A Turn for the Better

Chapter 29 ~ The Perfect Book

Hermione slowly entered the choosing room. She saw a handwritten sign that stated only one customer was to enter at a time. She supposed more than one would throw the books off.

The back room didn't look much different than the rest of the shop, but she felt magic wash over her. Cedric looked in after her but didn't enter. His wet eyes widened as all the books in the room started vibrating, shaking on the tables and shuddering in place in the shelving on the wall.

"What the . . . hey! Say how much you have to spend! Quick!" Cedric exclaimed at Hermione, some of the creepiness leaving his voice as he panicked.

"What?" she called back to him, barely able to hear the shopkeeper because of all the rattling around her.

"Say how much you have to spend before the books crush you!" he cried.

Snape fairly flew over to the privacy curtain as Hermione said how much she had to spend on the coupon. The books all immediately stopped shuddering and Cedric slumped in relief, then looked at Snape incredulously.

"Every fucking book in the back was about to fly at her," Cedric hissed at him. "What kind of witch is she? I don't have insurance to cover patron crushings."

Snape cocked his head.

"She is rather inquisitive by nature," he said softly as Hermione wandered around the room. "She would read every book in the place if she had the time and inclination."

"Every tome in there responded to her," Cedric said, rubbing his knuckles again, his face screwed up. "Between the body and the books I would have had a lot of clean up to do. Next time warn me when you introduce a perpetual book magnet to my shop. Merlin."

Cedric walked back up to his counter, reached under it and pulled out a small flask, which he uncapped and tilted to his full, moist lips. His Adam's apple bobbed and he let out a rasp as the Firewhiskey coursed down his throat. Damn, that had been upsetting.

Snape watched Hermione meander for a moment, then returned to perusing Cedric's latest acquirements.

Hermione walked by a table and a large black book suddenly shifted toward hers, sliding from between the other books it was stacked with. She caught the spine and pulled it out, reading the cover.

"The Basics of Brewing: Tasks, Tips and Techniques to Improve Your Art," by E. Z. Stirrings

Hermione leafed through the book. It was hand-written and showed examples of preparation, set up and methods of multi-tasking when working with potions. In other words, it taught a system that could be applicable to a number of procedures.

"This is perfect," she breathed happily, closing the book, then looking at the price. She paled. It was expensive. She opened it again to check out the printing information. Her brow creased. No wonder it was expensive. It was the only book published by the author and hand-bound, written by Potions master Ezra Zach arias Stirrings in the year sixteen hundred and nine. It was very old. She recognized his name. This was quite a find.

Hermione tucked it under her arm. Over half the coupon was spent all ready. She continued walking through the books. Nothing seemed to move.

She began to slowly follow the shelving on the wall and suddenly heard a noise. She looked up and a book had shifted out of the shelf, but it was too high to reach. Suddenly it fell and she caught it. It was bound in brown leather and the pages edged in gold.

She read the cover.

"How to Acquire the Man You Most Desire," by Celica Gottum

Curiously, Hermione opened the book. It seemed to be some kind of work book. It asked all kinds of questions about the user and the person she wished to attract. Personality, mannerisms, likes and dislikes, current status of the relationship, possible difficulties and a number of probing inquiries. About thirty pages were for collecting information, but the rest of the book . . . was blank.

Blank?

She flipped through the pages again and saw that the first blank page had a three word heading:

THE BEST APPROACH:

and underneath it in smaller letters: Step One.

Hermione stared at the heading. Did this book create the rest of the text based on what was entered? Oh, that was too ridiculous. No book could tell her how to attract the Potions master . . . could it?

No. The very idea was ludicrous.

Hermione tried to put the book back down on a table, but it stood up on its end and shuffled back toward her as if to say, "You need me."

"Oh, I couldn't possibly buy you," she said to the book, which rifled its pages. "Besides, I'd die if Professor Snape saw your title. It makes me look a bit desperate."

Suddenly the title changed. It now read, "The Feminine Mystique: A Discourse on Female Menstrual Cycles."

Hermione had to laugh. No man would show any interest in that.

"All right. I'm convinced. Come on," she said, picking up the book. The purchase of both books would use up the coupon in entirety.

As Hermione exited, she could feel the influence of magic stop. She checked the title again. It still remained changed.

She walked up to the counter with the two books and set them down. Snape imperiously picked up the first one, written by Stirrings and leafed through it, nodded his head in approval. He then picked up the next book, read the title, paled, and put it back down on the counter rather quickly, not bothering to open it.

Hermione bit back a giggle at the stricken look on his face. Obviously Snape shied away from the topic as much as the next wizard. She presented the coupon to Cedric, dropping it into his hand from a little distance, not wanting to come in contact with him.

He rang up the books and bagged them for Hermione. Snape didn't buy anything this time.

"Thank you for shopping Cedric's," he purred at Hermione, showing all his green little teeth. "Do come again."

"Not alone," she thought as she took Snape's arm and he led her out of the shop and back through Knockturn Alley.

It was just as horrible as before, and a little worse . . . at least for Snape when a prostitute walked up to him and addressed him by name, her green eyes resting on Hermione as she gave him a naughty smile.

"Ah Professor, ain't seen you in about a year," she said to Snape, who colored.

"Ah no, Sophia. I've been busy," he said, trying to walk around her as Hermione stared at the hooker, absolutely mesmerized by her red boa and red leather corset and garters visible beneath her slightly opened cloak. She was wearing knee-high red boots with heels. It was freezing out here. She must have been using a warming spell.

"Well you need to come see me and get reacquainted," she purred, running a finger around his jaw line, then her eyes shifted to Hermione again. "You can bring her too. She's cute."

"We have to go, Sophia," Snape said, quickly pushing by the witch, dragging Hermione along, who was craning her neck to continue watching the witch until they turned a corner.

Snape was walking noticeably stiffer now. Hermione looked up at him. He slept with prostitutes? Goodness.

"Was that a friend of yours, Professor?" Hermione asked him.

Snape didn't answer her for a moment. She could see his jaw was tightly clenched, and there was a small tick in his cheek. Damn, Sophia. She just had to make her presence known, and did it on purpose. She saw he had an innocent on his arm. She just wanted to make trouble.

"An old acquaintance," he responded tightly.

"Oh," Hermione replied, brimming over with curiosity.

"I thought we might have a bite to eat before you returned to your home," the wizard said, changing the subject.

"All right," Hermione answered.

He may have verbally changed the subject, but that encounter wasn't just going to go away for the witch. Is that what the professor did for female companionship? Pay for sex? If he did, he didn't do it often. The prostitute had said she hadn't seen him for a year, unless he had others he visited as well. Sophia had been very pretty and shapely, with curly black hair and fair, unblemished skin. It was a glamour of course, but Hermione didn't know that. Not that Sophia was ugly, but her life made her a bit worn and her body wasn't as perky as it used to be. So she prettied herself up a bit. Most wizards didn't care once the trousers were down, at any rate.

They Disapparated to Hogsmeade and went to the Three Broomsticks for lunch. It was quite a public place and there were a number of people there that recognized the Potions master, although not Hermione.

"Snape's robbing the cradle?" one patron said to another as they watched him pull out Hermione's chair for her, then slide it in once the witch was seated.

But the patrons weren't the only ones who saw Snape. Harry and Draco were also at the Three Broomsticks, and Harry was staring at the couple in disbelief.

"I can't believe it," Draco said with a chuckle, "Snape's doing Granger. Isn't that hilarious?"

Harry shook his head.

"No, I don't think so, Draco. He could lose his job for shagging a student. But maybe, maybe he's courting her. She's going to graduate soon."

Harry watched as Hermione pulled a book out of a bag, and turned it over in her hands, smiling before handing it to Snape, who looked through it soberly, nodded, and handed it back to her. She offered him another book, but he waved that one away.

"Maybe they're out getting books for her apprenticeship," Harry said consideringly.

He was willing to consider anything other than Snape doing Hermione. It just seemed wrong on so many levels. He considered Snape to be a smart, reserved wizard. He wouldn't go topsy-turvy over some young witch. Although . . . although he had always favored Granger. No. The idea was insane.

"Going to go over and say hi?" Draco asked him.

Harry shook his head.

"No, I'm not. Let's just eat, Draco," the young wizard said. Still he watched them interact, Hermione talking animatedly and Snape listening thoughtfully as he consumed his sandwich, his dark eyes resting on her and smirking from time to time. Evidently, he did enjoy her company.

But no. No. He couldn't be interested in her that way. It had to be the apprenticeship.

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Snape and Hermione parted ways in Hogsmeade, the dark wizard returning to Hogwarts and the witch to Muggle London. She hurried home, let herself in and ran straight to her room, pulling off her cloak with a flourish and tossing it on the back of her chair. She bounced into the bed, then reached into her nightstand and took out a pencil, then pulled the books out of her bag. She placed the brewing book on the nightstand and opened up the workbook. The first thing she saw was a little line to write her name as the owner of the book. She filled it in and felt a little tingle of magic.

Then an introduction appeared on the next page explaining that this was magic of a different sort, better known as Manipulation magic, and was something available to not only witches but Muggles as well. An informed witch was a successful witch. It went on to state that once all the proper information about herself and the wizard of her choice was entered it, then a plan of action would be created, which should be followed to the letter. But the next step would appear only when the previous had been carried out. Presumably, the book would know in some way.

Well, that was smart of the author. Hermione certainly would have read ahead if it told everything. But this was going to prove quite interesting. Hermione read the first few questions about her personal history and background, then started filling in answers.

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A/N: Thanks for reading.