What they do for The Order

Hermione woke with a start. Turning to look at her clock she realized that it was 8:15 and she had to meet Snape in fifteen minutes.

"Oh crap I am going to be late on the first day. He is going to kill me." She said to no one. SHe ran into the bathroom and washed herself quickly. She threw on a pair of jeans and a white t-shirt. She wore a plain black robe over top. When she headed out the door she remembered she hadnt eaten anything yet. At that exact moment a plate with some muffins and cakes on it appeared. She grabbed a muffin and ran out the door. SHe had about 3 minutes to get to the lab and she had no clue how to get there from her room. She headed back the way they came the night before until she recognized where she was. She got to the lab at 8:35. 5 minutes latebut the Professor was no where in site. Had he slept in too? So she sat down and began to wait.

In his rooms Professor Snape was just waking up. He looked at his clock and saw that it was 8:35. He started to panic. But just as quickly he calmed down. "No why am I rushing. I am the master and her and her "friends" were late to my class on several ocassions. Now she can see what its like to have your time wasted." And he went about his daily routine as normal.

At 9:15 when he reached the lab he saw Hermione reading his notes."Ms. Granger might I ask what you are doing?"

"Um...I was reading you notes sir to get a quick background on what you have tried so far. I figured it would be no problem." she said with a small smile.

"Well Ms. Granger you are lucky you are no longer a student or I would have taken away points wether your here to help or not. You invaded my privacy by going through my things without me present and you should be punished." He said with that same cold voice he used in class. But it didnt intimidate her anymore.

"Excuse me Professor, but if you are trying to scare me it wont work anymore. We are here to work on this project, and since you were not here, I figured I would start by learning about it myself. I was not about to waste my time waiting for you to show up."she spat back at him. This day was going to be very long indeed.

"Professor have you thought about what I said the other night about adding a charm to the potion to break down his power."

"Yes Ms. Granger I have and I could be a good idea if we research it a bit more. What did you get from my notes."

"Well It seemes that at the 4th stage in each trial is where it got messed up is that right?"

"Yes Ms. Granger I cannot seem to find something that will keep the ingredients from combining until the right time."

"Well Professor what if we put a modified stunning spell on the two ingredents to hold them apart until the right time when it can wear off and combine."

"What exactly are you sugesting Ms. Granger."

"Well I can modify the stunning spell to not only hold the ingredients in place but I can put a time limit on it so it will wear off when the person drinks it. Then they would be free to mix. Your notes said that the potion only holds for about 5 seconds, so if I can get the charm right it should combine once it reaches his stomach and then 5 seconds would be all the time it needs to take effect."

Snape pondered this for a moment and then he smiled. It almost shocked hermione to see him smile. I mean he was the greasy bat of the dungeon he never smiled. Did he?

The two talked about the different ingredients he used in the potion for about 6 more hours and it was now about 4:00 and they had missed lunch. Dumbledore was comming back to the castle for dinner so they were expected in the great hall. About 3 hours later Dumbledore found the two in Snapes study talking about charms and how to alter them.

"hem..hem...Um...and how are you two getting along?"

"Well Professor after a litle spat this morning we have been getting along fine. I think I have found a solution to our problem but it will take a while to fix."

"Really and is this how you feel too Severus?"

"Yes Headmaster I believe in just 1 hour Ms. Granger has figured it out. We are going to modify the stunning spell to work on the ingredients. We are also going to modify it to release once it has been injested and is in the stomach."

"Really.. and you two can do all this."

"Actually Professor I will be the one modifying the charm while Professor Snape works on getting the potion to be a little more stable. It should take us about a month and a half for us to complete."

"I see Ms.Granger. Well since you have gotten so much done today how about you go into town tomorrow and get some supplies and maybe a few books."

"Yes. Thank you Professor."

"Now lets go upstairs and eat. We have a guest tonight."

As they aproached the great hall the last person she expected to see was Draco Malfoy.