The Rush Justifies The Risk

Chapter 3 – Let The Tricks Begin!

First, a thank you to all my reviewers:

Lauriurix: Thank you! I was hoping that this was an interesting concept of Hermione and Snape’s behaviors. It’ll be even better when Severus realizes what is going on lol.

neelix: I try to update as quickly as possible. Chapter 4 and 5 are very nearly finished, so they should be up in the next few days. I was surprised and pleased to see you’re name on here because I love your stories, particularly AFTERWARDS. Thank you for reading!

Pamela: Lol well I have a few more now. Thank you, and yes, I am a serious grammar freak.

Kris: Neither can I! Thanks for reading.

Megan: Thank you for reading. At least two more chapters will be up in the week.

More chapters are in the works. Until then, enjoy chapter 3!

~~~

The next day, Hermione sat across from Harry and next to Ron, who was devouring his breakfast. She let out a disgusted snort.

“Maybe you should slow down, Ron,” she said impatiently to her boyfriend. “You’re going to make yourself sick!”

“No u won’ Ermione,” he replied, spraying food everywhere. She just managed to avoid getting the chewed up remnants of his sausage and toast on her face.

“Sorry!” he added quickly after visibly swallowing.

“Merlin, why do you have to be such a pig, Ron?” she snapped.

“I’m not a pig!” he protested. “Just because we can’t all be neat freaks like you-”

“Eating like a civilized witch rather than a barbarian hardly makes me a ‘neat freak,’” she said coolly. “Besides, I’d rather be a neat freak than a slob. It’s horribly unattractive.”

“If I’m so unattractive, why are you dating me?” he countered.

“You act like I can’t rectify that,” she sneered.

“You can’t break up with me; you’ve already agreed to be my girlfriend,” he reminded her as if that ended the argument.

“Oh can’t I break up with you?” she said dangerously. “You do realize that most school relationships don’t last, don’t you?”

“My parents are still together,” he argued.

“Yes, but your parents ended up married to each other,” she told him.

“So why can’t we?” he asked her, and her face was whiter than Nearly Headless Nick’s.

Harry, who sensed danger, cut into the argument right there.

“Can’t you two have breakfast together without having a row?” he asked quietly.

Hermione sighed and began to feel guilty. They had been rather insensitive with their argument. Harry had been their best friend since they began school. He cared very much for both she and Ron. She knew it hurt him to see the two of them at each other’s throats. Just because Ron positively infuriated her did not mean that they had to have it out in front of Harry.

“I’m sorry, Harry,” she apologized.

Suddenly, hundreds of owls began to fly into the Great Hall.

“Mail’s here,” Harry commented.

“Excellent,” Hermione said excitedly.

She began to look up for Fred and George’s reply. Today was the day she was going to start her new hobby/revenge against slimy Snape.

“Are you expecting a letter, ‘Mione?” Harry asked her teasingly. Her enthusiasm was very obvious.

“Yes, a very important one,” she told him.

An owl swooped down and she took the letter from him.

“Yes, here it is!” she shrieked. “Thank you, little owl! Have a piece of toast.”

She gave him a piece of toast from her plate.

“Calm down, Hermione,” Harry laughed. “Your cheeks might rip from smiling too wide.”

“Well, it’s a very important letter,” she told him again.

“From who?” Ron demanded.

Hermione’s smile was quickly replaced with a very ugly look.

“You don’t have to get snippy with me, Ronald,” she said coldly.

“Then answer the question,” he said in a commanding voice.

“Why should I?” she snapped. “It’s my letter so it’s my business.”

“I’m your boyfriend!” he shouted.

“Ron, ‘Mione shouldn’t have to tell you about her letter,” Harry cut in. “It might be something personal.”

“Something personal, eh?” he sneered. “Something personal that you can’t tell me? Sounds like that letter has something you want to hide in it. Is it from Krum?”

“Not that it’s your concern, but no, it’s from Fred and George,” she yelled.

If she thought that would appease him, she was mistaken.

“Fred and George?” he repeated, his eyes flashing. “You’re in contact with my brothers?! Why?!”

“It’s none of your damned business, Ron!” she shouted angrily. “I’m so sick of you acting like you can boss me around! I’m your girlfriend, not your daughter! You had better start respecting my privacy!”

Hermione stormed off before running into Snape, who was walking up the aisle towards the teacher’s table.

“Causing unnecessary noise in the Great Hall at breakfast?” he said, his smirk dripping with malevolence. “You really need to learn some manners. I think five points from Gryffindor will help.”

Hermione snarled and walked past him towards the exit, trying to remember a time in her life when she’d been more furious.

~~~

Severus had no idea what Miss Granger was so angry about, but he hoped it was something really horrible. It served her right for thinking she was above the rules. He couldn’t believe she’d had the gall to try and get out of losing points last night for being out after hours. He had only been planning to take twenty points from Gryffindor, but after that little outburst, he kicked it up to fifty.

And he was so glad he did, Severus reflected happily. The look on her face was absolutely priceless.

He walked up to Potter and Weasley, smiling in a way that made them shudder.

“I would take points off of you as well, Weasley,” he told him. “But seeing as your girlfriend is certainly about to end your juvenile association, I think you’ve been punished enough.”

“You don’t know anything about our relationship, Snape!” Ron snapped.

“Professor Snape,” he corrected him. “And your relationship is as obvious as it will be short, undoubtedly.”

“At least I have a girlfriend,” Ron said smugly, and everyone around him gasped. There was surely about to be hell to pay. And house points, as well.

“Detention Weasley,” he said calmly. He was still happy about making Miss Granger angry, so he was somewhat merciful to Gryffindor. “Come straight to the greenhouses tonight at 8 o’clock. You will assist me with preparing the plants for use in my classroom.”

Potter and Weasley glared at his jovial smile as he swept towards the high table. His day was really looking up.

~~~

Hermione was still seething when she walked to the library. Whenever she felt too upset, this place always made her feel better.

Merlin, why did Ron have to be such a prat! He had a lot of nerve, demanding to know who her letter was from and why she got it. There was no way she was going to stand for that. He could be jealous all he wanted, but he was not going to take his paranoia out on her. She was going to ignore him until he apologized and promised to respect her privacy from now on.

But her anger at Ron was completely eclipsed by her anger at a certain Potions Master. Snape was beyond infuriating with his obvious pleasure at her suffering. She had no idea why he had it in for her, as she had never given him reason to be anything but respectful to her. Her grades in his class were exceptional. She participated when no one else in the classroom would. She was nothing if not well-behaved in his class.

Feeling that she was about to lose it, Hermione reminded herself that it would be her enjoying his anguish soon enough. ‘He’ll get his, Hermione,’ she told herself. ‘You wait, you’ll get him. And you’ll be smiling when he’s so angry he can’t think straight.’

This thought reminded Hermione that she had not read the letter yet. Pulling it out, she began to read.

Hermione,

We were pleasantly surprised to hear that you’ve finally loosened up on rules and decided to get even with someone who has done you wrong. Soon, you’ll realize how fun it is to pull tricks on someone.

We have a product that may suit your needs nicely, and benefit us as well. It’s so horrible that we have no intention of testing it on ourselves. In fact, we will never be able to sell it, so that just goes to show you that it is truly evil to use it on someone. It will also put you in a position of having something over Snape. You will have a decent bit of blackmail on him, in case you get caught. So you will have some sort of back-up plan, just in case.

Unfortunately, we cannot send this product to you by owl because, quite honestly, it would be illegal to use on someone. This was going to go in our secret stash of pranks. Let us know when your next Hogsmeade trip it, and we will meet you in Three Broomsticks. Since you are going to use Snape as out lab rat, we won’t charge you.

We hope to see you soon to deliver this extra special product and the instructions!

Fred and George Weasley

Hermione quickly reached into her bag and pulled out a quill, ink, and parchment to write her reply.

Dear Fred and George,

The next Hogsmeade trip is this Saturday. I’ll be there waiting for you. Thank you very much!

Hermione Granger

Hermione began to walk towards the owlery with a spring in her step. Just knowing that she was this much closer to getting Severus Fucking Snape was enough to cheer her up. As she drew closer to the owlery, she ran into Seamus and Dean.

“Hey Hermione,” Dean greeted her warmly.

“Hello Dean, Seamus,” she smiled happily. “So how went…uh…whatever you guys were going last night?”

They began to snicker, and pointed behind her. There stood Neville, or rather there he barely stood. He was hunched over oddly, with Ginny helping him towards the hospital wing. Moaning painfully, he was walking like he had sores in a certain area. Then Hermione remembered the bubotuber pus.

“Oh, you didn’t,” Hermione said, and the three of them began to laugh. “Poor Neville!”

“We put it in his the front of his boxers,” Dean told her. “You see, if you put it on a surface, it will absorb right through fabric and onto the skin.”

“Really?” she asked, getting a sinister idea.

“Yep,” Seamus confirmed. “And Neville wasn’t the only one, we got the Creevey brothers, too.”

“Awful,” she said with a smile. “Well, I have to deliver this letter before Potions starts.”

“Ok, see you there,” they said, waving as Hermione scampered off.

Hermione ran to the owlery and delivered the letter. Then she hurried back to the Gryffindor tower and ran up to her bed. Reaching underneath, she pulled out the bottle of bubotuber pus. She emptied her bag of all of her books, she place it in the bag, along with a kit from Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes that Ron had gotten her for her birthday last week. At first, she had thought it very insensitive to buy her something that she never showed the slightest interest in, but now she was grateful. Putting in everything that she needed for Potions in as well, she zipped it up.

Hurrying down the stairs, Hermione saw Ron waiting there for her. She glared at him angrily and made to walk past him, but he blocked her path.

“Look Hermione, I really am sorry about breakfast,” he apologized. “I just get nervous when you talk to other guys.”

“If you want us to have a relationship, you’re going to have to learn to trust me,” she told him.

“I know, and I’m sorry,” he said again. “Your letters are your business. I promise to respect your boundaries.”

Hermione was feeling generous because of her plans for today, so she forgave him.

“Snape gave me detention tonight!” he complained on their way.

They walked together to Potions, and unfortunately walked in five minutes late.

“Twenty points for tardiness, Granger and Weasley,” he said. “You’re really racking up quite the number, aren’t you Granger?”

“If you say so, sir,” she said calmly, almost smiling.

Snape was instantly suspicious. Where was her emotional outburst?

He let it go and began his lecture. Hermione began to write down a list of everything in his room. There was the potions cabinet, of course, but that would negatively affect school funds. She was only after Snape, himself. She knew that his personal stores that he bought were in his office, as she had stolen from it before.

When he assigned them their potion, the Clearing Draft, she began to smile. Hermione had brewed it herself when she had problems with her allergies and needed to clear out her nasal cavity. She was quite familiar with its composition, which contained the fruit of Phoenix reclinata. And it so happened that in her Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes, there was a liquid that was highly combustible when added to any kind of fruit, but it was jinxed so that it would not burn human skin, just everything else. It was a way to get your buddy if he was eating an orange or banana without actually harming him. Well, she was going to use it for something else.

Snape was busy yelling at Harry for partially melting his cauldron, and Ron was sitting right next to him. There was no way Snape could accuse either or them as he usually tried to do. Did she dare?

It occurred to her that she might be playing with fire, but she pushed that thought aside. Quickly pulling out the liquid and her wand, she looked around to make sure no one was watching her. When she saw the coast was clear, she disillusioned the bottle of liquid and levitated towards Draco Malfoy’s cauldron. She flicked her wand and dropped it in.

There was a huge explosion. The Slytherin side of the room was in total disarray. Singed papers, books, and robes that students took off in the potions fumes were splayed around the room. The floor was covered with potion, ingredients, and glass. Snape was trying calm everyone down, but it was difficult in the pandemonium. The Slytherins girls were screaming shrilly and the boys were shouting angrily.

“I saw something splash into my cauldron!” Malfoy shouted. “Someone dropped something invisible into it!”

“Are you sure?” Snape asked.

“Yes,” Malfoy assured him.

“Alright then,” Snape said, and then rounded on the Gryffindor side of the room. “Whoever did this had better come forward right now, and you won’t be expelled. Be advised that I will find out who did this. It would be better to just admit it now.”

The whole class was silent. They all knew perfectly well that Harry had thrown the Fred’s Filibuster Firework years ago and had never gotten caught. If Snape was going to punish the assailant, he would have to catch them himself and prove it.

Snape looked right at Hermione and was about to call her out, until he saw her face. It was flushed red and had a look of complete and utter shock. He scowled and realized that she was having a reaction to the explosion. It looked as if she might faint from the unexpected bang. He knew then that she couldn’t have possibly done it. He sighed and resigned himself to the fact that he couldn’t pin it on her.

But he did not realized he mistook her flushed face for shock when in reality it was something quite different.

Oh yes, this was exactly the kind of rush Hermione was looking for. Her body was positively shaking with excitement as she fought to keep a straight face. Adrenaline was coursing through her entire body. The feeling of danger washed over her and she liked it. No, she loved it.

Even more note-worthy, however, is that she realized that Snape, when angry, was almost…appealing. A shiver ran through her, and she almost disgusted, not with Snape, but with herself. She was not supposed to find her cruel Professor appealing. He was one of the ugliest people alive. But she knew that she did not find him ugly, at least not physically. His personality, however, was as ugly as they came. Hermione hated him for it.

“Class dismissed,” he snapped, still looking strangely attractive.

Everyone exited the classroom quickly, not wanting to make him any angrier.

~~~

The Gryffindors were absolutely buzzing with speculation in their common room later that day.

“It had to be one of us,” Dean told them. “A Slytherin would have thrown it into one of our cauldrons.”

“Who did it?” Ron asked the room at large. “Come on, we won’t tell anyone.”

“I didn’t do it,” Dean said at once.

“I didn’t,” Seamus added. “Harry? Ron?”

“I couldn’t have done it, Snape was right at my cauldron,” Harry pointed out. “And Ron was right next to me. How about you, Neville?”

“I was in the hospital wing thanks to you bloody idiots!” he said accusingly.

“Oh right,” Ron said, snickering.

The whole common room began to laugh.

Ron stood up and said, “Well, I’d better get down to greenhouse two for my detention.”

“Greenhouse two?” Hermione questioned. “I thought you were serving your detention with Snape.”

“He said I was going to help him prep some plants to use in potions,” he told her. “And it’s just as well. I don’t want to spend another second in that creepy dungeon than I absolutely have to.”

“Right, well, I have to go in that direction anyway,” she told him. “I want to get started on Binn’s essay. I’ll walk with you up to the library.”

“Ok,” he said brightly, and held out his hand to her. “See you, Harry,” he called back and Hermione waved.

“See you guys,” Harry answered, and resumed the speculation with Dean, Seamus, and Neville.

The young couple walked up to the library, where Ron kissed Hermione good-bye. As soon as he was out of sight, she ran back the other way towards the dungeons.

If Snape was not going to be there, she was going to get him one more time today.

When she reached his office, she broke the seal he always cast on it before leaving. Wanting to get out as soon as possible, she got right to work. Running towards his desk, she pulled his chair out and exposed the seat.

Hermione pulled out a quill and the bubotuber pus she had gotten from Seamus. Dipping the quill in the pus, she considered exactly what she should write. She grinned wickedly, and wrote out the phrase ‘Serves You Right.’ After waving her wand and disillusioning the pus, she put her things back into her bag.

Then she ran back to the library. This had only taken about ten minutes including the walk down here. If she went straight back, she would have an alibi in case he started asking questions.

~~~

And that’s the end of chapter three! Does Hermione have it in for Snape, or what! Let me know what you guys think.