Terminus Est

Chapter 2: Terminus Est

Hermione smoothed her blouse, pulled her robes together in the front, and fastened them to hide her Muggle clothes underneath. She didn't think Professor Snape would take kindly to anything but a proper robe in his laboratory, and her intention today was to impress him. She had gone home yesterday after their meeting with mixed feelings on the subject. He could teach her a great deal, and if she could learn from him, she would undoubtedly have one of the most advanced potions educations in the country.

However, as much as he could teach her, she was unsure she could look beyond his biting insults and constant belittlement of anyone beneath his station. In regards to Snape, things had changed little after Voldemort's death. He remained a difficult person and was just as reclusive and demanding as ever. Hermione thought she would have received a word or two of gratitude from him when she had testified on his behalf once the battle was over. At the time, he was still facing a charge of murder by an Unforgivable Curse. However, his actions during the final battle, and a Pensieve discovered after the fact, revealed that he was simply following orders, performing a task dictated by Dumbledore and set in motion by the Unbreakable Vow he had been forced to make.

The hearing to decide his fate had been the last time she had seen him until yesterday. He hadn't even approached her after her testimony sealed his freedom; instead, he took the first opportunity to stand and exit the room when the Ministry officials gave him permission to leave. Hermione had spent the intervening years convincing herself that she didn't care, but now that she was in contact with him, even if it was dubious contact, she discovered that the slight really had wounded her. She had spent so many years trying to earn his approval in the classroom, and she couldn't even obtain it by helping him avoid Azkaban.

There was a moment's consideration given to telling Harry or Ron she had caught up with their old nemesis, but she felt it better to be cautious this time around and keep the interview to herself. Once he ridiculed her and unceremoniously shoved her out of his precious laboratory, she would feel better about complaining to her two best friends. In fact, she hadn't told anyone about her encounter with Professor Snape. If he caught wind of her blabbing about a possible position with him, then he would surely mark her off the list of acceptable applicants.

Truth be told, Hermione hadn't even realized Snape was brewing potions for commercial use, and she couldn't help but wonder which brand in the apothecary was his. Different companies, large and small alike, came and went so quickly she couldn't pin down a particular brand that surfaced after his release from custody. It would have to be one of the higher-priced brands that offered exotic and much sought-after potions many didn't have the skill to make.

The building was nondescript and sat on the edge of Hogsmeade. The dark green shutters on the front windows were closed and the off-white cottage was quaint and unassuming. The flowerbeds that lined the front wall were filled with common herbs used in many potions. Their fragrance was soothing and reminded her of comfortable times in front of her cauldron.

She quickly made her way up the stone path and knocked on the front door. Her Muggle watch was useless here, but she knew it was just a few minutes before seven o'clock, their arranged meeting time. As seconds ticked by she became overly anxious, her nerves finally taking their toll. Hermione absently flicked some dust off the sleeve of her blue robes. Blue was neutral. If she came here in her red set, then he would slam the door in her face for sure.

The door clicked open, and Snape appeared in the entryway. His hair was obscuring half his face, and the sleeves of his robe were rolled up to reveal pale forearms beneath. "Miss Granger," he said in a fair attempt at formal cordiality.

As he moved out of the doorway, she nodded politely. "Professor Snape, sir."

"Don't make me stand here all day with my door wide open, girl. Come in or go home."

Hermione quickly stepped inside. The house was slightly musty from what must have been years of disuse. The furniture was sparse in the two rooms she could see from her vantage point. There was a dining room that held only a small wooden table cluttered with parchment and a living room with two armchairs and an end table between them.

"This way," Snape said as he turned his back on her and walked down a hallway to her left. Hermione rolled her eyes at the dramatic swish of his robes and followed along behind him, keeping a fair distance between them.

Just a few steps down the hall he made a quick turn to the right into a room lit only by a couple lamps hanging from the walls and the sunlight from two high windows along the back. It was obviously a potions lab from the long, sturdy tables that lined the walls and the island in the middle that held two cauldrons, to the shelves upon shelves of bottles, jars, and vials that were meticulously labeled. It was like a dream come true after working in such cramped quarters in her kitchen. "Amazing..." Hermione whispered to herself as she stepped forward and scanned the rows of ingredients with her eyes.

"Indeed," Snape agreed.

Glancing down, she saw two small boxes of dark blue bottles. A neatly printed label was on each of them. Terminus Est. Her eyes widened, and she spun around to face Snape. "Terminus Est? That's you?" After the first moment of disbelief, she shook her head. "No, I should have known as much. They're some of the most expensive potions in the apothecaries, and also some of the most sought-after, not to mention..." Hermione's voice trailed off, and she snapped her mouth shut.

Snape sneered at her and sauntered over to pick up a bottle. "Go on, Miss Granger," he said.

"Well, I mean, some of them... they're..."

"They're teetering on the line that divides us from dark magic," Snape finished for her.

Hermione swallowed and turned away. That was what she had been trying to say, but she wasn't certain if it would anger him. An angry Snape was the last thing she needed. This was her dream job regardless of Snape being her boss. She needed to get away from the Ministry and their in-depth analysis into soda and how exactly Muggles put the bubbles into the drink.

"You have a wonderful potions lab, Professor. I highly admire your work. I've actually purchased and used your Dreamless Sleep potion a few times before. I don't think I need to tell you that it was flawless," Hermione said as she surveyed the room one more time before turning back to face him.

Snape had put the bottle down inside the box and was watching her intently now. "Spare me your compliments. You're here to audition for the position of my assistant, are you not?"

She nodded. "Yes, sir."

He gestured to one of the cauldrons on the island in the middle of the room. "Determine what that potion is and finish it."

Hermione took a few hesitant steps forward before throwing her shoulders back and taking a final decisive step up to the counter. The unprepared ingredients were all laid out beside the bubbling cauldron. All but one or two of the ingredients were familiar to her, and she set her mind to working, running the combinations through her brain until she had narrowed down the possibilities to two potions, neither of which she had brewed. One required only a half an hour to prepare and another hour to cool before bottling. The second possibility required an exhaustive six hours of brewing, but could be bottled right away.

The first is too easy. He's just a big enough prat to expect me to spend my Saturday brewing a complicated, time-intensive potion while he sits on his arse and critiques.

Hermione pulled in a deep breath and slowly exhaled through her nose. The second it would be. She was unsure if she remembered all of the steps, but the only thing she could do was attempt it. Failure would see her back at the Ministry dissecting televisions, and success would hopefully find her with a new job working for Professor Snape. Harry and Ron would just die if they knew she was crossing her fingers for a position as Snape's assistant. No, Ron, I have not gone mental. I'm simply starved for some intellectual stimulation.

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It was times like this that Hermione hated her hair. She had considered cutting it when she graduated from Hogwarts, but never followed through. It was now frizzed from the moisture rising from the cauldron and entirely unmanageable even with the majority of it tied back. She let out her frustration on a stray piece that had fallen down her forehead by sticking out her lower lip and blowing furiously. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Snape's raised eyebrow as he observed her annoyance.

He'd been watching her for hours and only left twice for no more than a minute at a time. Reading material was laid out in front of him, but his eyes had been following her movements for the majority of the day. Having worked under his watchful eye for seven years at Hogwarts, his attention to her work didn't make her nervous. He did not bother to initiate conversation, and Hermione thought it best to stick to the task of brewing the potion correctly.

Three more stirs, add the rosemary, reduce the heat, and I'll be done. The potion was the perfect color, or at least theoretically the correct color. Reading detailed instructions to potion-making when she had no intention of making the potion actually did pay off in the end. Hermione dropped the chopped and measured rosemary in before reducing the heat and floating the cauldron to the tabletop to cool.

Snape's eyes followed the cauldron and then returned to her when she spoke. "I'm finished, Professor."

"The potion you just made?"

"Gareth's Elixir, sir. It is used to heal severe burns caused by fire, but cannot combat burns inflicted by magic. It was discovered and fine-tuned by Harlow Gareth in the mid-seventeenth century. It is still considered to be the most effective burn healing potion today, but is rarely stocked by hospitals due to its price and difficulty to come by."

"That's quite enough, Miss Granger. I don't need the entire paragraph from Most Potente Potions repeated back to me. I'm familiar enough with it."

Hermione gritted her teeth and dropped her eyes back to the cauldron. "Yes, sir."

"One problem, Miss Granger; you increased the heat too quickly after you added the three aloe leaves. The sudden rise in temperature counteracts the longevity of the brew and drops the shelf life from six months to one week. I won't be able to sell that."

Hermione's jaw opened and closed, but no sound came out. The instructions were too faint in her mind, and she easily could have forgotten the importance of the timing. She had no excuse for her mistake. Even so, how was she to learn to create all of these potions and be a proper assistant if he was unwilling to correct her mistakes when she made them? "Why didn't you stop me, Professor?"

He watched her with cold, dispassionate eyes. "It is not my position to interrupt your audition and correct your mistakes."

She nodded slowly and grabbed her bag from the floor by her feet. If that's the way things were, then she knew what he was saying. She should just get out of the house before he ripped into her and made her bite back the tears. Apparently, a change from him was too much to hope for after all these years. "I understand, Professor. Good evening. Thank you for you time," she mumbled as she pushed through the door and quickly made her way down the hall.

Her hand was on the doorknob when she heard his voice behind her. "Where do you think you are going, Miss Granger? I don't recall dismissing you for the day."

Hermione abruptly turned around to face him. Snape was casually leaning against the wall at the mouth of the hallway. His arms were crossed, and one of his boots was crossed in front of the other. "Well... I... I just assumed... that... well..."

"Spit it out, girl."

"I didn't complete the potion properly. I wasted your ingredients and your time."

His face was devoid of emotion or any hint of his thoughts. "Yes, even so, I trust I will see you at seven o'clock on Monday morning, two weeks from now. I acknowledge that you will be providing the Ministry with your notice of resignation and give them ample time to find a replacement."

"Sir? Excuse me?"

"Monday through Friday, beginning at seven o'clock. We work until the day's tasks are complete, and then you may leave. I'll pay you what the Ministry is paying you to start."

Hermione felt like her jaw had dropped to the floor. Snape was actually offering her a job? She opened and closed her mouth several times in an attempt to say something positive to affirm to him that this was what she wanted.

Snape gave her a slight smirk that reeked of self-satisfaction. "If only it were always so easy to render you speechless, Miss Granger. I rather enjoy the silence," he said. "You may see yourself out now. Good day." With that said, he swept back down the hall, his robes trailing in his wake.

Hermione nearly followed him to demand that he explain his reasoning to her, but she didn't want to look a gift horse in the mouth. She decided to keep her mouth shut and go home. If she was going to work with him, then she'd have all the time she wanted to pick his brain. For now she would leave him alone instead of jeopardizing her new job.

Once outside the cottage, she Apparated back home to the living room of her flat. Crookshanks was curled up on the couch awaiting her return. He jumped down and padded across the room to follow her into the kitchen. Still in a daze, Hermione dumped his food into a small glass bowl and sat it down on the floor beside his water.

"You will never believe what just happened to me, boy," she said as Crookshanks lapped up his food. "I just got a new job working for Professor Snape." A huge smile spread over her face as the realization sunk in. "I am going to be working with a renowned Potions Master making some of the highest quality potions available. No more zippers, Velcro, and rubber ducky dissection for me!"

Hermione spun around in a circle before snatching a pint of ice cream from the freezer. On her way to the couch, she grabbed a spoon from the dish drainer. Crookshanks finished his food and curled up beside her, his chest vibrating with a content purr.

The thought of working with Snape wasn't exactly exhilarating, but the idea of pursuing her dream of potions certainly made up for his personality. She knew he was prone to mood swings and dramatics even from her days as his student at Hogwarts. He seemed no different now; he was still using his robes to command authority and his sharp tongue to cut others down. The only real concern Hermione had was Snape tossing her out on her arse without warning because of some minor mistake she made. She needed a job to pay the bills, and her small savings couldn't tide her over for long if he did go into a fit and fire her on the spot.

I just need to remain calm and careful while working. I know I can do it; I just need to follow through, and I can't let him upset me. If I'm upset I'll just make mistakes – mistakes that could lose me my job.

She knew that if she could just weather Snape's difficult personality there was a chance she could excel and earn his approval. Hermione had spent years at Hogwarts trying to earn that illusive approval only to be met with biting commentary on her few faults and even her physical appearance at times. Perhaps if he saw her as an employee and not a student, as Hermione Granger and not Harry Potter's friend, then she might stand a chance at gaining his approval. She could go far with a reference like that.

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"Are you mental?"

Hermione felt her jaw tighten. She had expected this reaction, but that didn't make it any easier. "No, Ronald, I am not."

"Only a nutter would want to work with that greasy git. If it's a new job you want, then I'm sure my dad can talk to his –"

"I don't want to work for the Ministry, Ron, and I don't need your father to talk to anyone. You know as well as I do that if I used my real name I could get any job I wanted."

"So why don't you? Anything's better than putting up with that bat," Ron said, taking a bite of his sandwich. He looked across the table at Harry for support, but Harry just shrugged and turned back to Hermione.

She frowned. "He is not a bat, Ronald. You're an adult and shouldn't be calling others names. Furthermore, I won't be given a free ticket in this world because I'm riding on Harry's coat tails. I absolutely refuse –"

"The Ministry has a potions department," Harry said, interrupting her.

Hermione turned her attention to Harry. "I know that, Harry, but my heart is in research and development. Anything worthwhile is coming out of the private sector. You and I both know that. The Ministry's department is a joke among private enterprise. I'm trying to make a career out of this, not just a job."

"But isn't there someone besides... Snape?" Harry asked softly.

She slammed her glass of Butterbeer down on the table. "Professor Snape is one of the most accomplished Potions Masters in the world. Why would I turn down a chance to work with him and learn from him? A letter of recommendation from him would be as good as gold to all other Potions Masters. I could get a job anywhere after spending a few years with him. I could go into business for myself." She threw her hands in the air. "Don't you see? This is a perfect opportunity for me."

"He doesn't even like us, Hermione," Harry muttered.

"Hates us," Ron said, nodding his head in agreement.

She took a sip from her mug. "He's as disagreeable as they come, but I can get over that. I don't see why you two are so opposed to this. I'm the one who is going to have to endure him on a daily basis while you're both off playing Quidditch."

"We just worry about you," Harry said.

Hermione smiled at Harry and Ron. "It's sweet that you both care so much, but I can take care of myself."

"You and both of us," Ron said.

Harry laughed and nudged Hermione's arm. "Yeah."

"Are you going to eat that?" Ron asked, eyeing the second half of Hermione's sandwich.

She pushed the dish toward him and rolled her eyes. "No, but I get the feeling you are."

Author's Note: A huge thank you to Snarkyroxy and all of her hard work as my beta that made this fic better than it would have been otherwise. As with the first chapter, I also got some excellent advice from Allyness and Jessica, so thanks go out to them as well. I'd also like to thank everyone who offered words of encouragement on the first chapter. I really do appreciate every kind comment.