Brewing Glory

A/N: Thanks so much for the people who have reviewed so far, I really appreciate it! This is my first try at something that isn\'t oneshot in a long time so I\'m trying my best to keep it flowing. This is my last pre-written chapter, but I think you\'ll like this one :D







Hermione’s eyes opened slowly to take in her surroundings. The walls in the room were cracked and old, but for some reason the place felt very comfortable. She tossed herself sideways and realized she was lying in a bed underneath two very warm covers. Rubbing her eyes, she leaned up and sniffed. She could smell coffee and breakfast. She could also hear the sound of people moving around downstairs. It was then that she realized she was at Grimmauld Place.



It did not seem like morning. The light that usually shone through the windows did not come. As she opened the old curtains, a gloomy day greeted her. Snow was falling slowly onto the ground, but it did not look as peaceful as it should. She made her way down the stairs and into the kitchen where she found Harry, Ron, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Kingsley, and Albus Dumbledore at the table.



Hermione gasped in surprise and ran over to greet her two friends. The sight of them made her almost cry. She hadn’t really felt this happy in weeks. Her body tingled with happiness. She felt strong and the one’s she loved were by her side. All the recent news of Voldemort almost disappeared from her mind as she hugged her two best friends.



“Been taking care of yourself, I see,” Hermione said with a small laugh as Ron grinned sheepishly. Her expression suddenly turned more serious. “I’ve missed you both.”



“We’ve missed you too, Hermione,” Harry said with a smile. She could tell that he was in a good mood as well. She would have to talk to him about his recent progress with the Horcruxes. “You should eat some breakfast. Dumbledore wants to explain to us why we’re here.”



She took a seat next to Ron, who sat by Harry. They chatted for a few minutes before Dumbledore took his stand at the table. He looked at Hermione and smiled.



“I assume you are all wondering why you have been brought here,” Dumbledore said calmly. “In the recent turn of events, and every bit but one piece of Voldemort’s soul now gone,” Hermione gasped at this and looked at Harry, who she could tell had a lot to tell her, “We have decided to celebrate. You three, Harry, Ron, Hermione, will be staying here for Christmas holidays until it is time to fight.”



Dumbledore leaned over to raise his glass and held it into the air. “To the Order,” he said clearly, and the rest of them repeated, lifting their glasses as well.



Plates of food appeared in front of each one of them that left Ron with an expression of wonder and amazement on his face as he began to dig in. Hermione leaned over to get a better look at Harry.



“Harry, I’ve been gone so long I haven’t even gotten a chance to ask you how you’re feeling,” Hermione said sincerely.



Harry gave her half-grin, reaching for a glass of pumpkin juice, “Wonderful, Hermione. Ron and I have been worried about your health. We figured it was best if you didn’t find out about the Horcruxes until now. We didn’t want to worry you.”



Ron nodded in agreement, his mouth full of food, he grumbled, “Yeah.”



Hermione was puzzled and looked at both Harry and Ron, a bit upset. “But you know I wanted to help you—”



“Its fine, Hermione,” Ron said, exasperated, reaching for another piece of sausage. He looked at her. “Harry and I couldn’t wait, or knowing our luck we’d be bloody well dead by now!”



Harry nodded.



Hermione sighed and looked to her plate of food, playing with her fork idly. “I’m just a little upset, that’s all. We’ve always done everything together, the three of us. But I can understand underneath these circumstances you both had to do what needed to be done. I’m proud of both of you.” She smiled again and looked at them, “Let’s just be happy and celebrate that we’re closer now to succeeding than we’ve ever been.”



The rest of the day went by quickly spending time with Harry and Ron. More than once, Hermione found Ron staring at her and would turn a scarlet red when she noticed he was eyeing her. She would just smile and strike up conversation with him about what he had been up to the past few weeks. They got into a few arguments over Crookshanks, who was creeping about the house and decided to scratch at Ron’s legs beneath the kitchen table. Other than that, they got along famously. All thoughts of Lord Voldemort were not forgotten, but just simply pushed to the backs of their minds.



Hermione spent that evening making dinner with Mrs. Weasley when she felt a warm, gentle hand place itself on her shoulder. She jumped a bit, heaved a sigh of relief when she turned around to face Albus Dumbledore.



“I didn’t mean to startle you, Hermione,” Dumbledore said gently, giving her shoulder a squeeze before letting go of her. “You have a visitor in the back room. It is urgent.”



Hermione looked at him in confusion. She didn’t know who would be becoming to visit her at Grimmauld Place. Probably a silly Order member wanting to ask her questions about her encounter with Voldemort. As she moved closer to the dimly lit back room, she began to have a hunch about who was waiting for her.



All suspicions were confirmed when she stepped into the room to see a calm looking Severus Snape, standing by a nearby table.



She drew nearer to him and said nothing. They simply stared at each other before he started.



“Gave me quite a scare, finding you absent after that fit you had,” Snape said neutrally. Hermione eyed him suspiciously. He had not said that nicely or not exactly rudely either, for that matter. He was a tough one to figure out.



Hermione just nodded and bit her lip, trying to find the right words to say. “Professor Dumbledore came for me while I was sleeping. I woke up here and, well, obviously…” she blushed a little, “I’m fine.”



“I can tell,” Snape said carefully.



Hermione took a seat in one of the chairs and made herself comfortable. She waited for him to talk, but he just stood there awkwardly. She motioned to the chair across from her. “Why don’t you sit down?”

Snape quirked an eyebrow and she could tell he was about to retort before he took a seat across from her, taking his sweet time. He folded his hands and leaned back in the chair and just eyed her.



“What brings you here for me, Professor?” Hermione asked cautiously.



He leaned forward more in his seat before placing his hands upon the table. “Your potion,” he drawled. He reached into his robe pocket to pull out a small vial, much smaller than the one’s she had before, and a different color too.



“This isn’t what I—”



“No it’s not,” Snape cut in, reaching out his slender fingers to wrap his hand around it. He gave it a quick shake before pushing it towards her. “It is a potion to help me confirm whether the curse has been released or not.”



Hermione reached forward and grabbed the potion and began to open it and was about to drink it before he spoke again.



“How are you feeling?”



She blinked. Hadn’t she known he only asked because he wanted to test if the curse was lifted or not, she would have thought he actually cared about her feelings. Hermione shrugged. “Better.” She hadn’t given it much thought. Harry and Ron and the rest of her company certainly had kept her busy. She watched him to see if he was going to say anything else.



“Well,” Snape snapped, “What are you waiting for? We don’t have all day, Miss Granger.”



Hermione nodded quickly and gulped it down before setting the vial down upon the table and pushing it back towards him. It certainly tasted a lot better than the potion she had been taking regularly. Her body tingled momentarily before she watched him get up and walk over to her.



“Lean over onto the table,” he said firmly.



“Wha—?”



“Lean. Over.” He said thickly, pulling out his wand.



Hermione looked at him incredulously before placing her hands on the table and leaning over slightly. She watched him from the side, trying her best not to turn her head incase he snapped on her. She could feel his wand tracing her back and she felt a shudder go through her body, one he obviously noticed because his wand stopped. Then, she heard him mutter a few words before tracing the wand around the curves of her back again and a hot prickly sensation went through her spine. She noticed him pull back from her and she stood up right to face him.



“Almost finished,” he said, pushing his wand back into the pocket of his robe and pulling out a larger vial, one that was obviously her potion. She groaned. “I don’t think one more dose will kill you. After that, you’ll be good to go.”



Hermione’s lips curled into a smile. “Thank you, Professor,” she murmured, grabbing the vial from him and holding it tightly in her hand. “I could not have been cured without your help.”



Snape shrugged.



Hermione licked her lips and held the potion tightly in her hand. She was unsure of what to say. Those dark eyes stared at her intently, as if wishing to probe her mind. Her fingers became numb and she figured she should probably say something before he left. “Are you staying?” she sputtered out.



His eyebrow lifted curiously and he smirked, “For awhile. Good evening, Miss Granger.” And with that he turned and made his way out of the room.



Hermione followed shortly after to find everyone in the dining room awaiting for their dinner. Harry looked anxious and Ron just looked plain bored. Mr. Weasley was reading the paper, a large cup of coffee steaming in front of him and his eyes darted across the pages, his glasses on the tip of his nose. Taking a seat next to Ron she smiled.



“I’m rather hungry, aren’t you?” Hermione asked to know one in particular, grabbing her napkin and placing it on her lap.



Ron looked at her with a goofy expression on his face, “I’m starving! I reckon I’ll have eaten a cow by the time you’ve finished with your appetizer, Hermione.”



Harry laughed and Hermione gave him a teasing look.



“Very funny Ronald… Oh!” she gasped. “Crookshanks, I’ve missed you.” She went to pick him up and placed him in her lap when Ron piped up.



“Bloody hell, Hermione, but that ugly beast down, he’s going to get cat hair all over the food,” Ron complained, reaching to grab the cat.



Hermione jerked away from him, feeling rather irritated. At the same time, it felt like home to be here sitting with Ron, arguing over her cat. Within minutes, the food arrived and Ron continued to make comments about how there was ‘cat hair in his food’. Hermione just rolled her eyes and she looked up to see someone unfamiliar sitting at the table. She let it pass, but looked back up again quickly to see Snape talking to Dumbledore at the end of the table.



“What’s he doing here?” Ron muttered.



Harry just shrugged, leaning in to grab some of the food that appeared on the table.



“Git,” Ron said, stuffing more food in his mouth.



“Honestly, can’t you keep your mouth shut when you eat?” Hermione spat, getting genuinely irritated now. She gave Ron a stern look before gazing over at Snape again. He looked over and caught her eye briefly before she looked away and back to her plate.



For some strange, unknown reason, she found herself gazing at the Potions Master many times during that dinner. Every time she realized he was about to look over her way, she averted her eyes somewhere else and suddenly became engaged in conversation with Harry and Ron. Moments later she would look over to Snape again, eyeing him carefully. He did not do anything extremely interesting of course; he just sat there silently eating his food and occasionally saying something to Dumbledore or Mrs. Weasley.

Hermione noticed that he didn’t eat much, but drank quite a bit of coffee.

After dinner had finished, she helped Mrs. Weasley charm some of the dishes into washing and she found herself talking to Ron’s mother about Ron himself while she levitated the plates back into the cabinets.



“He’s been worried sick about you, dear,” Mrs. Weasley said again. She had probably said that about five times already.



“I know,” Hermione said with a gentle smile, flicking her wand and levitating the last of the plates into the cabinet. She turned to Mrs. Weasley who grabbed her hand.



Mrs. Weasley smiled, “Just don’t break his heart, Hermione. He cares about you a whole lot.” With that she turned on her heel and made her way out of the room leaving Hermione to feel a bit puzzled.



Afterward she made her way up the stairs and into the room she was staying in. She sighed and sat on her bed as Crookshanks crawled into the room. “Hello, Crooks,” she cooed, reaching her hand out to pet him as he purred graciously, making his way to the end of the bed. She dimmed the lights and changed into her night clothes quickly and was about to get underneath the covers when there when the door opened slightly.



Ron’s face peeked in with a small smile and he stepped inside, closing the door behind him.



“Hi, Hermione,” he said quietly, making his way to sit down next to her.



“Hello, Ron,” she replied giving him a warm smile.



Ron looked nervous. He sat next to her and moved closer to her, putting his hand on hers. “Look, let me get down to it. I-I’ve…well, I dunno, I’ve just missed you a lot. Fighting without you was really hard. There were times when me and Harry really wished you were there to help us out.”



Hermione sighed and felt Ron’s hand grip hers tighter. His hands were warm and she welcomed the feel of it. Her own hands were very cold. She looked up into his round eyes and smiled. “I wish I could have been there too but my health wouldn’t allow it. You know Ron; you really should give Snape more credit. Without him I would probably be dead.”



Ron scoffed, “He’s still a git.”



Hermione laughed a little, “Yes, but all the same, he saved me from that curse.”



He shrugged, “Saved you or not, I’m just glad that you’re here.”



She smiled. The two of them stared into each others eyes for a few minutes before she noticed that Ron licked his lips. Oh no, she thought. The moment is coming. Does he want to kiss me? Hermione actually had only kissed one member of the opposite sex, which had been Viktor Krum. They had really acquainted each other’s mouths yes, but those memories were far gone that she forgot what it was like to have someone else’s lips on hers. Before she knew it, Ron was leaning in slowly, craning his neck and letting his eyes fall shut slowly.



Here we go, she thought. Might as well, I mean, he’s my best friend, he’s cute, and I’ve missed him terribly. But do I really feel this way? Before she could think anything else, she herself pursing her own lips and she could feel his breath on her rosy, full lips and then…



The door opened and Snape stepped inside.



The both of them snapped their heads to the direction of the sound coming from the door and Ron’s eyes widened and Hermione let out a sharp gasp. Snape’s eyes were wide as well, his knuckles whitening as he gripped the door firmly in his hand.



“I see I’ve come at a rather inconvenient time, Miss Granger,” Snape said silkily. “I suppose I could come back at a later time, but I would rather not see Mr. Weasley and yourself snogging each other senseless.”



Hermione could feel herself blushing madly. She looked at Ron who was still in shock. Snape began to withdraw from the room when she stopped him. “Wait!” she called.



Ron looked at her like she was mad.



She gave him an apologetic look, “I’m sorry, Ron. It’s probably important. I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?” Hermione smiled a little but he did not look pleased.



Ron swept past Snape, who gave him a look of digust, and made his way across the hallway.



“Hm,” Snape said, as though he was rather amused. He stepped into the door and shut it behind him with a click and smirked when he saw Hermione still blushing. “Embarrassing, I’d say.”



Hermione looked at where Ron had been previously sitting, trying to contain herself when she looked back to him. “What brings you here, Professor?” her insides felt squashed. Suddenly, the realization of her Potions Professor walking in on her and Ron about to kiss was suddenly extremely embarrassing and upsetting. She grabbed at the sheets with her fists.



Snape simply gave a short, irritated sigh and pulled out a small bottle from his robes. “You need your last dose of drops your bath water. I assume you will use them tonight?”



Hermione nodded.



“Very good, so here you go,” He handed them to her and was about to turn on his heel when he heard a small sniffle. Snape turned around to find Hermione’s face wrinkled up as if she were disgusted or in pain. He simply stared at her.



“I’m sorry, Professor,” she grinded out, clenching her teeth as not to let any tears fall. This was too embarrassing. “I should’ve, I should... I-I w-would not…” She clenched at her sheets even tighter and looked up at him.



Snape simply looked at her, his lip curling as he thought. Yes, it was embarrassing for even himself to walk in on the Weasley boy and Miss Granger getting ready to probably shag each other senseless, but he did not wish to make this into a big issue. “Miss Granger you should get to bed—”



“No, sir, I’m sorry,” she huffed, and got up suddenly, rummaging through her bag to grab something.



Snape looked at her, becoming puzzled himself.



She shifted through the contents of her bag and finally found what she was looking for. She handed it out to him for him to see.



It was his master potions book, the one they had been reading a few nights before to make a potion one night in his office when she had complained about not having enough books to read and constantly bothering him for something to work on. He had given in, and handed her the book. Together they had flipped through its contents.



He simply stared at the book before reaching out his slender hands to take hold of it. He looked down into her eyes which were staring at him painfully, shining within the dim lights. “Thank you, Miss Granger,” he muttered.



And in that moment, their eyes locked eyes once more. He took in her appearance all at once. Her curly hair hung around her shoulders, neatly tamed and combed to give it a natural wave and fit in perfectly with her thin face. He traced his eyes along her jaw line which was perfectly aligned and remarkable. Her complexion was tan and smooth, not one single blemish marking her face. Those brown eyes still gleamed at him hopefully wishing for him to take the book from her, he noticed, small and delicate hands which had produced many successful potions. She blinked and he noticed her eyelashes were long, making her eyes much more beautiful than they already were. Beautiful? What was he thinking? This was his student. One of his closer students actually, almost like a colleague. No, he thought. That’s ridiculous. She’s just a young girl. He took another good look at her. She certainly did not look like a young girl. She was a woman now. A very attractive woman.



“Professor?” Hermione said meekly.



Snape felt his lips move and fumble for the correct words to say. He took the book from her and traced a finger along the cover before meeting her eyes again. “Are you upset because I ruined your chance to snog with Weasley?”



Hermione looked away from him.



“Look at me, Miss Granger,” he said silkily. The tone of his voice Hermione’s knees wobble. Her eyes made their way back to his timidly. “I’m afraid times are much too difficult to be worry about love affairs. I thought we discussed that this wasn’t a matter of importance to you?”



Hermione just stared. His lips clenched into a thin line, and for a moment she wondered what it would be like to kiss the Potions Master himself. His hair hung across his face lazily and his expression was not readable. “It’s not important sir but—” she came at a loss for words. She bit her lip lightly and tried to think of something to say. She licked her lips slowly. They always became too dry when she was nervous.



Snape inhaled a sharp breath. Why was he acting like this? The way she nipped at her bottom lip and then licked it slowly with her smooth tongue… Disgusting, Severus. She’s your student.



Your very beautiful student.



For one very brief moment, he thought he saw her take a step towards him. Perhaps it was his imagination? He jerked his head in order to get a small piece of hair out of his eye. “Miss Granger,” he said quietly.



Before the either of them knew it, they were standing incredibly close to each other. He was no longer standing close by the door and she was no longer standing by the bed. The both of them were now in the center space inbetween and suddenly Snape had the strongest urge to grab her and just kiss her. He could feel the heat radiating from her body.



But the way she looked up at him so eagerly, so innocently… The temptation was overwhelming.



Snape leaned in slowly and before he could have one more internal conflict with himself, he felt his lips brush against hers slowly. Her breath hitched and he licked her lower lip now, tasting it for himself before taking it into his mouth and sucking gently. He reached his arm out to entwine his hand in her hair and she moaned.



His nether regions twitched at the response.



He stopped and drew back just an inch to take in the sight of Hermione. Her eyes were closed and her mouth was slowly parted, his bottom lip wet from where he had taken it into his own mouth. Her eyes fluttered open slowly and she stared into his eyes.



Snape pulled back rather quickly, recomposing himself and cleared his throat, crossing his arms defensively. “I should be going,” he began to turn.



“Wait!”



He turned to face Hermione again, who looked so desperate. So beautiful. He wanted nothing more than to collect her in his arms and kiss every inch of her petite little body. “Yes?”



Hermione stepped up to him quickly and bounced onto her tip toes and kissed him hard, wrapping her hands in his hair. She pulled back slowly and felt proud at the sight of her Potions Professor trying to regain himself as he opened his eyes and blinked a few times.



“I need to go,” he said quickly, and with that he turned and shut the door behind him quickly, making his way as fast as he could downstairs.