A Bigger Mistake

Disclaimer: Everything is Rowling's, except for the plot... although that may belong to someone else, too. You never know. ;)

Chapter Nineteen: A Bigger Mistake

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Severus Snape watched as his seventh and eighth years filed into the classroom, a month after 'the incident', as he had coined it. He was in a terrible mood. His dreams, which had been relatively frequent, came back now each night with a very ethereal Hermione in long, flowing robes of different colours, depending on the storyline du nuit. The stories had never progressed so far as to remove those enchanting dresses, but since then Severus had woken in a cold sweat with a side of arousal and had resulted in cold showers and Calming Draught at four o'clock each morning, as an addition to his morning ablutions.

The literal girl-of-his-dreams entered the class now under the protective arm of Potter, and they were both laughing quietly, passing by his desk without so much as a glance in his direction. He wasn't sure if he wanted to see her smile return to a frown when she looked his way. But then he remembered he was very angry with Granger for her rule-breaking (not to mention her self-neglect), and the boy next to her for being alive and the spitting image of his father, and the whole class for being a pathetic group of dunderheads, and the world for being so damned unfair. Oh, yes, and Dumbledore, for being a meddling old fool, even in his oil-on-canvas confines.

The two lovebirds continued to laugh and joke and chat and help one another as they prepared their cauldrons, and he wanted nothing more than to wipe the smiles off their faces. Why was she back to normal? It was...what? A month after his outburst in the kitchens during what he'd planned to be a nice, calming, informative detention. There was supposed to be tea and intellectual conversation and a reason for why she'd been depressed. He'd known the whole barren thing, and the Ron problem, but the potion-induced obsession thing... he'd not expected that. He should've known.

Just then, Hermione let out a heart-melting giggle at one of Harry's jokes. Severus felt like vomiting. Potter then pinched her side playfully as the other students chatted quietly about their potions. That just about did it.

"Miss Granger," he said to the new self-recording instruction and ingredient book in his hands, "you and Mister Zabini will be switching places for this up-and-coming project."

He heard Blaise sigh resignedly but had eyes only for Hermione, who just now had a look of astonishment on her face. "Why, sir?"

"Because you and your little friend, the Boy-Who-Lived-Again-to-My-Great-Displeasure, will have to keep your hands off each other for at least four-fifths of this quarter-long..." everyone groaned, "...project. I fear that it is just not possible. Switch places with Mr. Zabini, Miss Granger."

--

"Malfoy," Hermione spat as she slammed the half-ton of books on his workspace.

"Hello, Granger," the blond said, flicking his eyes to her in greeting. He nudged her Herbology book off of a stray list of ingredients for a eucalyptus sap base and returned it to his notebook. Organizing himself quickly for their project, he made room for her to sit down in Blaise's still-warm chair. Feeling like she was walking into a trap, Hermione sat slowly, pulling her own notes out and setting her Arithmancy book on the desk.

"Get the ingredients, would you?" Hermione left out all pleasantries. "I have to organize..." Draco sighed resignedly and made his way to the closet without as much as a twitch of protest. Having organized properly, Hermione disposed of her tie and rolled up her sleeves, ignorant to the new pair of eyes she had just earned.

Draco returned ingredient-laden to their workstation. "It's loads easier to find things now that that pig sty has been fixed up." He dumped the jars with a clink and arranged them in order.

Hermione couldn't help but smile as her worst enemy praised her work. "Let's get this done, shall we?" Her tone was a bit lighter when she next said, "I never performed this back in Portugal, but it shouldn't be too difficult if we work together."

"Lead on." He gestured to the ingredients. "Queen or Pawn this afternoon, Granger?"

She clasped her hands together with a grin at his jest. "Pawn today, I think. It would be all right with you if I did all the dirty work, right? I never had the opportunity to make Draught of Living Death before and I've always itched to do it! I mean, you can make it if you want..."

"It's fine, really." His lips quirked into a smile and he sat back in his chair, resting his hands behind his head, "I'll just sit back and tell you what to do."

"And you'll do the Arithmancy equation!" she protested quickly.

"Oh, that too. Don't worry yourself, Granger. I don't shirk my duties like your boyfriends." Hermione shot him a warning look as he drew out another parchment from his bag and scribbled wildly upon it. Hermione watched with a frown over the brim of the cauldron as she brought the Eucalyptus and nightshade blend to a simmer with her wand. "What? No scathing retort?" he said to his quill as he weighed the potency gestation period.

"No." She scrunched her nose. "You're trying to bait me."

"That's neither here nor there. You know it's true." He underlined the result and sauntered up to Snape's desk.

--

Severus was peeved. No, no. He wasn't He was angry...no!...furious. And he didn't want to think about why. Not that he had been planning any future with Hermione. No, that would be ridiculous. But he certainly hadn't intended to shove one of the most attractive boys at Hogwarts in her face and eventually up her skirt! What he had planned to do was watch her...the pretty, innocent, single little creature that she was...from afar, basking in the filtered light of her presence for the rest of her days here. And then maybe he'd keep tabs on her when she went off to... do whatever it was she wanted to do.

He stopped in the middle of the classroom, paling significantly and reaching out to the nearest flat surface for support.

She wants to be a Potions mistress. Or so she said, back in September.

His knuckles turned white as he gripped the table. He had probably ruined all chances of seeing her ever again out of classes when he had screamed at her in January.

Did he love her? Because this sudden lurch in his stomach told him so. He had spent what little chance he had this past month, and now with his luck, she'd be off gallivanting with Draco Malfoy from now on. Fate was having her fun with Severus Snape again, and apparently, even after repenting, he could not get his way.

"Uhh, are you alright, Professor Snape?"

Severus looked up into the blue eyes of Hannah Abbott who looked, along with most of the class as he peered around, a little worried that the Potions master was going to explode all over her notes. That, or chuck up what little he'd had for breakfast. "I'm fine," he bit out, rising to full height and gazing imperiously over the entire class. "If anyone is not half-way through their equations by this time there will be serious point deductions!" He strode back to his desk and sat down, cradling his forehead in his hands and letting out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding.

He glanced at her through the curtain of his hair, and then he decided something. Fuck Fate and what he wanted. He'd lived all his life giving, and if he loved her, then he would keep giving. If it were to make her happy, then he'd keep giving.

He would apprentice her. He would mentor her. He would do whatever she asked of him from now on. In January he had forgotten how depressed and stressed and helpless she had been feeling, all because she had broken some rules and had taken risks for something that she had a passion for! When hadn't she and her friends broken the rules? And hadn't he, when he was her age, experimented with his own ideas, all the while battling emotional upheaval and harassment and offers to join the Dark Lord's followers?

He was a fool.

A bloody, sodding fool and he had just given her up...rather indirectly, of course...to a man much more capable of affection and understanding than he had ever been. If she ended up marrying the pillock, then so be it. At least she would be content.

--

The bell rang just as Hermione and Malfoy had stoppered the first step of their long-term project.

"Well, I think that went perfectly well, don't you?" Malfoy turned to her after they had set their two samples down on a rather surly Snape's desk. The professor had looked away when he met Hermione's eyes, but she ignored him. Though, there was a funny twinge in her stomach. She wrote it off to be the after effects of the Pepper-Up.

A/N: If you can predict what's coming, I apologize very much in advance. It's the muse's fault!

Thanks to ladyinthecloak for being an awesome beta AND admin. All mistakes and inconsistencies belong to me.