels turning for what happened between them later.

”Yes, Hermione does have the ability to shut the rest of the world out when focused on a project,” Severus replied, “Not to mention her own need for food and rest. She runs on pure purpose. She will have to be monitored.”

”Thank you for volunteering for the job, Severus,” Albus said to him smiling.

Severus scowled. Of course he was going to look after Hermione, but he hadn’t intended to have her “assigned” to him by Albus.

”Oh, don’t look so sour, Severus. Now if Hermione complains you can say that I have instructed you to look after her well-being. It will be two against one, instead of one against one. Use whatever means you see fit to make sure she is healthy and gets what she needs,” the Headmaster said.

Severus quirked an eyebrow at him.

”And I am to decide what she needs…with your support?” the Potions Master asked.

Albus nodded.

”Yes,” he replied.

Severus smiled evilly.

Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad.

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A week later, Hermione moved into her private rooms at Hogwarts. She was delighted with the lab, but asked that another enclosure be created, filled with plants, flowers and earth. She wanted to keep the pixies in as natural a surrounding as possible, rather than caged and able to witness what happened to their comrades. All the little creatures would know was that some were taken and didn’t return. This was how their lives were in the wild, so it wouldn’t be strange.

“Trying to assuage some of your guilt, eh?” Severus asked Hermione as he watched the pixies flit from plant to plant, eating, playing, fighting and mating inside the enclosure. Severus studied them as they copulated. Hm. Decent technique. It seems pixies had their own brand of sexual creativity. Hermione blushed a bit and drew down the blind.

“No. It’s not guilt. I just want them in good shape to experiment with. In a cage they’d be miserable and not in top form,” she lied.

Severus wasn’t fooled. He walked over to a simmering cauldron and lifted the top, a stench like sulfur filling the lab. Hermione pinched her nose shut and waved her hand.

“That smells awful,” she complained as Severus stirred the mixture counter-clockwise thirteen times, then replace the lid and turned the burner down slightly.

“That is the stench of success. The elixir is almost finished,” the Potions Master said, his eyes glittering, “Now, are you ready for your first snake retrieval lesson?”

Hermione wanted to say no, she wasn’t, but she had to do this. She had already examined the snake pit, and the King cobras all came out en masse when she and the Potions Master entered the room, making a great display of hissing and spreading their hoods as if purposely trying to frighten the witch.

“Are these ordinary King cobras?” Hermione asked, eyeing the creatures as they swayed back and forth two and three feet off the ground, “They look like they’re trying to scare me.”

“As far as I know they are ordinary snakes,” Severus said, “It could be that they are conditioned to think that when the door opens, it’s feeding time. I am sure they have no personal grudge against you….well…I’m almost sure.”

The wizard smirked as Hermione scowled at him. He then walked over to the wall and took down the grabber, loosening the noose until there was about a foot of loop.

“Now, watch closely,” the Potions Master said, stretching out the long handle of the grabber into the pit. “Be sure to keep away from the edge. You wouldn’t want to take a tumble.”

Hermione watched as Severus lowered the noose to the right of a swaying cobra, who struck at it several times. Severus held it steady for a moment, then moved it closer, raising the loop a little so about three inches cleared the cobra’s head. He shook the grabber a little and the cobra struck again. Severus flicked the loop over its head, and pulled the end of the rope by the handle, tightening it then wrapping the loose end around a little hook to hold it secure. The snake lashed about, hissing violently as the Potions Master hauled it in and caught it behind the head under the loop. The snake’s body wrapped around his arm, its dark, staring eyes looking at the pale wizard malevolently.

“Simple,” Severus said to Hermione, who was staring at the snake.

Severus unwrapped the cobra and leaning slightly, lowered the snake back into the pit then unloosened the noose. It slid quickly away to coil under a stack of stones, still hissing angrily at such unkingly treatment.

Severus handed the grabber to Hermione who fumbled it awkwardly.

“Go on,” he said imperiously, folding his arms.

The snakes all stood, a little taunt to their sway now as Hermione clumsily reached in with the grabber, trying to snag one. The snakes weaved and bobbed like armless boxers, striking at the grabber and avoiding it. After about fifteen minutes, Hermione managed to lasso one, pulling the noose so tight, the snake began to choke, its mouth gaping horribly wide as its air supply was cut off.

“Loosen it!” Severus snapped at her as Hermione stared in horror, unable to move.

Severus reached over and pulled the rope from her hand, letting the snake go. It flopped lifelessly to the ground.

“Oh no!” Hermione cried, her eyes glistening, “I’ve killed it!”

Presently, the snake moved, slowly slithering into a hollow log.

“You’re not going to get much venom that way witch,” Severus observed, “I hope you’re better at catching pixies.”

Hermione wasn’t.
Severus watched, contorting with unreleased laughter as Hermione entered the pixie enclosure with a butterfly net. The pixies easily escaped her at first, then became agitated as she kept swooping at them with the net. They began to pull her hair and bite her, a few grabbing on the net and trying to yank it out of her hands while others hit her with tiny fire bolts, making small, painful boils appear on her skin. Soon Hermione was flailing at them, netless and screaming at them to leave her alone.

Severus opened the door and cast a spell on the creatures that made them stiffen and float immobile in the air. He pulled Hermione out and shut the door.

“Didn’t you cast a similar spell on a bunch of Cornish Pixies in your second year?” he asked her.

“Yes,” Hermione said, rubbing her arms. A number of little boils were all over them. “I thought it would be kinder and less traumatizing to do it this way.”

“It’s certainly more entertaining,” Severus smirked, “Though I believe you were the only one traumatized.”

The Potions Master ducked as Hermione took a wild swing at him and scowled at her.

“Listen you little hellcat, if you want to get started on your research, you are going to have to learn to handle the creatures you are working with, not take out your frustrations on me!” he said to her. “The samples of the elixir you need are almost ready. If you need to use magic…then use magic damn it.”

The Potions Master exited the lab, robes billowing, leaving Hermione by herself.

Hermione sighed. She really shouldn’t have done that, but Severus knew how to push her buttons. Well, she’d apologize later.

The pixies were starting to come out of the spell, their limbs jerking spasmodically. Hermione decided to go back to the snake pit and practice catching the snakes again. Severus was right. If she were going to do this, she had to learn how to handle the creatures.

The witch walked into the venom room and grabbed a thick pair of dragonhide gloves. She wasn’t taking any chances as she walked back into the snake pit area.

She was going to become proficient at this if it killed her.

Hermione hoped it wouldn’t.

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A/N: After a bit of block, I’ve finished this chapter. Poor Hermione. But she’ll catch on. :) Thanks for reading.