The Hepatic Hex

Chapter 7

Severus Snape was pacing his classroom in the dungeons outwardly cursing the Headmaster for his meddling. ‘How the hell am I supposed to get through the next bloody month working with her?’ He stopped pacing and went into his office to reacquaint himself with his bottle of Firewhiskey before he realized that because of the problem with his liver, it most likely wouldn’t be a good idea. He abandoned the thought and slumped into the leather chair behind his desk just as there was a knock at his door.

“Enter.” He growled knowing already who it was.

Hermione walked in and shyly said “Good evening, Professor.” without meeting his eyes.

‘Gods she’s beautiful’ He thought

“Miss Granger, please have a seat.” Snape said in his usual acidic tone and she sat down uncomfortably in front of his desk.

Here bee become conscious that this was the first time she had been in Snape’s rooms and was left breathless by its antiquated beauty. While there were the expected green and silver adornments of Slytherin colors, they were subtle and blended harmoniously with the black oak furniture that occupied the spacious room. A huge black granite fireplace was at Snapes back and to his left and right two large black oak doors. ‘I suppose they lead to his private rooms’ she thought.

Snape on the other hand was silently observing her as she surveyed his rooms. ’I wondow aow astounded her fellow students are going to be when they realize I don’t, act,act, keep skeletons of past students chained to my walls and there isn’t blood splattered anywhere, let alone any coffins for me to sleep in.\' Snape rarely any any students out of his own house in his office and he was well aware of the speculation that circulated about his private quarters.

The two sat in silence for a further few minutes, deep in their own thoughts. Hermione contemplations strayed from appreciation of Snape’s office to trying to calm down her nerves so she didn’t make a fool of herself before the two even started work. Snape, however was carefully considering the girl and wondering, despite her intelligence, of what actual benefit she could be to the cause they had been thrown together to work on, due to her lack of experience.

Hermione broke the silence.

“I am sorry if I embarrassed or upset you by my actions earlier today Professor Snape. I’ll confess that when I saw you in the state you were in I went into, well shock, I suppose…”

Snape held his hand up and interrupted her. “Miss Granger.” he started “ There is no need for you to apologise. You handled the situation with Gryffindor courage and a cool head and I hope you will accept my regret about my behavior towards you. We are going to be working together every waking moment for the next month, so it would be foolish of us not to put previous...incidents behind us so our our work for the cause is unaffected by childish squabbles and differences.”

‘Wait a sec’. Hermione thought. ‘Is Professor Snape actually being well nice to me? . Doubtful ‘Mione, highly doubtful. Better agree with him though, just incase.’

“Yes, Professor, I understand and want you to know that like you, I don’t want anything to impair the research we will do because we fail to recognize that ‘nothing that is violent is permanent\'.\" Hermioeplieplied.

“How very Gryffinof yof you Miss Granger.” Snape sneered.

‘Nothing that is violent is permanent? Where the hell did that come from ‘Moine? Why can’t you open your mouth without looking like a fool when you are in front of this man?’ Hermione mentally chastised herself.

Snape shuffled through a stack of parchments on his desk and handed them to her. “I think it is prudent because of time restraints that we dispense with further pleasantries and start work immediately. We will be using my private labs for our research, the password is ‘niger vidua’, and naturally I expect you to not disclose it, or the nature of our work to anyone, including those friends of yours Potter and Weasly.” Snape said.

“Yes sir.” Hermione meekly answered.

“I have started preliminary pathological tests on my own blood and the results should be available in tomorrow. In the mean time I ask you to review the information that Madam Pomfrey has provided ith ith on the liver. It is muchmuch, but it is all we have to work with.” Snape finished in a sigh.

“Actually sir,” Hermione started, “before I came to meet you I sent an owl to a friend of mine in the Muggle world who is studying nursing in London. I know from previous correspondence with her that human anatomy is a component of her studies, and I have requested her help in obtaining further texts and research on the liver. I would expect that I receive a response from her by morning, as she is always diligent with her replies.\"

“You have a Muggle friend who knows how to owl?” Snape questioned

Hermione couldn’t help the humor she felt at his reply and she giggled causing Snape to look at her with his piercing black eyes and say to her in a low and dangerous silky drawl:

“Pray tell what you find so amusing Miss Granger.”

Hermione stopped giggling but couldn’t remove the smile from her face as she replied “I’m sorry sir but I have already had this conversation today with Professor Dumbledore. You see my friend is actually a pureblood witch whose parents removed her and their family from the magical world because they opposed the ideals of the Dark Lord. As you are well aware, Voldemort expected all purebloods to support his agenda and those who didn’t were disposed of. Rather than follow him and his bloodthirsty ways they chose to go into hiding and have made respectable and happy lives for themselves in the Muggle world. They are from an old line related to the Lestrange family and are therefore actually some of the most powerful witches and wizards of our time. They didn’t want to risk their abilities being abused and harnessed for the dark side, so unlike the Lestrange’s they chose exile. I was surprised though, despite their lineage, when Professor Dumbledore sae wae was familiar with them.”

“If I may Miss Granger, inquire as to the name of this family that you seem to hold such esteem and blind faith in?” Snape sneered.

“De la Rosa, sir” Hermione answered.

Snape froze in panic inwardly for a moment before raising an eyebrow at Hermione.

“Who exactly is this friend of yours Miss Granger?\" Snape inquired cautiously.

“Her name is Artemis, she is 24 and as I have already stated a nursing student in London.” Hermione replied baffled as to Snape’s interest in her friend.

‘How very interesting’ Snape thought.

“I am sorry sir, but do you know Artemis or her family?” Hermione asked. She was curious as to where is line of questioning was headed.

“I know of your friend, but we have never met, and I am acquainted with her family, but that is more than you need to know Miss Granger.” Snape said in a way that made Hermione feel as though she had been scolded like a child. Snape continued despite seeing the confusion on her face.

“I would like you to return to Gryffindor Tower now and get some rest. From tomorrow morning we are going to be incredibly busy and may not have another nights decent sleep for the next month. Please familiarize your self with Madam Pomfrey’s notes and report back here after breakfast in the morning. I trust that I can rely on your discretion with this matter Miss Granger?” Snape finished coldly.

“Of course sir, and if there is nothing further, I will take my leave now.” Hermione said a little disappointed at the tone in his voice.

“No there is nothing further Miss Granger. Goodnight” Snape said rising from his chair and gesturing tds tds the door. Hermione rose and bid him goodnight before disappearing into the darkness of the dungeon hallways back to her rooms. Snape stood at the doorway, watching her leave, inwardly happy that he would get to spend the next month working with her. Sometime later, he left the doorway he had been standing in and returned to his rooms replaying the information Hermiond shd shared with him about Artemis De la Rosa in his head.

‘I wonder how this is going to end’ He thought to himself as he moved to his private lab to check the cauldrons bubbling away, one final time before he retired for the night.

Hermione, on the other hand, took her time returning to Gryffindor Tower wondering about Snape’s sudden dismissal of her after telling him about her friend. ‘What the hell was all that about?’ seemed to become her mental mantra as she approached the portrait leading to her rooms. Giving her password, she walked through and flopped on her bed deciding that the best thing she could occupy her mind with would be to read and make notes on the information Professor Snape had given her in the hope that it would distract her thoughts.

Sometimter,ter, much, much later Hermione fell into a deep sleep as usual filled with dreams about a certain Potions Master.