Once Upon a Potion's Class [Complete]

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Title: Once Upon a Potion's Class

Chapter: 5 - The Seaweed is Always Greener

Author: MallowCakes

E-Mail: DestinyElkins04@gmail.com

Rating: R; HG/SS

Warnings: Nothing so far.

Disclaimer: Not mine, otherwise I would be off being rich somewhere... and Snape would've lived... Ron would've died... you get the picture.

Distribution: By appointment only.

AN: Thank you to my beta reader, Lo. Without her I don't think I'd survive! ^_^




Suddenly, his lips were pulled away from hers and she felt the smoke fill the room and suddenly she was changing and she was being pulled under water, but as if she had ingested a healthy does of gilly weed she could breath.


When she opened her eyes, Severus was no longer with her, she was under the ocean and she had grown fins! It was too soon. She longed to be back in the tower with his lips on hers. It had finally happened and she had to fight again to find him. This was maddening.


She floated away to find her father, sure to find that he wouldn't want her near the surface of the ocean, longing to be near humans.


Snape, on the other hand, found that he was not kissing Hermione anymore, but the smooth wood of a ship's steering wheel. More upset than he'd like to admit that it wasn't her anymore. He sighed heavily, leaning his head on the wheel and letting his unkempt hair fall over his face.


He was thankful for once that this prince wasn't getting hounded by his subordinates all the time. He just let his head rest and continued thinking of her lips and how he hadn't felt the way he was feeling now in ages. Knowing there was no way she could feel anything for him but disgust and hatred made him wish this whole storybook thing would be over as soon as possible.


He glanced at his bare feet as rain started to patter on the wooden planks and he heard the far away rumble of thunder. He knew that he wouldn't have to wait long for things to start here.


Meanwhile under the sea, it was taking Hermione some time to adjust to the ocean and the new addition of fins. She had already spoken to the king and had the consummate 'humans are evil' speech. Now she could see the lightning above the blue waves and the break of a ship's hull just beyond that.


She fought to get herself at the right angle and pushed her way to the surface.


Breaking through the top she let the rain hit her cheeks. Her hair plastered to her as she squinted her eyes, straining to see who was on the boat. She could barely make out the shapes and could only hope it was the one she was looking for.


She swam over to the side and latched on to the anchor chain, waiting for the right moment. A flash of lightning overhead and she could make out the shape of a crown on the flag overhead. She smiled in this slight triumph and let herself be dragged along in the choppy ocean.


"Must I wait much longer?" Snape mumbled to himself, still laying his head on the wheel.


He straightened himself up and walked over into the middle of the deck, standing with his arms crossed by the mast. Another flash of lightning and he winced, expecting any moment to be the one, but no such luck.


"Master, you must come away from there and get to your quarters. You could get hurt up here." A man came over and said to him.


"Why don't you go to your quarters and leave me to my thoughts?" Severus said, screwing his expression up in anger.


"What ever you say, my lord." The simpering man said, backing away.


The next second, another lightning strike caused the mast to break and fall over and throw Severus into the waiting waves.


Hermione, who was about to fall asleep from waiting so long, heard the loud splash before she saw the dark figure and dove into the water, looking for the one that made the noise.


Directly below her, she saw the snake like tendrils of black hair as the body lowered into the water and she rushed to latch onto the body. It was surprisingly easier to move it in the water than she thought it would be.


Looking into his face she could tell that she needed to get Professor Snape to land as quickly as possible. She swam as fast as she could, the storm lessening overhead, until finally she reached a beach and she pulled him onto land. The carved, hard lines of his face were soft in the moonlight and she hoped silently that she had made it to land in time.


Who knows what would happen if they died in the book.


"Oh, Severus. The last kiss was too quick and now I might never get the chance again."


She did a quick round of CPR on him and smiled when he coughed and spluttered up the water.


"Hello, Professor Snape." She said, a dashing pearly white smile tugging at her rosy lips.


"I thought you were supposed to be gone when I woke up, Miss Granger." He was obviously still out of it, the vision of Hermione Granger in front of him was awe inspiring, setting his heart pounding and his blood aflame.


"Upset that I stuck around to make sure you were okay?" She teased him easily, glad she’d been able to catch him.


"No, I just was ready to search and long for my mystery woman. Now that I see it's you, it's no longer a mystery."


"Not that it was before." Her face was inches from his.


"I guy can dream." A smile played on his face.


"Prince Eric!" A voice called in this distance, "Are you out here?"


"I'll see you later." Hermione whispered before rushing off to the ocean.


"I'll count on it." He called after her.


"Prince!!!" The voice came again.


"I'm over here." Severus called out. Staring out into the sea to see where his mermaid had gotten off to.


Hermione watched from a distance as one of the footmen came out and helped Severus up and off of the beach. After she was sure he was okay, she turned to dive under the waves and headed directly to where she knew Ursula, the sea witch, made her home.


Oddly enough, she didn't even know how she knew where to go. It was like it was ingrained in her brain. She just simply knew where to go.


Arriving at the cave opening, she slowly glided in, unsure of what was going to happen next. The wispy voices of the talking eels startled her as she neared the inner parts of the cave.


"Yes, my queen." One of them said.


"You should rule over the oceans." The other added.


"You are right, my pets." The voice that she assumed belonged to the witch said, "My no good brother has the trident that is rightfully mine. I'll find a way to get it eventually, of course."


Hermione finally entered the cave and almost lost her voice completely. "Sea witch." She whispered.


"Ah, the girl." One of the eels spoke, swimming over to her.


"Yes. Yes it's the girl." The other said, doing the same, "What shall we do with her Ursula?"


"Yes whatever shall we do with her?" The first one parroted, an evil smile pulling at its drawn features.


"Now, now, my pets." Ursula spoke finally, her large octopus body climbed down from a hole in the wall and she floated down to face the mermaid. Hermione had to stop a laugh as she had the fleeting thought that Ursula could almost be the twin of Delores Umbridge. "Let's see what this precious, young thing is after before we condemn her for swimming into my cave. Without knocking, by the way, girl. Which I find very rude."


"Sorry." Hermione's voice still not above a whisper.


The sea witch's laughter echoed off of every wall around her, "No, no, I'm kidding, obviously. Lighten up, my dear. Now, what is it that you think I can do for you?"


"Well," Hermione started finding her voice at last, "You're a sea witch, aren't you? Well, I was simply hoping you might be able to help me with something."


"Go on."


"There's this man. Human, not mer and I want to be with him. I was wondering if maybe there was a way that..."


"I could make you a human, too?"


"You're good."


"You have no idea."


"Well?"


"Of course I can do it, silly girl! The question is what price are you willing to pay for this human man?"


"Anything."


"Anything? Are you sure? That's a heavy price to pay."


"I'm sure."


"Very well. I'll make you human but there are a few conditions. First, I will take your voice as payment for my deed. Secondly, as your feet touch the ground it will burn at all times. Finally, if your human marries another that is not you then if you ever touch the ocean again you will be turned to foam. On these conditions only will I turn you into a human."


"Very well, sea witch. I accept."


An evil grin crossed the sea witch's ugly face as she went over to her cauldron and pulled bottles from many shelves, dumping them willy nilly into the cauldron. It reminded Hermione of her potion's professor and a pang shot through her of how hard it was going to be on her when everything was over.


The brew she had made was finished and she brought it over to Hermione, along with an empty bottle.


"Your voice." The sea witch said, holding the bottle up to her mouth and waving a hand. The bottle filled with an iridescent liquid and Hermione knew she could no longer speak.


"Now," Ursula instructed, "Take this bottle to the surface of the ocean and drink it there." She tossed the bottle at Hermione who caught it and floated off to do as she was instructed.


"Her voice, my queen?" The eels echoed each other.


"Yes," She smiled, tossing the bottle in the air and catching it, "With this I'll rule Atlantica, and the seven seas will be mine."


Back above the ocean, Hermione sat on the bank of the beach with her newly acquired feet in the water. She figured if it was going to hurt when she touched land she might as well wait until Severus came and got her before she pulled them out.


It was maybe an hour later when she heard the sand move behind her and felt his presence on the ground beside her.


"Hello, Miss Granger." Severus said, placing his own feet in the water, "Fancy being a fish much?"


He handed her a pad of paper and a pen.


'Oh very much, thanks. Princely things going well?' She wrote out in a flowery script and leaned the paper so he could see it.


"The same as any other, really? I think perhaps once we're out of here I don't ever want to hear the word prince again."


'I'll remember to say it every single day.' She wrote on the paper and showed it to him with a smile.


"And here I thought you didn't like detention."


'You wouldn't.' Her flowery script turned into short print.


"You'll find there's very little I wouldn't do, Miss Granger."


A shiver went up her spine and her breath caught in her throat. She didn't know how to take that, but she did know how she was going to take it. Her hand froze on the paper and she didn't know what to write. Severus could sense the tension and cleared his throat.


"Anyways, you should give me the paper back, I suppose. We can't go around cheating the system now can we? Besides, I quite like you unable to talk."


Hermione gave him a look that would have shook Harry or Ron but he simply smiled at her and laughed. He put an arm around her and grabbed the papers from her, tossing it into the ocean.


"Come on, Miss Granger, let's go to the palace. That way I won't be the only one of us getting tortured."


Hermione smiled as she prepared to stand up.


"You can lean on me as much as you need to." He told her, "I know it's going to hurt."


She nodded and grabbed for his shoulder as she stood. The pain was almost unbearable and her body threatened to give way underneath her. Severus grabbed her waist and bore most of her weight with his body. He looked proud at being able to support her weight. So much time being younger was going to spoil him.


They finally made it back to his castle and she was greeted as if she were the prince. They did everything they could to make her more comfortable. They even found a wheelchair so she didn't have to walk as much. Every day she'd be treated to a long, hot bath and any book she would ever want to read. It all paled in comparison to her to get to see Severus so much out of his element yet still so in control of everything.


She loved looking at his dark hair as it fell in his face, her eyes traced his jaw every chance they could and she loved when his voice filled the room. She had it bad. She had it really bad and she had no one to talk to but herself.


After a week of being locked inside the castle, Severus decided it would be nice to take Hermione on a carriage ride in the city to try to get her mind off of all the awful things that had happened, and even the not so awful. He found that he was not averse to spending more time with her and even when she had had her voice he had taken quite a liking to her. He'd never tell her that, of course.


So, they spent the whole day in the city, in a horse drawn carriage. He bought her cotton candy and a shish kebob along with a small necklace with a tiny chartreuse gem hanging from it. She had silently refused at first, but Severus insisted that he had the money, they might as well use it and he also reasoned that she didn't even know if they'd be able to take it with them so, it was a good experiment.


All in all it was a great day for both of them and Hermione's cheeks even ended up hurting from grinning so much. But, the time finally came to head back to the castle and when they arrived they'd both found something they were dreading.


Ursula had finally shown in a much better looking form and with Hermione's voice, no less. It wasn't a surprise, really, they were both expecting it. It was more of an annoyance that had come maybe a day too soon.


The sea witch sung in Hermione's dulcet singing voice and Severus unwillingly left Hermione's side to pretend to stare longingly into the witch-Hermione's eyes.


"Footmen." Severus said to one of the men standing near the door, "Will you be so kind as to take our less talkative guest to her rooms for her bath. I'd like to spend some time with this lovely young woman here as I do believe... you are the one who saved me from a watery death?"


The last part was spoken to Ursula. "Oh, yes, dear prince. I just couldn't stand to see you drowning. It was the least I could do." She replied, her eyelashes batting at him, "Who's the girl?"


"Nobody." Severus replied, his throat actually tightening at the lie he knew he was telling. Hermione Granger was certainly not a nobody.


Hermione frowned as the footmen rolled her to her room. She knew he was just acting, but she didn't like him calling her a nobody. Not him.


That night she sat at the dinner table as the sea witch flirted relentlessly with him and he returned with idle chatter and a few bouts of laughter. Every so often, she'd catch his eyes glancing at her and she'd smiled to herself as she ate the crab that lie on her plate. She wondered idly if the chef that worked here was at all like the one from the Disney movie she used to watch as a kid and then frowned because she'd thought how much easier the time would be with talking fish friends to help her along.


She took a sip of water and wished again that she was back at Hogwarts and she could have some pumpkin juice again. Not that she particularly enjoyed pumpkin juice, it just reminded her of home.


She waited until the end of dinner and then went to her bedroom, but she couldn't fall asleep no matter what she tried. She fondled the small gem on her necklace and hoped that maybe it would travel with them. No matter what he bought it for, he had bought it for her and that was enough for her to want to keep it. After they were back and everything was back to normal it would be something to remember this time by. Before he went back to be Snape. Before he went back to being the greasy and hateful dungeon bat.


She sighed and rolled over in the bed before falling into a fitted sleep.


A week and a half came and went in the slowest way possible, each day more depressing than the last. Hermione had to watch Severus flirt with a woman who looked almost exactly like her. She wasn't sure anymore whether he was enjoying it or not. Not that it was any of her business, she had to remind herself over and over again. Severus Snape wasn't hers.


She was in a horrible mood the day the wedding was announced, she was relieved to almost be through with this particular fairy tale. It was to her relief that the sea witch had decided she needed to go out of town and do some shopping that day without her betrothed and Severus had taken this time to pay her a visit.


At the same time, she was still a bit angry and didn't want to see him but had no way to tell him this other than crossing her arms and furrowing her brows. That is exactly what she did when he walked in the room.


"Oh don't be like that, Miss Granger. You're the one telling me to act like this with that wretched woman and then I get the cold shoulder."


She softened her expression at his words.


"I'm sorry you have to be all cooped up inside in this little room by yourself, but if I walk even 5 inches away from that loon she screeches at me like a barn owl."


Hermione smiled at the idea of Ursula screeching like an owl even if it was with her own voice.


"Anyway, I just wanted to come make sure you're alright. The wedding is tomorrow, so we won't have to put up with her for too much longer at least. I just hope this foam thing goes as planned."


Hermione nodded, hating that she couldn't say anything to him at all.


"Well, I better get out of here before that vile thing returns and cuts all of our heads off. I'll be seeing you." After that he brushed a falling hair out of her face and turned to leave.


Hermione was in shock. That was the nicest Professor Snape had ever been to anyone, she was sure of it and it was to her. He was actually being nice. How about that. One five minute visit from him and she was already back to smiling.


The night came and Hermione had just taken her bath and gotten ready for bed when there was a knock at her door and then it opened slowly.


"Are you decent?" came Hermione's stolen voice followed by Ursula walking in with a hand over her eyes, "Ah, who am I kidding? Who is now a days?" She removed the hand from her eyes and smiled.


Hermione frowned at the unwelcome visitor.


"Aw, darlin', don't be mad at your Aunt Ursula. You didn't think I'd actually make it easy for you, did you? Oh, you probably did. Well, no sweetie, that isn't how I work. I just thought I'd come make you one final offer before my big day."


Hermione waved her hand in the air as the woman paused, rolling her eyes.


"Oh yeah, you can't answer me. Well, here's the deal, sweet cheeks. I don't really want to marry the prince, I'm a sea witch, I have no need for a human man. So, you can either let the man you love marry another woman tomorrow and lead yourself to a briny, briny death or you could let yourself into his bedroom tonight as he sleeps and kill him. Then, you can be a mermaid again forever. You won't get caught, I've put everyone in a deep sleep so no worries. Take your time and think it over. The wedding's at sunrise. Ta ta!"


With those words, the witch left the room blowing her a kiss and Hermione boiled with anger. She wished she could stab Ursula right then and there, but she had to keep calm. She climbed into her wheelchair and made her way down the hall. It was weird to see the entire castle just sleeping where they stood. She didn't even want to breath for fear of disturbing something.


She rolled down the hallway and inched open Severus' door and went in. She left the door open for light and went over to his bad, he snored lightly in the silent room and she smiled as she watched him sleep. She thought of how crazy she was thinking anything could ever happen between them and knowing that he was only being nice to her because she was his student and he had to protect her. Not to mention that she was the only other actual existing person around.


She sighed and stood painfully on her feet, glad that her cries wouldn't wake him up, she leaned over his face and kissed him as hard and long as she dared before sitting back down and wheeling her way down to the beach to wait for dawn.


The feeling of his lips still warm on hers she sat happily watching the waves roll in and out before nodding off to sleep.


The morning came and the world was chilly as the sun peaked over the horizon, she knew in a few short hours Severus would be married to another woman. A cheap knock-off of herself and she hated it. She hated that it was all fake. This story book non-romance was starting to get to her.


She waited until she was sure that the wedding had ended before tossing herself fretfully into the ocean and she felt herself turn to nothing before the smoke rose in her vision and she could see again.


She looked around to see that she was in the woods. A quick glance down confirmed that she was wearing the deep crimson, hooded robe she was expecting and holding a picnic basket. Her hand absentmindedly went for her throat where she expected to find nothing, but was glad to find the small gemstone that Severus had gotten for her.


"Well," She said, glad to be able to speak again, "Time to get almost digested. Brilliant."


And she skipped down the dirt path to her grandmother's house.