Brandy01 – Asteroid Beater

Team Notes: This chapter was written by Brandy01 and betaed by Lyn_f.

Disclaimer: The characters in this work belong to J. K. Rowling, and no infringement is intended.

Two days passed, and neither Snape nor Hermione had another confrontation with the pompous and dubious Dwight G. Umber. He had not been seen by anyone at any of the sessions over the last two days and had only made an appearance whenever mealtimes came around. It seemed very much to Hermione that the man wasn't very interested in the Potions Community so much as he was interested in building a profile for himself and recognition for his seedy 'super serum'.

That day, lunch was served after four hours of session time. There had been two individual speakers, each presenting their research. It had been slow and boring, and Hermione didn't even have Snape to sit and talk with that morning. He too had been M.I.A. at the presentations so far for the day. She walked into the lunchroom alone, looking around to see if she could spot him, but her former professor was nowhere to be found.

At the buffet table she quickly filled her plate with what she would need to make a salad sandwich before moving to a secluded table towards the back of the room. As she was cutting into her sandwich, she glanced up just in time to see Snape striding towards her purposefully with a scary look in his eyes.

"Where have you been all morning?" Hermione asked him as he sat down across from her.

"It's a long story."

"We have time," she replied, taking a bite into her food.

"Two days ago, when we spoke of plotting at lunch, we had not yet realised that Umber wasn't attending any of the sessions throughout the day," he answered patiently, and she nodded for him to continue. "Well, I decided to wait outside his door this morning and to follow him for a while, which ended up not happening."

Hermione frowned in confusion. "So you didn't follow him around to see what he has been getting up to?" she asked.

"No, but I did manage to prevent his door from closing and take a look through his belongings," Snape said, an evil grin appearing on his lips.

"You know, in most countries that could be considered breaking and entering, not to mention trespassing," she stated simply, resuming the consumption of her sandwich.

"Rules were made to be occasionally broken," he said nonchalantly.

Hermione's mouth gaped open unattractively for a moment before she snapped it shut just as quickly. "Had I not spent the better part of the last two days in your company, I wouldn't be so sure it was really Severus Snape who just said that."

He rolled his eyes. "Getting back to the point of this conversation, I had a good search through his belongings and came across his potions journal. There wasn't a lot in there, but I am now fairly certain that there are illegal potions ingredients being used as accelerants to strengthen and increase the intensity of it as well as speed up the time it takes to affect the system."

"But that's dangerous!" Hermione exclaimed, clapping a hand over her mouth when she realised how loudly she had spoken.

"It is, but for the time being, I have no evidence of this, so I am unable to make any formal accusations," he answered. "All I'd need is to get my hands on some of that serum and a laboratory, and then I would be able to divide the ingredients to their simplest form."

"Well then, I suppose we're going to have to get our hands on some of that serum."

"My lab at Hogwarts is state-of-the-art, and I have only the finest equipment available," he continued as though she hadn't even spoken. "It would be the only lab I trust for this, of course..."

Before Hermione had a chance to speak, an announcement was made stating that the next block of sessions would begin again in five minutes. Frowning, she looked down at her mostly uneaten lunch and sighed. They really didn't give the delegates enough time for breaks and meals between sessions, and far too much time was allocated to each individual speaker. She certainly didn't want to spend two hours speaking in front of the Potions Community.

"Are you coming to the sessions this afternoon then?" she asked Snape.

"I might as well," he said. "I doubt that I'll be able to track Umber down before dinner."

They left the dining room together and entered the Symposium hall. After taking their seats at the back, they waited for all of the other delegates to arrive and for the next speeches to begin.

"What are we going to do about the Umber situation?" Hermione whispered.

"You seriously want to be involved in my campaign to bring Dwight Umber down?" he asked in surprise.

Hermione nodded fervently and was about to reply when out of the corner of her eye, she spotted none other than Umber himself enter the room. He was wearing robes made of a hideously bright shade of incarnadine, making him resemble a big round and squat tomato with a pink complexion to match. Hermione sunk down a little in her seat, hoping to lessen the chance of Umber spotting her or Snape, but it was hopeless. Snape's presence in black was so stark in comparison to a room full of people who were dressed in various other colours. Umber made a beeline straight toward them, ignoring the other potioneers that were vying for his attention.

"Ah, Snape! Still here, I see," Umber said loudly, looking down his bulbous nose at them. "Forgive me...it's just that you normally do not attend the conference for the entire time."

"I'm not sure what you are implying, but I can assure you that my continued presence here is due to my academic interest in the Potions Community," he said curtly.

"Oh, I'm sure that's true," he said, grabbing Hermione's hand then and lifting it to his lips to kiss it. "Good day, Professor Granger, Professor Snape."

Snape glared at Umber's back as he walked away. "That man is a disgrace," he said, the venom in his voice dripping from his tongue. "His mother and father obviously never taught him how to behave in civilized society."

Hermione laughed softly at that. "The same might be said of you, Severus Snape," she murmured. "You didn't have to fall to his level and snap at him like that."

Snape snorted. "Just ensure that you wash that your hands sometime soon."

"Wash? Scrub. Scour." Hermione shuddered.

The remainder of the afternoon went on in the same manner as the morning, save for the fact that Hermione then had a brooding Snape for company. When time finally came for the delegates to return to their rooms for the evening to rest and freshen up before dinner, she had never been more relieved. It had been a tense and near-dramatic day despite the distinct lack of excitement that the presentations held. When the time came for dinner, she headed to the dining hall and took a seat at the same table as she had during lunch and waited for Snape to join her.

He walked in not long after and sat with her, sighing heavily as he did so.

"You don't look terribly rested or refreshed," she commented idly, flipping through the menu choices for that evening.

He murmured something incomprehensible in response, and Hermione decided not to annoy him too much that night. After they ordered their meals and they arrived at the table, she sat back to eat her meal. Looking over at the dark, brooding man, she noticed the crease of his brow and the slight frown on his lips. He was pushing the food around his plate, not really making a move to put any in his mouth. Even though he wasn't smiling or talking to her, Hermione thought he was strangely attractive. There was just something mysterious about the man, and his intelligence and dedication to Potions drew her to him like a moth to a flame.

After dinner, Snape and Hermione mutually decided to quit the dining hall together. As they were leaving, however, they ran into Umber as the man was entering the hall for dinner.

"Don't think I don't know that you're following me around Snape," he said quietly. "You won't find a thing on me, so I suggest you just give up now."

"We'll see."

Snape then turned on his heel abruptly and grabbed Hermione's elbow, directing her away from the round, pompous fool quickly. "I'll see you to your room," he said simply.

They took the elevator up to her floor, and he walked her right to her door. She unlocked it with the card key and turned to say goodnight to Snape.

"Goodnight, Severus," she said with a smile.

He took one of her hands and looked into her eyes with his own obsidian ones for permission, which she gave with a nod, before he lifted it up to his lips. He brushed a gentle kiss over the back of her knuckles and bowed a little before releasing it and walking back down the hall to the elevators. Hermione stood there, watching him walk, a blush staining her cheeks. That certainly hadn't felt like the wet, disgusting kiss she'd received from Umber earlier.

Sighing, she slipped into her room and closed the door. The next few days were bound to be very interesting.

End Notes: We hope you enjoyed week three! Ravenswing is up next!

Prompt words used: Incarnadine, Assiduous, Laboratory, Mother & Hogwarts.