Evil Personified

Three

Hermione looked over at the hourglass on Snape\'s desk. The two hours were nearly up. The heat from the cauldron had made it hot and she had twisted her hair up and stuck her wand through it to hold it in place. Still, stray tendrils had come loose and stuck to her face.

Carefully, she stirred the potion one last time clockwise. Snape was still at the desk, ignoring her. She ladled a portion carefully into a test tube, and corked it tightly.

She walked over and placed it in the holder on the edge of Snape\'s desk. He looked up at her, and she stared back into his obsidian eyes.

\"I\'m finished, Sir, with time to spare.\"

Severus noted the sweat that was plastering her hair to her face. A single drop of sweat trickled down the line of her jaw to her neck. There, a purplish mark of passion marred the pale skin. His lower lip curled in a sneer as he thought:

\"Weasley, or one of those other dunderheads. Stupid girl, letting them paw her.\"

\"Sir?\"

\"Yes, Miss Granger, I know you are standing there waiting for praise,\" he snapped, his eyes flashing sudden fire at her. \"You are dismissed.\"

\"But, Sir,\" she began.

\"Just get out,\" he hissed.

Hermione didn\'t try to argue the point. She grabbed her things and left without a backward glance. Snape glared at her retreating back, his mind condemning her to being no better than the Slytherin girls who slept around.

He was disappointed. A witch as bright as she was had no business wasting her time with boys who were ignorant at best. It was no secret that she had either not attended the dances at Hogwarts or watched from the sidelines unless she was dancing with Weasley or Potter. While he was not fond of the girl, he thought her to be brilliant in mind and far above the hormonal boys of Hogwarts.

He spent much of his time on hall duty, delighting in routing out groping and grunting teenagers. He knew every nook and cranny of the castle, nearly as well as Albus did and he did not hesitate to break up any sexual escapades. However, he had never caught Hermione Granger in any compromising position. Considering that she was a Head Girl and had her own room, an assignation with Weasley was a possibility. He would have a word with Minerva and let her know of his suspicions so that she could look into the matter.

He picked up the sample of potion that she had left on his desk, and regarded it with eyes that could tell by looking if it was correct or not. The muscle relaxing elixir was difficult to brew correctly, even for him, but the clear purple color had no telltale blue clouds in it. Granger had passed the final exam with flying colors, as he had expected she would.

He replaced the vial in the holder and cursed silently to himself. If the girl weren\'t such a know-it-all, he wouldn\'t mind being around her. Not at all.

~*~

Hermione was tired that afternoon, after leaving Snape. He\'d had no inkling of what had transpired between them in the hospital wing, or if he had, he had not shown it. He was as viper tongued as ever with her. She had known that he would be in a foul mood after the long battle and after having to give her an exam. She also knew that the potion had been perfect, that he would have to give her a passing grade.

She stopped on her way upstairs long enough to pull her wand out of her hair, dry it quickly with a spell, and fluff it back into place.

\"There you are, Hermione,\" Professor McGonagall came hurrying up the hall. \"When you get a moment, Professor Dumbledore would like to see you in his office.\"

\"I didn\'t do anything wrong, did I?\" Hermione asked, puzzled that the Headmaster would want to speak with her.

\"No, my dear. Albus has something that he wants to discuss with you.\"

The older witch was smiling at Hermione, so it couldn\'t be too bad. McGonagall was easy to read. She showed her emotions fairly easily.

\"Has he changed the password, Professor?\"

\"No, its still \'phoenix\',\" Minerva replied.

\"I\'ll go up now. I\'m finished with my exams for the day.\"

\"How did you do in potions?\"

\"I\'m pleased. It looked fine, but Professor Snape was not in a happy mood.\"

Minerva shook her head.

\"I do wish that Severus would settle down and learn to trust people, but he won\'t. I gather that he was in one of his tempers.\"

\"Yes, and I don\'t think he was too happy with having to give me my exam.\"

\"Just ignore him, dear. Perhaps eventually he will become easier to get along with.\"

That, Hermione thought as she climbed the endless staircases, was highly unlikely. The man was always going to be snarky and evil tempered. Besides, with only a week left before leaving Hogwarts, unless she could come up with something, she might never see him again.

It was a foolish notion to fall in love with the likes of him, anyway. She would be better off with someone like Harry or Ron. He was so much older than she, and no doubt had extensive experience in sex and love. Bad as the man hated her, her chances of getting noticed by him in that way were minuscule.

He had no idea that she had felt her pulse race when she\'d walked into the room and they were completely alone together. Her mind kept straying off the potion back to the savage kiss that he\'d given her. She wasn\'t as shocked now as she had been. Her curiosity was getting the better of her and she kept trying to imagine what would have happened, had she not gotten frightened and retreated from him.

She had covertly studied the fall of his hair, the way his pink mouth turned down at the corners, and the way his hand held the quill as he worked with the grades. Her mouth had gone dry, and it wasn\'t the heat from the cauldron doing it. She\'d had to force her mind away from the subject of Snape, in order not to fail.

She was chewing on her lower lip by the time she knocked on the door to Dumbledore\'s office.

\"Come in, Miss Granger.\"

It was no surprise that Dumbledore knew it was she even without opening the door. She went in, and stood respectfully until he looked up, folding the parchment he\'d been reading.

\"I see Minerva found you.\" Albus motioned to Hermione to sit down. \"I am glad that you came up to speak with me.\"

\"I was afraid that I had done something wrong, Sir.\"

\"Goodness no, child. I am most grateful for your help in recent years. However, I wished to ask you what your plans are once you leave here.\"

\"To be truthful, Professor, I am not certain. Harry is going to Auror training, and Ron is apprenticing to his father in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office. I was considering Auror training, or maybe pursuing a degree in Arithmancy and Runes.\"

\"I see.\" The old wizard pushed his glasses up thoughtfully before looking at Hermione soberly. \"Would you consider teaching here eventually?\"

\"Teaching?\"

\"You would have to be apprenticed, first. I would not feel right about placing you in charge of a class without further training. Since the war with Voldemort has ended, we are going to have more students than we have had in the past. Many families who fled elsewhere are returning and their children are receiving the appropriate letters over the summer. As a result, we will need extra hands, and I felt that out of the graduating class that you and Harry might be good possibilities for future teaching posts.\"

\"Have you spoken to him yet?\"

\"I will tonight. I wanted to speak with you first. I was hoping that you would have pity on an old wizard and say yes,\" he chuckled.

Hermione couldn\'t resist laughing.

\"When would it start?\"

\"The apprenticeship?\"

\"Yes.\"

He cleared his throat.

\"The week after graduation.\"

\"So I wouldn\'t be going away for summer vacation?\"

\"No. I don\'t like to ask you to give it up, but it\'s very important that we have supplies on hand for start of term and it will take all summer to replenish what we have lost during the recent battle.\"

Hermione looked at Dumbledore suspiciously, wondering just to whom he was planning on apprenticing her.

\"What sort of supplies will take all summer to get?\" she questioned.

\"Potions will need to be brewed to replace our stores both in the hospital wing and in the potions lab itself. Since you are very accomplished in potions I thought that to begin with, you could work with Severus-Professor Snape, this summer.\"

He wants me to spend my summer with Professor Snape.

Albus watched the expression on Hermione\'s face when he mentioned Severus, and he had to hide the amused smile that threatened to break out. Albus had thought carefully about what Poppy had told him about Hermione sitting by the sour potion master\'s bed, and judging by her expression, his suspicions were confirmed. He would bet Minerva one galleon that the girl fancied Severus, teacher or not. It wasn\'t the first time he\'d seen a student have an interest in one of the staff, but it was a rare occurrence. And considering the reputation of the staff member she was interested in, this situation was unheard of.

Severus would not be happy at all if he were even aware of her interest in him. Knowing Severus as he did, Albus knew that he probably hadn\'t a clue. He was too busy being himself, snarking and vindictive. In a week, he would no longer be Hermione\'s teacher, and as far as Albus was concerned, the girl could pursue him if she chose to do so. He was as he had told her, grateful for her help in past years. So, he figured that he could do her a favor without her knowing he was helping.

\"Will you do it, Miss Granger?\"

\"Yes,\" she replied without hesitation. \"I will be happy to help.\"

\"Wonderful. I will speak with Minerva this evening and we will make arrangements for you to move into more permanent housing.\"

\"Thank you for asking me, Sir.\" She rose to go.

\"And Miss Granger?\"

\"Sir?\"

\"I would appreciate it if you did not mention this to Professor Snape if you should happen to speak with him. I have yet to work out the details with him.\"

\"As you wish,\" Hermione replied. She thought that a more accurate description would be that Dumbledore had yet to break it to Snape that she was going to be a thorn in his side at least for the summer, if not permanently.

A/N:
Well, well, well. I wonder how Snape is going to like the news? Is he still going to be giving Ron credit for a hickey HE created???? I can\'t wait......
thanks guys, for ALL your reviews! They are much appreciated.