Through the Looking Glass ~ COMPLETED

Chapter 49 ~ Detention with the Potions Master

Hermione reported to Snape’s office two days later when classes resumed. The Potions master let her into his office and instructed her to take a seat. Her brown eyes took in the horrible creatures in jars that served as his backdrop. Did he actually use them for potions?

The wizard sat down at his desk, folded his hands and studied the witch before him. Hermione was dressed in rather worn, beat up robes, no doubt in expectation of some horrible duty she would have to perform as her detention. He smirked at her obvious preparations, but they were worthless. What he had in mind did not require worn robes.

Snape had experimentally contacted two of the women who had sent him pictures, inviting them to the castle after hours for a late supper on separate evenings. Both witches made it quite clear they were willing to do anything and everything to cull his favor. Both were quite good-looking and curvaceous.

But Snape found himself turned off by their willingness and obvious designs on his wealth. Either one of them would have given him a blow-job right in his office, but thanks to the alternate Hermione, the novelty of that situation had worn off. Besides, he doubted either one of them would have been as wild and spontaneous as the Slytherin. It would be pretty difficult to beat Handjob Hostage.

Besides, thanks to that self-seeking little witch, Snape had enough of women manipulating his dangly bits in order to get what they wanted. The wizard’s cooperation wasn’t coming that cheap any longer, although having a woman of his own would be quite acceptable, as long as she were truly attracted to him. There wasn’t much chance of him locating one who wasn’t a gold digger now. His money complicated matters.

So, the Potions master dismissed the trollops, because that’s really what they were, telling both women after sharing a very light meal that he wasn’t interested in forming a relationship at the present time. Each witch was affronted, of course. Despite his wealth, Snape was unattractive enough that he should be more than grateful to have any decent-looking woman take an interest in him. Money might pad his looks, but it didn’t hide them in the least.

“To think I came here to give you the opportunity to form a meaningful relationship,” one witch hissed at him as he showed her the door.

”Thank you, but no thank you,” Snape replied as she huffed past him and into the dungeon corridor. “I’m afraid I’m not interested in what you are offering. I could simply hire a woman to give me what you so obviously want to for much less than my fortune. It would also be far less complicated. Good night.”

With that, he closed the door in her reddened face.

”Bastard,” the witch hissed as she stalked up the dungeon corridor.

Snape studied Hermione, who looked quite resigned. No doubt she’d thought he’d have her knee-deep in Thestral shit, or involved in some equally unsavory endeavor. If not for his current needs, he might have.

”I see you’ve arrived prepared to work, Miss Granger,” he said to her with an arched eyebrow.

”Yes,” Hermione replied a bit curtly. Although she had decided she could have received a much worse punishment than detention, she still wasn’t happy about it.

”Well, from this moment on, you will not have to appear in front of me looking like a threadbare street urchin,” the wizard informed her. “You will not be doing anything that will damage your attire.”

Hermione swelled a little. Her robes might be a bit ragged, but she was far too old to be considered an urchin. Merlin. The nerve of the wizard.

”I am not an urchin,” she snapped at him, then felt a bit flushed as Snape’s dark eyes drifted over her slowly, as if he knew something she didn’t.

”It was a figure of speech, Miss Granger. I am quite aware you are no urchin, believe me,” he said quietly.

There was a pregnant pause, Hermione’s eyes dropping to her hands in her lap, which twisted nervously. Snape continued to look at her for several moments before he continued.

”I am sure you’ve heard about my newly acquired wealth,” he said to the witch.

Hermione nodded.

”Yes, I have . . . and I think it’s wonderful the Headmaster left you something,” she said to him earnestly. “You deserve it, professor.”

Snape cocked his head at her. Outside of Albus himself, no one else had expressed that sentiment. He had been ‘lucky,’ ‘damn lucky’ and ‘fortunate,’ but not ‘deserving’ until now.

“You believe so, Miss Granger?” he asked her.

”Oh . . . oh yes, sir,” she responded.

It was easy to see the Gryffindor believed he did deserve that money, and what’s more, Hermione was the only person in the last few days who didn’t have greed or envy in her eyes when she looked at him. It was too bad Hermione wasn’t the type of witch that could just be bought. No doubt she’d be worth the price tag.

Snape sat back in his chair and ran a finger over his thin lips, Hermione watching him, feeling a bit out of sorts. Her experience with his counterpart still affected her, and despite Snape’s differences in demeanor and dress, he still reminded her of the wizard who took her virginity. She still felt a bit of bubble in her belly when she looked at him. But this was Slytherin Snape. Dark, cold . . . well, maybe not so cold. He had engaged her counterpart . . . but the situation was much different. She was more like he was. A Slytherin.

“Miss Granger,” Snape suddenly said, and Hermione jumped in her chair, she’d been so lost in her own thoughts.

”I’m sorry to have disturbed you,” the Potions master said sarcastically, “but I have a hypothetical question for you and I’d like you to answer it honestly.”

”All right, sir,” Hermione agreed curiously.

”If you were me and received this large influx of sudden wealth, what would you do with it?” Snape asked her.

Hermione blinked at him.

”Professor, that’s a difficult question to answer. It presumes I ‘know’ you, when I don’t . . . really,” she said softly.

Snape quirked his lip. She wasn’t a complete know-it-all.

”Humor me,” he purred at her.

”All right . . . just give me a minute or two to think about it,” she replied. Snape nodded and folded his arms, waiting.

Hermione’s eyes began shifting back and forth in the familiar way they did when she was deep in thought, comparing facts, figures and feasibility. Snape watched the process with interest as her lips pursed and unpursed and her fingers flexed, the index pointing outward at intervals as she made her mental connections and suppositions. After about five minutes, she looked up at him.

”I’m ready,” she said, drawing in a breath.

Snape nodded.

”Well, you’ve been at Hogwarts a very long time, and in service to the Order. I know you worked against Voldemort for a long time as well as taught. I don’t know how much you like teaching, but . . . if I were you . . . I’d want to leave here, strike out on my own. You have enough money to do that,” she said to him.

Snape nodded.

”Go on, Miss Granger,” he said softly.

”You wouldn’t have to work, but . . . I imagine you would want to do something meaningful, something you enjoy. Something that brought returns, just for the satisfaction of it. I can’t imagine you just lying around doing nothing, professor. Maybe you can, but . . . I don’t see it,” Hermione continued. “Maybe you could go into your own business . . . something to do with potions. Maybe . . . maybe open an apothecary shop and sell potions and potion ingredients. You’d do well because you’re known for being an accomplished Potions master, professor. If I were you, I’d leave Hogwarts and open an apothecary shop . . . maybe even a chain of them.”

Snape doubted he’d want a chain of shops. It would be hard to keep up quality control. He wanted his shop to be one of a kind, a shop people traveled great distances to frequent. But, Hermione was right on the mark, just as he thought she’d be.

He arched an eyebrow at her.

”See, Miss Granger, you know more than you think you know,” he said to her soberly. “In fact I do intend to leave Hogwarts and open an apothecary shop.”

Hermione clasped her hands together in delight at having divined this, and also because he was going to do something wonderful with his life.

”That’s wonderful, professor,” she said with genuine enthusiasm.

Snape found it a bit affecting that she was genuinely happy for him.

”Which brings me to your ‘detention,’ Miss Granger. I am going to give you a highly unusual assignment, one that is a bit off the beaten path. Normally, I wouldn’t utilize you in this manner, and under usual circumstances it would be considered taking advantage of my position as a staff member and using a student for my personal gain. In other words, I could be sacked for this,” he said to her, his eyes glittering.

Hermione swallowed, but was excited. She liked breaking rules, even if she wouldn’t admit it to anyone but the gods.

”But, since I am leaving at the end of term, that’s neither here nor there,” the wizard continued. “And if you refuse me, I can give you more . . . mundane work to do as punishment.”

Hermione didn’t like the sound of that at all.

”What is the assignment, professor?” she asked him impatiently.

Ah, Gryffindors. So gung ho.

”I need you to keep this to yourself, Miss Granger. I don’t want word of my plans to get out before I’m ready to open my shop. If it does, I’m sure my competitors and potential suppliers will do all they can to sabotage my efforts and raise their prices. I need someone to . . . peruse the shops, find out how they are run, what sells best, the going rates for ingredients and things of that nature. I also want to know what is lacking so I can fill that niche. I cannot do this reconnaissance myself, Miss Granger, or people will become suspicious. I need someone who appears guileless, innocent, who inspires trust, but underneath it can be quite . . . sneaky.”

Hermione stared at him.

”And you think I’d be able to do this, professor?” she asked him.

”Undoubtedly. You’ve already shown yourself to be quite underhanded when it suits you, Miss Granger. Should I recount instances of that fact to you?” he asked her, arching an eyebrow. He had plenty to work with.

”No, that won’t be necessary,” Hermione said quickly. There was no need to dig up old dirt and maybe open old wounds.

”Are you willing to do this for me, Miss Granger? You will be working at it for the rest of term if you are,” the wizard said to her.

Was she willing? Oh, more than willing. This was right up Hermione’s alley. She could collect facts and figures, make charts, business plans, feasibility reports, and best of all, give the wizard informed presentations. She’d have a captive audience, so to speak

”Yes! Yes, I am, professor, and I’ll do an excellent job . . . I’ll start with the shops in Diagon Alley . . . maybe pretend I’m an aspiring junior reporter for the Prophet doing a freelance article on Apothecaries to get their cooperation, and after I gather all the facts . . .”

Snape listened as Hermione launched into all the ways she could accomplish this for him, full of excitement and enthusiasm, clearly happy to be helping him prepare for a new life. The witch chattered on for more than forty-five minutes, Snape giving her free reign.

”You’re going to put the other apothecaries out of business, professor,” Hermione claimed exuberantly as Snape quirked his lip at her. No one had ever professed such faith in him or his plans, or had been so willing to invest themselves in his dreams.

”You sound very certain of this, Miss Granger,” he said to her, pursing his lips.

”Oh, I am, sir. I am,” she replied.

”Well, I hope you can keep your excitement to yourself, Miss Granger. I don’t want anyone to know what I plan to do, not even your friends, Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley,” the Potions master said warningly.

”Oh, no. I won’t tell anyone, I promise,” Hermione said.

Suddenly magic whirled around them. Hermione had been so sincere, she’d inadvertently invoked a wizard’s oath. Now, she was bound to keep his secret. But Hermione’s sincerity wasn’t lost on Snape. Wanting to reward her in some manner, he made an offer.

”Perhaps, when you are finished doing this for me, Miss Granger, because it is so different from the usual detention assignments, I will pay you for your assistance. It will be a generous amount, I assure you,” the wizard said.

Hermione looked mortified.

”Oh, no, professor. I don’t need payment. I’m glad to do it, sir, really,” the witch said. “You saved my life. The least I can do is help you change yours for the better.”

Snape stared at her until she dropped her eyes again, feeling shy and exposed under his gaze. The Potions master felt a bit of a pulse in his belly as his eyes rested on the witch. He recognized it for what it was . . . and reacted.

”Surely, there is something I can do for you, Miss Granger,” he said softly. “If you won’t accept my money, what will you accept from me?”

Hermione looked up at him, almost doing a double-take. His face was so . . . relaxed, as if it lost some of its severity. In fact, at this moment Severus Snape looked more like his counterpart than ever. True, his hair was still lank, but that was the only difference.

Her surprise must have shone on her face, because Snape asked, “Is there something wrong, Miss Granger?”

”Ah . . . no,” she replied, then said, “Professor, I’d accept your . . . your friendship.”

Snape’s face clouded up again.

”I don’t do friendship, Miss Granger . . . particularly with witches,” he told her. “It doesn’t work.”

”Tolerance, then?” she asked him, her eyes hopeful.

Tolerance? Oh yes, he could certainly tolerate Hermione Granger . . . and on several levels. But he didn’t want to go the ‘friendship’ route. It brought disastrous results last time he was “friends” with a Gryffindor witch. He’d learned his lesson.

”Tolerance I can do, Miss Granger” he said with a nod as Hermione beamed at him.

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A/N: Feeling a bit off my game this morning, but thanks for reading.