apisa_b - Black Hole Chaser

Hermione was standing on the landing of a narrow staircase at number twelve, Grimmauld Place when a loud knock on the front door reverberated through the house. Out of deeply ingrained habit, she flew down the stairs, hands outstretched towards the place where two moth-eaten curtains used to shield the portrait of Walburga Black - or rather the world from the portrait. When she registered that the curtains hadn't moved and the old hag hadn't started her tirade of abusive words, a sigh of relief escaped her lips.

Hermione's thoughts kept wandering towards the very man every inhabitant of the old house wanted to thank down on their knees, and who currently kept tongues wagging: Severus Snape. Taking guesses on the reasons that had brought on the drastic change in his behaviour seemed to be the topmost activity at every gathering Hermione had been part of in the last couple of weeks. Opinions ranged from a Brain Befuddlement Charm to Severus Snape having fallen in love, which some people put on the same level.

Hermione's own opinion, readily dismissed by all, tended towards Severus Snape not having changed at all, but just breaking free of habits he'd had to adopt in order to maintain the illusion of being a Death Eater or probably him seeing no need to show his classroom persona anymore, now that he had quit his position at Hogwarts. After all, what teacher didn't put on a mask when dealing with their pupils? Minerva McGonagall had relayed many anecdotes from her long career as a teacher during the nights they spent carousing together. Many situations Hermione remembered, and she was totally sure her teacher had been furious; she was rather astonished to learn that half of the time Minerva'd had a hard time not erupting in bursts of laughter in front of her students. Why should it be different with Severus Snape? Why shouldn't he have put up a show of sour disposition, anger and favouritism for the sake of maintaining discipline in a subject where fooling around could lead to disastrous results, and of course maintaining his cover towards the pure-bloods? Probably the Severus Snape they saw now was the real one, the one who had to stay put beneath too many exterior layers.

'Mistress Hermione? Master Longbottom is here to see you.' Kreacher's words pulled Hermione out of her thoughts.

Hermione glanced up and saw Neville standing behind the old house-elf, grinning broadly.

'Thank you, Kreacher. Could you please bring us some tea into the library?'

'Kreacher will, Mistress. And some biscuits too,' the house-elf muttered, already on his way to the kitchen.

As soon as Kreacher was out of sight, Hermione gave up all pretence and threw herself into Neville's arms.

'God, it's good to see you! Where have you been? Do you realise it's been months without as much as a word about what you were up to?' Hermione said breathlessly as soon as Neville let her down from the full swing he had lifted her into, as if she were nothing but a child. It was hard to reconcile the tall, handsome and suntanned young man in front of her with the insecure, bumbling boy she remembered from her time at Hogwarts.

'I've had such an exciting time, and I'd wished more than once that you could have been there,' he told her as they walked towards the library.

'How so? I'm not particularly fond of the field work a Herbologist has to do, as you well know.'

'Not much of an outdoor girl, are you?' Neville chuckled.

'I've had enough outdoor experience for a lifetime during the time I was on the run with the boys, thank you very much,' Hermione retorted dryly.

'I'll take your word for it.'

They settled down into the plush chairs, and Hermione poured them tea.

'Those biscuits really look delicious. Don't hold it against me if I tuck in – I feel like I have been living off nothing else but Cornish Pasties and Fish and Chips these past few weeks,' Neville said as he reached for a cookie. He closed his eyes and leaned back against the back of his chair, sighing in delight as he savoured one.

'Why, was Heslop working you so hard you couldn't find time for a proper meal?'

'We were given access to the Royal Botanical Gardens of Kew for a limited time only, and we wanted to make the most of it. They have a lot of old magical seeds in their seedbank. We were allowed to grow them in a protected area, to work out the changes some of the plants have undergone in the last hundreds of years. In addition, access to their library was granted. Of course, that's when I wanted you to be there. Their collection of botanical books and illustrations is vast – including a lot of rather old magical texts.'

'Oh, I've heard about it. To be allowed to peruse such old texts would be wonderful. My kind of holiday,' Hermione said with a dreamy look.

'Some of the old manuscripts cross-referenced to texts located at Windsor Castle – and of course the name of Heslop Harrison opened the doors.'

'You mean the Royal Library contains magical texts?'

'Well, of course. Several Wizards married into the Royal Houses and have put their marks there. Elizabeth I founded not only the library but the magical section in Windsor Castle, and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg added to its vast collection as well.'

'Uh, really? The husband of Queen Victoria was a wizard?' Hermione asked incredulously.

'It is not commonly known, even among pure-bloods,' Neville answered. 'But you might see how I barely managed to find the time to visit my parents. So please excuse my lack of correspondence.'

'Granted. But only because you have a good excuse this time, having worked so sedulously,' she teased him.

'It won't happen again, ma'am.'

'How are your parents?'

'Not so good. Since the Battle, they seem to be plagued by nightmares and are wasting away. The Healers vetting them think that they were affected worse than the rest of us by the dark energy Voldemort's death has set free.'

'I'm sorry to hear that.'

With a shudder, Hermione remembered the vivid nightmares that had plagued her in the weeks following Voldemort's demise.

'Which brings me to the reason of my visit.'

Hermione only arched her eyebrows while taking a sip of her tea.

Neville reached into his robe pocket and pulled out a roll of parchment.

'This is a copy of an old potion recipe. I found it at Windsor, and it might help to ease my parents' condition.'

Intrigued, Hermione edged closer.

'It's in Latin,' she exclaimed, surprised.

'Yes. Well, thanks to a Translation Spell, I was able to understand what it is about. It was written down in Germany in the Middle Ages and describes the effects the potion has.'

'Such as?'

'It counteracts depression. It's a sedative. It helps when you can't sleep. It prevents nightmares,' Neville was ticking the effects off on his fingers. 'And it has almost no side-effects.'

'What do the Healers say?'

'That's the problem. We weren't able to identify the vital ingredient. I was counting on you here. Have you ever heard of a plant called "Herba Dei" -"God's Herb"?'

'Called that in medieval Germany?'

'Yes,' Neville nodded with an unhappy look on his face.

'I have no clue. But I think I know just the man to ask.'

Neville's face lit up. 'Who?'

'Severus Snape.'

'I feared you might say that.'

'Come on, Neville. Give him some credit. He's a brilliant Potioneer with incredible knowledge. If someone has heard about your plant, it is him.'

Neville was looking at her with puppy eyes. 'Are you going to ask him for me?'

'Don't tell me you are still afraid of him!'

Neville nodded. 'Have a Boggart somewhere in the house so I can prove my fear?'

'For heaven's sake, Neville, you slaughtered Voldemort's scary snake, but are afraid of asking Snape a favour?'

One glance at Neville's frowning face was answer enough.

'You know what? I'll arrange for you to meet him here for tea. I think it's about time to be doing something about that Boggart of yours.'

**********

'Tchotchkes,' he muttered under his breath.

'I beg your pardon?'

'He keeps a lot of tchotchkes around this room.' At Hermione's blank look, Severus Snape swept his arm towards the mantelpiece cluttered with memorabilia of Harry Potter's time at Hogwarts, Teddy Tonks's toys and cheerful pictures.

'Yes, he does. I think it is because he wasn't allowed to have – how did you call them – tchotchkes around his childhood home. At least with them, the room looks lived-in.'

Kreacher announcing the arrival of Neville Longbottom spared Severus Snape the comment he was about to make, which probably was for the best.

Hermione and Snape turned towards the door where Neville Longbottom, seemingly regressed from a self-assured scientist to a blushing first-year, stood. Flooded with pity for her friend, Hermione was about to cross the space and pull him into the room when she noticed that Severus Snape had beat her to it.

'Mr. Longbottom! The thorn in the side of that scum who called themselves "teachers" during my stint as headmaster, what a pleasure,' Severus Snape said while he gripped Neville's hand. 'You very nearly made up for your many potions ... eh, let's call them mishaps, with that.' Snape's voice had dropped with the last words, and for a fleeting moment his face showed the all-too-familiar sneer.

Neville's blush had faded to pallor in the meantime, leaving only two red spots high on his cheekbones. The looks he threw towards Hermione were pleading for help.

'To top that off, I heard you got rid of that beast that nearly killed me. Thank you, Mr. Longbottom. I should have said that long ago, but ...'

The sheepish grin and the casual shrug that probably should have passed as an apology for not having given his thanks earlier threw not only Hermione off balance. Neville seemed to have gone into shock and, without resistance, let himself be led into the library, seated on the sofa and handed a cup of tea.

'Uhm, Mr. Snape,' Hermione said to gain his attention and give her friend room to recover. 'Neville has found this old potion recipe, and we wondered ...'

Taking the parchment out of her hands, he skimmed the content. 'Should not be a problem for you to brew, Ms. Granger. So why ... Oh, yes, Saint-John's-wort harvested at the solstice might be hard to come by.'

'So Saint-John's-wort is this Herba dei?' Hermione asked, relief seeping through her words. Now that she knew what plant they needed, she was sure the potion could be brewed.

'Is this potion for Mr. Longbottom's parents?'

Still unable to speak, Neville only nodded.

'Better to use the German subspecies then. I know where to get it. It might take me a couple to days to obtain it, though.'

Turning towards Hermione, Snape said, 'Care to brew with me, Ms. Granger? I already have a few ideas how to improve this.'

Taking the wide grin spreading across her face as consent, he left with the promise of contacting her as soon as he managed to obtain the missing ingredient.

'You know what, Hermione? A friendly Snape is even scarier than a scowling one,' Neville said before taking a long draught from his cup of tea.

The prompt words given for this week were: vet - Windsor Castle - Cornish Pasties - tchotchke - antidote - sedulous - exterior

A/N: Kudos to Luvsev and WriterMerrin for their beta-work.

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