Brewing Glory

Hermione woke the next morning sprawled out on her bed with no covers. She rolled onto her side and found Ginny standing in front of her smiling.

“Ginny?” Hermione called quietly, leaning up in bed and moving some of the hair out of her eyes. “What are you doing?”

Ginny just flashed her a small smile before tugging on her arm and making Hermione stand up, grudgingly. “We have to leave for Hogwarts in order to make it back on time, and mum sent me up to get you.”

Hermione’s eyes widened, “Did I sleep past breakfast?”

Ginny laughed at Hermione’s surprise, “Yeah, you did. Everyone was really surprised when you didn’t show up. We figured you were just really tired or were up late last night reading or something.”

She stood there for a minute and the memories of the previous night came to mind once more. The erotic feeling of Snape’s fingers… That is when it hit her. A strong pang of guilt pounded at her chest and she felt a heavy sadness cling to her. Hermione didn’t know what had come over her, and she felt ashamed. Ginny must have sensed it.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, finally letting go of Hermione’s arm. “You look upset.”

Hermione just shook her head and took a step towards the door, “You’re right. I was just… up late last night and I’m awfully tired. I’m ready to head back.”

She began to open the door when Ginny placed a hand on her shoulder, turning her around. Her face was full of concern. “There’s nothing wrong is there? The curse is gone, right?”

Hermione nodded. “The curse is gone.” And with that, she opened the door and made her way downstairs.

That morning, Hermione didn’t say much at all. In fact, when she went downstairs for the first time that morning, Snape was no where in sight. When she asked Lupin where he’d went, he told her that he’d made his way back to Hogwarts early in the morning before anyone had gotten up. Her worst fears were confirmed and the guilt only got worse. She packed up her things, barely saying a word to Harry and Ron when they made their way back to Hogwarts.

When they arrived, the castle looked warm and inviting, the snow still lying upon the grounds, giving it a very beautiful and Christmas like feeling. Hermione suddenly remembered something that Dumbledore said and turned to Harry.

“I thought Professor Dumbledore said we were staying at Grimmauld Place until we were going to fight Voldemort?” she asked, becoming more worried about the whole situation.

Harry shrugged, making his way up to the doors of the castle and letting Hedwig fly off of his arm. “He figured it would be safe enough to head back, that is until…” he trailed off, “Until well, we know that it’s time to finally fight.”

Hermione swallowed. She knew exactly what he was talking about. They wanted to go back to Hogwarts so that Voldemort didn’t know they had spent Christmas at Grimmauld Place and thought they had stayed at Hogwarts the whole time. They were not going to fight until Snape took her to see him again. And that is when Hermione realized she would either die for them, or fight. She secretly hoped it was the latter.

When they had finally made their way back to Gryffindor Tower, Hermione felt at home when she finished unpacking her things and lie on her four-poster bed. Going away for the holidays was already long enough being away from her second home, but she had not been in her own bed at Hogwarts since the start of the term. It still felt a little strange knowing she would not be going back to Snape’s rooms to make potions or read by the fire and talk about how they were going to fight against Voldemort. She struggled to push these thoughts out of her mind. They only made her feel worse about what had happened last night. She didn’t know how she was going to face him in Potions class the next day. She knew he would be the same as ever and probably ignore her more than he usually did. When she finally succeeded at clearing her head and getting relaxed, she fell into a peaceful sleep.

The next day, Hermione took a shower first thing the morning and got dressed in her robes. She packed up her books in her messenger bag and headed down into the common room to find Harry and Ron sitting on the couch in front of the fireplace.

“That bloody toad only had one good jump in it,” Ron was complaining, opening a chocolate frog and letting it jump on the couch.

Harry turned and saw Hermione and smiled, “Hey, Hermione.”

Hermione smiled and took a seat in the armchair next to them. “Hello, Harry, Ron… have you two gotten your things ready for Transfiguration?”

Ron looked flushed and Harry only grinned. “I’ve got my things, but Ron forgot his things upstairs.”

“Well, if this bloody toad hadn’t jumped out of the common room…” Ron grumbled something inaudible and stood up, looking at the both of them. “I’ll head up and get my stuff, you two go on to Transfiguration, and I’ll meet you there.”

Harry and Hermione laughed and made their way to Transfiguration. When they arrived at the classroom, Hermione realized she had missed the place more than anything. It helped take her mind off of a lot of things. A large window at the back of the room showed that it was snowing outside and it made Hermione smiled. They took a seat at the front of the room in front of Professor McGonagall and she flashed a grin.

“Nice to see you again, Miss Granger. I trust you are prepared for class?” McGonagall asked, striding across the room to prepare for her lecture.

Hermione nodded, “Yes, Professor. I’ve got everything. Although…” she turned her head when Ron burst into the room at that moment. “Ron forgot some of his things.”
Harry laughed and Professor McGonagall glared at Ron as he took a seat next to Hermione. There were a few snickers in the back of the room which she ignored.

“Sorry, Professor,” Ron said quietly, looking down at his things and then to Hermione. He grinned.

Hermione grinned back and felt happier than she had in a long time. It felt so nice to finally be sitting back in class with her two best friends, healthy, and ready for anything. The hour went by rather quickly, for Professor McGonagall only lectured on things they had studied in previous years, preparing for their NEWTs. When she realized it was only five minutes before their next class, she turned to Ron to confirm her fears.

“We have Potions next, don’t we?” Hermione asked him as the class gathered up their things to prepare to leave.

Ron rolled his eyes and nodded, standing up. “Yeah, I’m so excited.”

It was finally time for them to leave, and the three of them made their way down to the dungeons. Hermione’s heart was pounding furiously in her chest as they finally got the dark and dreary dungeons, only feet away from the classroom.

“Are you alright, Hermione?” Harry asked.

Ron looked to Harry then back at Hermione, “She does look a bit peaky.”

Hermione glared at Ron. “I’m not feeling very well, thank you, Ronald.”

Ron snorted, “Is it because of Potions? I’ve never seen you upset to be going to this class. I always thought you liked it, thought it was challenging,” he said tauntingly.

Hermione turned to Ron and snapped on him. “It is a challenging class, Ron. I expect that’s why you never get passing marks in it.” With that she turned her back and entered the classroom, unaware of a smirking Potions Professor standing a few feet away from the doorway.

She huffed and plopped her bag down in the back of the room, taking a seat while Harry and Ron climbed in and took seats on either side of her. She took out her Potions book and inhaled deeply. The room was still dark and dreary, and she could see the door off the left to his office. The front of the room was filled with many potions ingredients and the board contained a bunch of small, cramped words. Hermione figured they would be doing something useful today, which made her more relieved. Not very much bookwork meant Snape wouldn’t pick on them as much.

The door at the back of the room flew open and the class automatically became silent as Professor Snape made his way to the front of his room, his robes billowing dramatically behind him. He turned suddenly, folding his hands and eying the class from his left to right. His eyes did not fall over Hermione, as she feared they might. His lips were tight and pursed and she tried to avoiding looking at him for too long.

“Today, we will be making a rather…” he paused, as if searching for the right word, “formidable potion. As you can or cannot see, the directions are stated on the board. You have one hour to concoct this potion, the first to bring it to me, correctly made may be awarded.” He eyed the Slytherins on the far left side of the room and then scanned the rest of them. “You may begin.”

With that, he turned around and made his way over to his desk and took a seat, automatically picking up his quill and began writing. Hermione watched him intently, her heart still beating furiously. The images of the night in the kitchen of Grimmauld Place were haunting her as she watched him grade his papers. To her horror, he looked up at her suddenly and his eyes narrowed.

Close your mind, Hermione thought, her eyes fleeting from his immediately. For a brief moment she thought he felt her probe her mind, but the feeling fleeted soon after and she sighed, looking up to the board to read the directions. They were oddly familiar.

That’s when it came to her.

Felix Felicis.

She immediately knew what to do, and she made her way to the front of the room and grabbed some ingredients. She came back to find Harry and Ron clumsily adding ingredients into their cauldrons and she sighed.

“You’re both doing it wrong,” she said, exasperated. She added the first ingredients into her potions and smiled at the results. It was going just as planned.

“Well, since you know everything,” Ron said angrily, trying to redeem his potions and stirring it roughly. “How about you share some tips?”

Hermione glared at Ron, who looked demanding. Harry just stared at his cauldron, trying to ignore their argument. “I’m not helping you, Ron,” she said simply, turning back to her own potion.

She heard Ron huff and groan but ignored him. Time seemed to fly by as she added each of her ingredients, stirred, and occasionally let it sit. From time to time, Snape would walk around the classroom, eyeing everyone’s cauldrons, but he seemed to avoid their table. After the hour had finished, Hermione nervously grabbed her cauldron and made her way to his desk.

He was marking papers again when she made her way up to the front of the room. She cleared her throat slightly, and held out her potion when he glanced up at her, looking rather annoyed. He quirked an eyebrow and placed his quill in the ink bottle, eyeing Hermione’s cauldron.

“Well done, Miss Granger,” he said more loudly she thought he would have. “Once again you’ve proved yourself to everyone in the whole class how insufferable you truly are. Now that you’ve shown everyone what you’re made of, why don’t you make your way back to your seat?”

Hermione’s blood boiled and she slammed her cauldron down on his desk, rather surprised that it didn’t break and made her way back to her table in the back of the room. She was on the verge of tears, but demanded herself she would not cry. She could not cry. Not for him. The man who had used her and she so graciously accepted. The man who she shared so many nights with, who had taught her to make the Felix Felicis before anyone else. When she finally sat down next to Harry and Ron they looked at her, both of them worried and still working on their potions, but did not say anything.

She stared down at the table and dared herself to look back up at Snape. He was standing again, patrolling the classroom. She felt herself become angrier as he made his way to the back of the room, his arms folded behind his back and his face expressionless. His hair hung in his eyes, giving him that dark and mysterious look. He stopped at Harry’s cauldron and smirked, staring down at it.

“I see once again you have failed to accurately make your potion, Mr. Potter,” he drawled. Harry fumed. “Five points from Gryffindor.”

Hermione wanted so badly to get up and hex the hell out of him, but she simply clenched her fists and teeth and stared up at him, seething. He seemed to have noticed her stare. He looked up at her and smirked, taking a step forward. “May I have a word, Miss Granger?”

Her first instinct was to spit at him and say no, but she found herself getting up slowly and following him to his office. Before they reached the door, Snape turned to the classroom and said, “Any silly wand-waving or goofing off while I am gone, and points will be deducted from your house. I shall know.” With that, he opened the door to his enclosed office and Hermione closed the door behind her.

When she entered, the room was dark and cold, and Snape turned to look at her, folding his arms slowly and smirked. “So it seems you haven’t forgotten what you’ve learned since you spent so much time with me, Miss Granger.”

Hermione simply stared at him, her fists clenching again. “Yes, sir.”

He took a step towards her and she retreated. There were so many things she wanted to say to him at the point, but figured it would be useless.

“You do still have the Felix Felicis I gave you, correct?” He drawled.

She nodded.

“Very well,” he turned from her and walked around the room for a moment before he turned to her again and just stared. “You were thinking about the night in the kitchen, weren’t you?”

Hermione’s jaw slacked, but she regained herself and spat, “And if I was?”
He smirked. “I don’t blame you. The occasion was very pleasing, to see you begging for more from your professor.”

“What has gotten into you?” Hermione said louder now, using every bit of control she had not to scream at him. “I thought we had broken some boundaries. You taught me all those things, you took advantage of me and now…” she felt a tear run hotly down her cheek. “Now you’re just a git, like Ron said you were.”

“But I’ve always been a greasy, beaked nose git, haven’t I, Hermione?” he snapped, making his way towards her again, blocking her into a corner. “I’ve always been that to the three of you. And for awhile, you thought saw past that didn’t you? But what you’ve seen is wrong. I am not a nice man.” He stared down at her angrily, his face almost livid. A flash of emotion passed through his eyes.

“You’re just a bloody Death Eater!” Hermione yelled at him, pushing him out of her way, and he turned to face her when she passed him. “You’ll pay for what you’ve done, and Harry, Ron and I will make sure of that!”

“Don’t you dare talk to me like that,” he snarled, running toward her and grabbing her arm, pinning her against the wall. “If I was just a bloody Death Eater,” he mimicked, his face contorting with disgust, “I wouldn’t have taught you all of the things that I did. I could have just healed you and let you go, letting someone else teach you all those things.”

“No, you had to teach me those things,” Hermione said, squirming beneath his firm hold. “Dumbledore made you.”

Snape raised an eyebrow, his face still full of anger. “Dumbledore didn’t make me, you silly girl. I could have denied at any time, he could have taught you himself.”

“Then why did you teach me?” Hermione retorted, as his grasp slackened and she broke free.

He stared at her, simply saying nothing. She stared back at him, not for a moment considering lettering her guard down. And finally when she thought he would say no more, he spoke.

“Because of this,” he said firmly, before grabbing her hair and pulling her into a hard, passionate kiss.

Hermione yanked his hands off her hair and broke free of him, glaring at him hotly. His eyes were full of lust again and she wanted to smack him across the face. “You’re just using me! I won’t have you doing what you did to me before again.” She turned to leave but he placed his hand on her shoulder, more gently than anticipated.

He pulled her to face him and stared at her. “I’m trying to help you,” he said neutrally. And at the moment, Snape felt slightly ashamed of himself. He wasn’t exactly sure why all of a sudden he had felt so much lust and affection towards Hermione Granger. But ever since he began to spend more time with her, he felt connected. Like he was supposed to watch after her, and that is why he told Dumbledore he would teach her those spells. It was not as if he loved Hermione, for Snape wasn’t sure if he knew how to love anymore. But she was a very beautiful girl, and he wanted nothing more than to touch her and appreciate her. Simply teaching her as a student in his classroom told him nothing more than the fact that she was book smart and could do it all. But spending personal time with the girl told him that she had the potential and the true intellect to defeat the Dark Lord.

Hermione just stared at him as he strong, yet gentle hand was placed firmly on her shoulder. A rush of affection flooded through her veins, but she was stubborn and refused to give in. “I won’t have you take advantage of me again,” she croaked, “Just so that you can be satisfied and come to me whenever you need your fantasies fulfilled. I don’t live with you anymore. I can go on with my life and you can go on with yours.”

Snape pursed his lips and simply stared at her. She looked like she was about to cry at any moment, but she was refusing. Her eyes were glazed and watery, but the tears would not fall. He let his hand slide down her arm and took her small cold hand and placed it in both of his. His eyes never leaving hers he whispered, “You are strong.”

That is when Hermione let the tears fall. His hands were very warm and comforting to hers, but she pulled away from him and turned her head. She headed towards the door. “I think we should be heading back Professor.”

“Yes, I believe we should, Miss Granger,” he said sternly, clearing his voice and straightening out his posture to look more like a sense of authority. “But before you go…”

Hermione turned to look at him, her hand on the door to the classroom. “Yes, sir?”

“Promise me you’ll serve detention with me tomorrow night at seven o’ clock sharp for being an attention-seeking know-it-all.” He smirked at her.

Hermione scoffed, but found a small smile spreading her face. “Whatever you say, Professor Snape.”

With that, she made her way back out into the classroom. All eyes were on her and Snape as he followed her back into the room, slamming his office door shut.

“Well, what are you all waiting for?” He barked. “Get to work!”


A/N: Thank you all for your positive feedback. After I placed the small little scene with Snape and Hermione at Grimmauld Place the reviews came flying in :p After that chapter I was running short on ideas, and improvised and came up with this. Let me know your thoughts and if you have any ideas for upcoming chapters, please let me know. Thank you! :D