Trial and Error

I would more than love to say that I am the creator and owner of the Harry Potter world and consequently of Severus Snape, but *sigh* I am not.

Thank you to all of you who are reviewing! Since I got so many reviews in one day, I was inspired to write the next chapter a lot sooner. *hint hint* ;-D
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Remus sat at the kitchen table of number 12 Grimmauld Place and stared into his bowl of porridge. \'Hmmm... those three raisins kind of look like Hermione when she is pouting...\' he pushed the raisins in his cereal around some more. \'Ah, and there she is laughing.\' Remus sighed. It was so hard to get Hermione off his mind since she left for the school. Sure, it was only two days ago, but still, he missed her.

Tonks had been watching him for the past several minutes as he wistfully played with his food. She took a bite of her own poge age and finally broke the silence.

\"You know, it might do your body better if you actually *eat* the porridge instead of idly twirling it about the bowl as though checking for hidden bugs.\"

Remus started and the spoon fell with a clatter onto the wooden table. He looked up at her and blushed before retrieving his spoon and proceeding to eat his now cold oatmeal.

\"Are you nervous about your trip, Remie?\"

\"Don\'t call me that, *Nymphadora*.\"

Tonks glared at him from across the table and smiled sarcastically.

\"Are you nervous about your trip, ReMUS?\"

Remus rolled his eyes at the blue-haired witch.

\"As a matter of fact, I have pushed the trip as far out of my mind as it can go and have no desire to bring it back until shortly before I depart.\" In reality, he was very nervous about leaving. He had a nasty feeling that Voldemort wanted to \"befriend\" the werewolves, too, and didn\'t know how he would tell if one was for him or against him without endangering his own life. The one thing that calmed him down about this was the fact that Voldemort had nothing to offer in return besides \"acceptance\". The Order had something better for them: the chance to be free of what keeps them from not being accepted. \"Merlin, I hope Hermione and Severus are making head-way on the potion.\"

\"What?\"

Remus hadn\'t realised he\'d spoken out loud.

\"I...was just thinking about the potion that Severus and Hermione are working on and I hope they are getting somewhere in their research. It will make it a lot easier to get American werewolves to help us if they get the chance of a cure in return. Of course, maybe this time Voldemort won\'t restrain himself to Europe and the Americans will fight anyway....\" this last was more to himself than to Tonks, but she seemed to be contemplating it anyway.

\"If he doesn\'t go for the Americans right away, do you think the wolfsbane potion will be enough to get the werewolves to help? I mean, they have very few people who know how to make it in America, right? I would think they would jump at the chance to keep their minds when they transform rather than be imprisoned in a steel cell.\"

Remus nodded. \"Yes, it will most likely get some of them to help, but the powers of Voldemort can be very....persuasive.\"

They exchanged dark looks for a moment, then Remus let out a soft sigh.
He opened his mouth to speak again when a small brown owl flew up to him with soot sprinkling the table from his flapping wings.

Tonks gasped. \"Oh, poor dear! He must have flown down the chimney because no one let him in through the window. He\'s a mess! Let me clean you up, okay?\" she cooed at the owl while pulling out her wand.

Remus hastily stood up from the table. \"No, Tonks, allow me. The delivery is for me, it should be my job to relieve him of both the letter and the soot.\" He quickly cast a mild cleansing spell and the owl was ash-free. The owl seemed to know that Remus had saved it from the possibility of great pain and nipped his fingers affectionately when Remus took the letter from the bird\'s leg. His heart skipped a beat when he saw the writing on the front of the scroll; it was Hermione\'s hand.

\"Who\'s it from?\"

Damn. Tonks w nev never let him leave without finding out who it was from and demanding a chance to read it. He knew there would be no need for the information in the letter to be kept secret from Tonks; he just wanted to be able to read it by himself and not share it with anyone.

\"It is nothing that concerns you, Tonks.\" he rolled his eyes again. \"I\'m going upstairs to finish some last minute things before I leave for America.\"

Tonks pouted and crossed her arms.

\"Who\'s it from?\" she repeated.

Deciding on misleading rather than directly lying, he said, \"It\'s from Snape\'s dungeon, most likely about the potions he and Hermione are working on. I\'d rather not discuss this letter with anyone until I know whether the news is good or bad,\" he sighed. \"Is that alright with you?\"

Tonks clicked her tongue impatiently, but uncrossed her arms juts the same, though her pout was still there.

\"I guess so.\"

\"Good. I\'ll be back down for the meeting tonight.\" He nodded politely to Tonks before leaving the kitchen.

Tonks listened to his footsteps and noticed that they accelerated to a run by the time he reached the stairs.

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As soon as Remus entered his room, he slammed the door and ripped open the scroll like a child opening a Christmas gift. His eyes hungrily lapped up the words written on the scroll.

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Dear Professor Lupin,

I hope this time finds you well and prepared for your journey. I cannot hide the fact that I am worried for you. Just promise me you\'ll come back safely, okay? [Remus\'s heart ct int in his throat..\'she\'s worried about me?\']

Mr. Stone and I have been working on the potions without reprieve. He is being his usual self. I made the first two batches of the regular potion completely on my own and that made him upset. That was the first night I was here. Since then, there has been silence except for the occasional remark about our findings. We are looking into one ingredient that may play an important part in our research.

Tonight we are going to attempt a potion using the new ingredient. Wish us luck on that venture.

I must return to the projects. Good luck with your travels and be sure to return before too long!

Love from,

Hermione

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Remus smiled; Hermione was a smart girl indeed. \'Mr. Stone...well, it\'s better than bastard or greasy git, and I am sure he is being at least one of those. He read the letter again; he could not find anything that would give Severus away if it fell into the wrong hands. There was in fact a Mr. Stone who had gone to Hogwarts a year before him and had excelled in potions. She didn\'t say what the potions were so Voldemort would not be able to guess what they were doing. \'My brilliant Hermione, I am so sorry you have to suffer being in the company of that man.\' He sighed. At least she was okay so far.
He rolled the letter back up and tucked it into the pocket of his traveling cloak and then finished packing his trunk before going downstairs for the meeting to discuss his mission one last time.

Two hours later, Remus hugged everyone at number 12 and apparated to San Francisco, California. He was to meet an old friend there and lie low for a couple of days to make sure there were no death eaters on his tail.

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Hermione lay on her bed later that night contemplating the earlier happenings of the day. Snape had been so quiet since their row two days ago. She had to admit it, she was a bit worried about him. Today, when she accidently spilled ink over half of his notes, he simply vanished it away without another glance. It was so unlike him to not at least snarl at her when she entered a room too noisily. For him to not even glare when she almost destroyed his notes? That was beyond strange.

A soft knock on her door interrupted Hermione\'s musings and the object of her thoughts walked inside her chambers when she said \"Come in\". Snape looked grimly at her and sighed loudly.

\"Miss Granger, I have a task that needs to be attended to. You will keep an eye on the potions while I am gone. If I do not return in an hour, tell Professor Dumbledore.\"

Hermione\'s heart sank right through her bed covers and down to theor; or; he had been summoned. A shudder ran up her spine and she closed her eyes and nodded. Snape turned to leave but was stopped by her voice.

\"Professor Snape?\"

He raised an eyebrow to show he was listening.

\"Be careful, will you?\"

Snape snorted. \"Miss Granger, I hardly think you are one who should tell me to be careful with something I have been involved with since before you were born.\"

Hermione shuddered again. Snape noticed it and saw her front teeth catch her lower lip.

\"That\'s right, Granger. Before you were born, I killed mudbloods like yourself for the pure enjoyment of it!\" This wasn\'t true, of course. He had never taken joy out of taking a life--innocent or not. He just wanted to scare her further away from him. He should have known she was too smart for that.

\"You\'re lying. I know you wouldn\'t have done anything like that for pleasure.\"

Snape looked at her in shock; was she that perceptive? He hoped not. There were things in his heart he did NOT want her to pick up on.

\"You don\'t know half of the things I\'ve done and what I am capable of, Miss Granger. It would do you good for once to not pretend like you know everything and accept that there are some things too gruesome for you to handle knowing.\" \'Good. She\'s shrinking away in fear. That\'s right, Hermione. Pull away from me. Lesmy tmy temptation.\' He started as he saw her eyes shining with tears. \'Oh Merlin, she\'s going to cry,\' Snape thought to himself.

Hermione didn\'t let the tears spill, though. She simply tilted her chin up and looked straight into his eyes.

\"You can say what you like, Severus, but I know you are not the person you make yourself out to be. You will not scare me out of helping you make the potions. I\'m not doing it for you, anyway. I\'m doing it for Remus and the other werewolves and the rest of Wizard kind!\"

So that\'s what she was thinking. She thought he was trying to get her to give up helping him. \'Well, I may as well use that as my excuse,\' Snape thought bitterly.

\"I am not going to tell you that you\'re selfish. I know that\'s not true. Where you are going tonight proves your unselfishness, but I wish you would accept the fact that I am here to help you until this war is over.\"

Snape sighed again. \'Play along, and she\'ll be none the wiser.\'

\"I cannot guarantee anything, but I will try to apear to be appreciating the help. Now, I must leave before....someone..gets angry with me. Remember: if I am not back in an hour...\"

\"You will be. Goodnight.\" With that, she shoved him out of her room and closed the door.

It wasn\'t until Snape had reached Hogsmeade with his mask and death eater robes hidden in his arms that he realised something: Hermione had called him Severus.

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A/N

**shemhamforash- Don\'t worry, there will be plenty more (just for you, as I wasn\'t planning on being *too* mean to him). :)

**animegrl- I hereby dub thee Lady CheerGwen ::takes a pen and touches it to your shoulders::

**Laerai- I\'m glad you like the magic window scene...There are no real windows in the lab (in my story anyway) and the one he has isn\'t exactly like the ones at the Ministry. You\'ll figure it out soon if you haven\'t already. :)

**Draco_Fan- I love tortuing you with the prospect of Snape being the one to taint Hermione\'s purity. ::grins evily::