A Long Way Back ~ Editing

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters belong to JKR. All situations are mine. No $$$ is being made from this fanfic.
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Chapter 5 ~ Cleanups and Minute Manipulations

As Severus cleaned the lab, he began to think he would like his own little stores so he could begin brewing again. He could always purchase potions and elixirs, but the quality paled when compared to his own creations. The wizard decided that he would take a trip to Diagon Alley and visit Andreas Mbutu's apocathery shop.

Andreas was a former student of his, a contemporary of the Golden Trio and a Slytherin. He was of African descent and very gifted in both Divination and Potions He graduated Hogwarts with honors. The wizard worked in the apocathery shop on weekends and during the week he used hired help because of his main job at the Ministry

He currently served as Head Clerk to the Ministry Council Board, having majored in Magical Administration in university, and arranged all the Ministry hearings as well as prepared Ministry paperwork for those meetings. He had worked his way up to his position is a relatively short period of time, and there were rumors that he was considering running for a Council seat in the near future.

When Andreas attended Hogwarts, the young man had always been quiet and respectful. More than once Severus wondered why the wizard was sorted into Slytherin house as he seemed to have no dark traits. But the Potions Master's opinion of Andreas changed when he caught the young man doing wandless magic on the Gryffindor Quidditch team during a match, making the seeker miss the snitch time and time again. It was subtle magic and had no signature that could be traced. A very powerful tribal magic.

Severus made him stop, though he commended him for his efforts before assigning him a month's detention for getting caught. The Potions Master wondered what other mischief the young wizard had gotten into during his years at Hogwarts. The gods only knew because he was never caught doing anything. Andreas was sneaky, cunning and careful. The epitome of a true Slytherin. He made it through Hogwarts with only that one stretch of detentions on his record. Severus never included why Andreas received the detentions on the boy's paperwork however. He had to protect his charge after all. Most likely Albus had assumed it was an in-house matter, so didn't question it. Severus was notoriously closed-mouthed about the things that went on in Slytherin house.

Andreas kept a wide selection of potions ingredients at his shop, including the rarer types, and if you caught him right, a couple of illegal ingredients as well. But the wizard was quite cautious and was never caught with anything but legal goods. Working in the Ministry was good, particularly if the Aurors were planning a surprise walk-through of a certain Apocathery shop.

Yes, Severus would visit Andreas' tomorrow, when he was sure the young wizard himself would be in. The knowledge of the hired help was nothing compared to the brilliant wizard.

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Three hours later, Hermione finally roused herself and took a soothing shower, letting the water wash over her hair, but not washing it. She exited the shower and cast a deodorizing spell on herself. She didn't apply a drop of lotion and simply pulled on a fresh pair of knickers, a bra and her robes. She slipped on her trainers without socks then exited her bedroom, not even bothering to brush her hair. Hell, she was clean. That was enough.

The witch walked down the stairs to the main landing and heard faint yowling. Ying and Yang. She walked down to the double doors and let the cats in, who stopped, scented the air then took off running down the corridor. Hermione frowned after them. They hadn't given her one up-against-the-leg rub. Normally she could hardly walk after letting them in, they twined around her legs so much. She snorted then followed them up the hall. She saw them make a quick right.

Speeding up, Hermione saw the door that led to her lab was open.

Severus.

Once again he had just arbitrarily violated her household. Hermione kept her wand in her pocket this time however. She didn't feel like getting hit with a rebounding hex. She walked down the stairs, noticing how clean everything was. The last time she looked down the stairwell there were webs everywhere.

Hermione arrived in the basement and walked through the partially open lab door. Severus was standing in front of her potions stores, removing bottles because everything in her stores was expired. Ying and Yang were rubbing up against his robes, purring loudly.

Hermione looked around the lab. All evidence of her tantrum was gone, and she saw some parchments stacked on the lab table. Severus looked up and saw her.

"I thought I'd start cleaning," he said, his black eyes glinting at her.

He noticed Hermione's hair was damp. She must have taken a shower, though her skin still had that dull, unwashed look about it.

Hermione didn't say anything but walked over to the stack of parchments. They were her research notes. Severus had repaired them.

"Why did you fix these?" she asked the wizard, picking them up and studying them.

"In case one day you decided to continue your research," he replied. "You did a lot of work, Hermione. Brilliant work. It is a shame to let it all go to waste."

Hermione silently put the parchments down and looked around the room.

"You did a good job," she said.

Severus looked at her, rather surprised.

"Are my ears deceiving me? I actually did something you approve of? The world is going to end," he said, returning to the stores and dropping more bottles and bags of ingredients into a box.

Hermione frowned at him.

"I'm not that bad," she said, "I am capable of giving a compliment. I remember you had quite a problem with that back when I attended Hogwarts. You never praised anyone for anything."

"Why should I have? You were all there to learn. When you got a good mark, it was because you were supposed to," he said evenly. "There is no reason to praise someone for something they are supposed to accomplish in the first place."

Hermione snorted.

"Well, you certainly didn't have a problem browbeating any of us for our failures," she replied.

"I was giving you all encouragement," he said coolly, closing the potions stores and waving his wand at the overflowing box, making it disappear.

"Encouragement?" Hermione said incredulously.

"Yes. I was encouraging you to better your marks so you wouldn't be browbeaten again," he replied smoothly.

Hermione almost smiled. Almost. Severus still had an answer for everything.

Severus looked around at his handiwork. The lab was spotless now. He nodded.

"Now it's up to you to furnish it. I am going to Diagon Alley tomorrow to pick up some brewing ingredients, if that's all right with you. I haven't done any real brewing in quite some time. You are welcome to come with me if you like. You can check out equipment while I go to the Apocathery shop," he said, a bit of challenge in his eyes.

"Of course, if you're not ready to face the world…" he said, a little sneer in his voice.

That always used to get Hermione going.

"I can bring you back a catalogue," he finished, the sneer more pronounced.

Hermione bristled. He sounded so sure she wouldn't leave the manor. Well, she'd show him.

"I'll go," she said shortly.

"Sure you will, Hermione. Tomorrow morning you'll wake up and say you have a headache or give me some other excuse," Severus taunted.

"I said I'd go!" Hermione said with such vehemence that a swirl of magic occurred.

Ying and Yang scooted under the lab table when they felt the magic, looking around the lab with wide blue eyes for the source of the disturbance.

Severus looked at Hermione with a smirk.

"I guess you will," he said, a hint of mirth in his voice at her shocked expression.

Hermione had inadvertently invoked a wizard's oath. In the magical world you had to be careful about your intent when you spoke out loud. It happened sometimes.

Hermione scowled at the wizard.

"You did that on purpose!" she accused him.

"I did nothing of the sort. I simply spoke my mind. The headache excuse is taken from fact, Hermione. When we were together and you wanted to back out of something, you always claimed to have developed a killer headache…"

Here he paused, his eyes lighting up a bit at his memories

"Especially at night," he continued. "But I always had the proper cure then."

Hermione reddened a bit. Why did he bring that up?

"Are you finished down here?" she asked him, changing the subject, feeling uncomfortable as the wizard's eyes rested on her consideringly for a moment.

"Yes, I am. I'm going to make my lunch now. I'm having a ham and Swiss cheese on sourdough bread with lettuce, tomato, sweet pickles and mustard. Should I put on some spaghetti for you?" he asked, heading for the door.

Ying and Yang darted past Severus and up the stairs, their tails held straight as flagpoles as they led the way.

Hermione followed him, her mouth watering a little. She loved ham sandwiches like that. Severus used to make them for her all the time. He knew just the right amount of mustard to use and how thin to slice the tomato.

"I don't usually eat lunch or dinner if I've eaten breakfast," she said.

Severus stopped and turned, his dark eyes washing over her.

"That explains the chicken-legs," he said. Then he turned and strode up the stairs.

Hermione frowned, then hurried after him.

"Chicken-legs? What do you mean 'chicken-legs?'" she demanded.

"You have little scaly chicken-legs," the wizard stated calmly without looking back. "I saw them when you stupefied yourself and your nightgown rode up a bit. Very unattractive. You even have little yellow claws…though you probably call them toe-nails."

"You were looking at my legs?" Hermione asked, outraged.

"And your feet. Not because I wanted to, believe me," the Potions Master said.

He could almost hear the witch's blood boiling behind him as he entered the main hall.

"Well…well…no one asked you to look!" she said snarkily as she walked out the door behind him.

Severus half turned.

"If anyone had, I would have adamantly refused," he replied, then strode off towards the kitchen.

Hermione stood there in the corridor, watching the wizard go, her nostrils flared. When he turned into the kitchen, she lifted her robes a bit and stuck out her leg. It really was horribly skinny and the skin was dry and flaky. She hadn't noticed how bad her skin was. She rarely even looked in a mirror.

"They're skinny, but they aren't chicken legs," she said to herself unconvincingly.

Hermione lowered her robes and continued to stand there in the bright corridor, thinking. Maybe she'd pick up some lotion tomorrow since she was going out anyway. She felt her brittle hair. Maybe some shampoo and conditioner too. Severus had said he could probably snap her hair off by the roots yesterday. Not that that made any difference. No. Not any difference at all. She could buy some things for herself if she wanted.

The witch stalked off to the study, not wanting to watch Severus stuff his face again. She entered, pulled a book off the shelf, settled into one of the armchairs in front of the fireplace and started reading.

About ten minutes later, Severus entered the study, carrying two well-crafted ham sandwiches on a plate and a large glass of pumpkin juice. Ying and Yang were hot on his heels. He deposited the food on the small table between the two armchairs and sat down next to Hermione with a sigh.

Hermione's eyes flicked toward the sandwiches, then returned to the book she had in her hands. But her eyes didn't move as she looked down at the page she was on.

Severus picked up a sandwich and bit into it. Hermione could hear the sharp crunch of the sweet pickles. Again the wizard chewed enthusiastically, swallowing then taking a large sip of pumpkin juice.

"Mmmm," he commented, "Almost better than sex."

Hermione let out an exasperated sigh.

"Couldn't you eat in the kitchen?" she asked him.

"I wanted company," he replied, biting into the sandwich again.

Ying and Yang were both sitting at full attention in front of the hearth. Severus pulled out two small pieces of ham from his sandwich and tossed them to the cats, which gulped them down and waited for more, their tails twitching.

Hermione scowled.

"You keep giving those two sausages, ham and whatnot, you're going to put them off their cat food," she complained.

"They'll be fine," he replied, eating with gusto.

Hermione could smell the sharp mustard and swallowed back the saliva that was accumulating in her mouth. Gods, that sandwich smelled delicious. Her stomach growled.

"Sounds like you need some spaghetti," Severus said, finishing the sandwich and sucking his fingers pointedly before picking up the next one. "Though I would think you wouldn't have any room after devouring half of my strawberry chocolate cheesecake."

Hermione flushed a little guiltily.

"You said I could have what I wanted if I felt like it," she said, frowning at him.

"And it remains true," he replied, biting into the sandwich and chewing blissfully.

Severus washed it down with the pumpkin juice then set the glass on the table. It was so cold the glass was sweating. Little droplets of water ran down the side. It certainly looked refreshing. Suddenly Hermione felt very thirsty.

"Excuse me," she said, rising and putting the book back on the shelf. She exited the study, turning toward the kitchen.

Severus grinned to himself.

He was sure next time he checked his stores, he'd be missing some ham, cheese, pickles, lettuce, tomatoes, a couple of slices of sourdough bread and a glass worth's of pumpkin juice.

There was nothing wrong with that.

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A/N: Severus is the devil, I tell ya. He is so manipulative…a good thing in this case. Telling Hermione she has scaly chicken legs and bringing her favorite sandwiches into the study and eating them in front of her face. Lol. Too funny. Ying and Yang seem to know a good thing when they see it. And welcome back Andreas! Please review.