Chapter 11

Hermione couldn’t remember an evening she’d enjoyed more. She’d brought out some chocolate and fed him a few pieces. She had been delighted when he’d blissfully closed his eyes as the chocolate melted in his mouth.

In turn, he had teased her with a sugar quill, allowing her to savor its melt-in-your-mouth flavor.

Hermione finally brought out her gift. She unwrapped the soft, cotton cloth that covered it and laid it in his lap as he sat in the chair by the fire. She saw his eyes light up, and he reached out and caressed the soft cover. It was a hand-tooled leather-covered journal and quill set.

“Hermione, it’s beautiful.” His voice was rough and low with emotion.

She went down on her knees in front of him and placed her hand on his. Then she laid her cheek against his hand. “I’m glad you like it.”

He gently caressed her hair and said, “It’s the best gift I’ve ever gotten.”

She did not see the glitter of tears that he blinked away.

About 10 p.m., he said, “We’d better get back to the castle and get some rest. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow. I think we can make the healing potion for my neck, but it will take nearly all day and possibly into the night.”

They reluctantly put out the fire, let the room resume shrieking, and headed back through the tunnel to the dark, foreboding castle.

Hermione let out a sigh of relief when the door was locked and warded behind them. Severus lit the fire magically, as well as a few candles and a lantern.

He looked over the potion ingredients, and his eyes shone with excitement. “As much as I would like to start tonight, we are both tired and need sleep. We will start in the morning.”

Hermione nodded, hating for the evening to come to an end. She went to change into one of the gowns she’d salvaged. It was a t-shirt-like material, soft and warm, but it had an empire cut and lacy shoulder straps. Lace at the waist and v-neck made it modest, but it was becoming to her figure.

She left the bathroom and found Severus turning down the covers on the converted bed. She knew he meant to sleep there. “Your turn.”

He smiled as he passed her. “The bed is ready.”

She waited until he went into the bathroom and closed the door and then slipped into the converted bed and pulled the covers up to her neck.

She smiled. Though he hadn’t said anything, she’d seen his eyes widen when he’d laid eyes on her new gown. Although it had only been a couple days, Hermione knew she would never leave his side for more than a few hours at a time to get supplies — not unless he asked her to. How had she lost her heart already? When had this happened? Did he care for her too? She could be setting herself up for a lot of hurt. She knew he was enjoying having her here and that he needed her right now. What would happen when he was back to normal and no longer needed the emotional crutch she was providing? Would he still want her with him?

She heard him come from the bathroom and sigh in exasperation when he spotted her in the transfigured bed. She felt him move closer, his fingers lightly caress her hair, and then the gentle pressure of his lips against her forehead. “Sleep well, Hermione. You are a treasure I do not deserve.”

He turned away and slipped behind the curtains of his bed.

Hermione smiled as she let herself drift off to sleep. Perhaps he did care for her.

**************

The next morning, they woke early, anxious to start the potion. The pair ate a quick breakfast of toast, coffee, and oatmeal. Hermione gathered the potion ingredients and waited for Severus to guide her into the potions lab. She was surprised when he touched a book on one of his shelves, and it swung aside revealing a stone stairway. It led down into an immaculate private potions lab.

“Oh, Severus!” she exclaimed. “This is wonderful! It’s quite a well kept secret.”

“You didn’t think I would use that classroom for my private work, did you?”

“I guess if I ever thought about it, I might have imagined a small lab on the other side of the storage room,” she said.

She placed the ingredients on a counter near the largest cauldron and ran around like a kid in a candy shop examining the many vials and labeled boxes. She exclaimed over a number of them, describing their properties and giving examples of what they might be used for.

Snape stood watching her delight and not finding the stream of knowledge pouring out of her annoying like he used to. Her knowledge was impressive. “You should consider a career in Potions. You seem to enjoy your amassed knowledge on the subject.”

She said, “I thought about it, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to apprentice myself to a Potions master.”

“Why not? You have been a gifted Potions student since you were a child. Making Polyjuice Potion when you were only a young girl was an amazing feat, although the cat hair was priceless.” That odd rattle of laughter came from him until he started to cough. It was a short bout and didn’t require the potion.

Hermione stood red-faced. “You knew about that?”

“Madam Pomfrey had to come to me for the antidote. It had to be a specially made potion using some of the converted hair off your large cat head.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t come in and yell at me!”

“I did slip in and take a peek while you were asleep. I had the best laugh of my life. I hadn’t laughed that hard in years. I couldn’t very well scold you when I couldn’t stop laughing.”

Hermione giggled. “I wish I could have seen that.”

“Perhaps I will show you someday.”

She sobered, remembering he was very skilled with Occlumency and Legilimency. A relationship with this man could be a whole new world.

She looked him in the eye. “I look forward to that.”

He ducked his head and turned away, realizing the intimacy such sharing would uncover. He could not fathom this girl’s attraction to him.

“Well let’s get started. You will need to chop the lizard gizzard in 0.8-inch sections. The lacewing flies need to be ground into fine powder.” His voice continued throughout the morning, whispering instructions that Hermione tried to follow to the letter.

By midday, they had a fine potion brewing, so they took a short break for a lunch of dried meat and coarse bread washed down with tea. Refreshed, they returned to the lab and Hermione continued chopping, grinding, and measuring the ingredients. She added them as he instructed and stirred counter clockwise, then back a turn, then forward four… Never in her life had she brewed such a difficult, complicated potion. She found herself enjoying every minute. He was patient, and his instructions were to the letter. He also explained more about the properties of the ingredients as he went, and she soaked it all up into her photographic memory. She never forgot anything she heard.

Late that night they finally had a vial of potion and a salve for the exterior wounds. After a quick clean-up with their wands, they carried the precious pots up the stairs and into the kitchen. Hermione cut off the old bandages, cleaned the wounds, and applied the salve. Then Severus swallowed the potion.

She sat back with a sigh. “When will we know?”