Chapter 12

A/N: As always, I greatly appreciate reviews. And, also as always, these characters still belong to JKR, though I wish they were mine. If only I could cast a spell ...

Chapter 12

The next morning, Minerva sent word by owl that she was feeling much better, but on the advice of some of the other faculty members, she would not return to her usual work until the following day. When Hermione mentioned this to Severus at breakfast, he smirked and said that he wasn't surprised, which made her wonder if he had been one of the faculty members in question.

By tacit agreement, they headed for his lab immediately after breakfast. She assumed that they would work together again, as they had yesterday, but he said, "I have to make some Dreamless Sleep Draught. Why don't you get started on one of the new potions? I'll join you shortly."

"Okay," she said. She had forgotten all about the Dreamless Sleep Draught happenings in the wee hours, but now they came flooding back. She asked carefully, "Severus?"

"Yes?"

"May I ask you something?"

"Yes, of course," he replied. "You ask me things all the time."

"Oh," she said. She chewed her lower lip for a moment, then blurted it out. "Did you ... borrow ... my Dreamless Sleep Draught last night?"

He flushed and looked away. He didn't answer immediately; instead, he asked a question of his own. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, I woke up in the wee hours, and I thought I saw the bottle go out the window, and then a short while later, it came back."

"Why did you wake up?" he asked, sounding curious. "Didn't you take the draught yourself?"

"Oh ... um, no," she said, feeling herself blush now.

"Why not?"

"Oh," she said, unsure how to explain. He just watched her until finally, she shrugged and said, "I guess the dreams weren't as disturbing as I thought. I – um – missed them, you might say."

"You missed disturbing dreams?"

"Well, yeah," she said. "Anyway, you didn't answer me? Did you borrow my Dreamless Sleep Draught, or not?"

There was a long silence, while they stared at each other. "Yes," he said at last, sounding defensive. "I did. I forgot to make it yesterday, and I was out, and I didn't feel like making more at that hour."

She smiled, relieved. "Oh, good," she said. "The alternative was that someone else was paying way too much attention to my life."

He looked surprised by her reaction. "You're not mad?"

"No, why would I be mad?" she asked. "I'm glad you thought of it. I'm surprised you need it, but if you did, you're welcome to it." She made no effort to hide her curiosity, but she didn't ask why he needed it.

She was pleased when he answered her unspoken question. "I have disturbing dreams when I don't take it," he said simply.

She hadn't expected him to say that much, but still, she couldn't resist asking, "Disturbing, or bad? Or both?"

He smiled slightly, remembering when he had pressed her on this very point. "Just disturbing. Not bad. But I like my sleep undisturbed – my temper is bad enough when I'm well-rested."

"Oh," she said, smiling back at him. "Good."

A bit later, he had finished making his draught, and they were once again working on a recipe from his new textbook. Hermione had been trying to work up the nerve to ask him about the kind of potion she wanted for Harry's visit. After a long silence, Severus asked, "Hermione, you seem very distracted today. You're not worrying about Minerva again, are you?"

"What?" she asked. "Oh, no, I'm sure she's fine. She probably would have been back today if you hadn't frightened her into staying home one more day," she guessed aloud.

"I didn't frighten her," he said, glaring.

"If you gave her that look while she was sick, I'm sure you did," Hermione insisted, but without heat.

"Minerva doesn't intimidate," he said firmly.

"I'll bet she does if she's sick," Hermione shot back.

"Be that as it may, I'm sure she just saw the wisdom of my suggestion. And you haven't answered my question. What are you so preoccupied with today?"

"Oh," she said, cursing her fair complexion as she felt herself blush again. "Well, I wanted to ask you something," she stalled.

"Again?" he asked, but in a teasing tone, so she smiled despite her nervousness.

"Yes, again," she answered. "Asking you questions is one of my very favorite things to do all day. You mean it's not yours, too?"

"Oh, I live for the thrill," Severus replied dryly.

She grinned, then took a breath and let it out. Did she really want to ask him this? After a moment, she decided he probably wouldn't give up until she did. "Okay, there's something I want to do, and the only way I can think of to do it is by magic, only I don't know a spell or a potion or anything that would do it. And I thought, if anyone would know one, you would, so I was thinking about asking you about."

"What exactly do you want to do?" he asked, seeming pleased by the fact that she thought he would be a good source of information.

"Well, I have this friend, who has two other friends, who don't like each other very much. They're constantly at each other's throats, in fact, which is very uncomfortable for m – my friend, you know? She mostly tries to keep them away from each other, but there are times when that doesn't really work, of course – times when she has to be around both of them, or risk offending one of them. And she really loves them both, and she doesn't want to hurt either one of them by choosing the other ... Anyway, my friend was thinking that if only she could get her friends to see one another the way she sees them, then maybe they would at least be civil to each other. So I wondered if there was some spell or potion that might make two people see each other the way a third person does?"

Merlin, she hoped he didn't realize she was talking about herself and him and Harry. He would probably kill her if he knew that. Of course, with that convoluted explanation, she thought ruefully, she'd be lucky if he had followed it at all.

He thought about her question for a long moment, watching her carefully. "It's always dangerous to use magic to muck up people's emotions, Hermione. Couldn't you just talk to these two people instead? Tell them how hard it is on your friend that they can't be civil to one another? Or don't they care about her enough to make her more comfortable?"

"I would," she said, "But these particular people are completely irrational on the subject of one another. They hold very old grudges against each other, which may or may not be warranted. I don't really know, for sure – I think perhaps not, since they've both been very good and loyal friends to m – my friend – but they both feel completely justified in their disdain for each other. And I think they do both care about my friend – it's just that their way of showing it is to try to convince her that the other person isn't worthy of her."

Severus nodded thoughtfully. "Do I know these people?" he asked. "Perhaps if I spoke to them ...?"

"Severus," she shook her head on a surprised laugh, "I really appreciate the offer, but I don't think calming explosive relationships down is exactly your strong suit."

He smiled slightly, apparently recognizing the truth in her words rather than taking offense. "Perhaps not, then," he allowed, "although maybe we can give them the flu and I can intimidate them into behaving, like you seem to think I did with Minerva."

She laughed aloud, delighted at how frequently he teased and joked with her these days. She said with mock enthusiasm, "Ohhhhh, that's a great idea!"

He chuckled, too, then. "All right, Hermione, if you're sure you want to try this, I can make you a potion to give them. I just hope your friend knows what she's getting herself into. The effects of the potion will wear off and they'll almost certainly go back to hating each other. If they recognize that it was a potion, they may each be convinced that the other is the culprit who slipped it to them, and if they have such negative views of one another, she may find both of them redoubling their efforts to remove each other from her life."

"I guess she'll deal with that if it happens," Hermione said, beginning to doubt the wisdom of this course of action. Then she thought about what an entire weekend of Harry and Severus at each other's throats would be like for her, and she hardened her resolve. Maybe, eventually, she would be able to tell both of them about this, and they would forgive her.

Or maybe not. She just knew that there was no way she would survive two nights and days with the pair of them playing tug of war, with her acting as the rope. This was her best option.

Indeed, it seemed like it was her only option.

Severus couldn't shake the feeling that he was missing something important about Hermione's request for a Third-Party-Vision Potion. He couldn't figure out what it could be, though. He pondered the question as he made the potion.

If only she had told him who the people involved were, maybe he could figure out some other course of action. Despite her conviction that this was the only option, he couldn't help thinking that there must be some other way. Perhaps Dumbledore could speak with them – or Minerva, now that she was feeling better. They were both skilled at peacemaking.

He should be able to figure out who she was talking about. She hadn't claimed they were Muggles, when he had warned that they might suspect one another of casting a spell, so that meant they were witches or wizards. Which meant it was almost certain that he knew them, or at least knew of them. The wizard community simply wasn't that big; having acted in several capacities amongst several factions at various times, he found it hard to believe he hadn't crossed paths with them at some point.

But who hated each other that much? He pondered the question for a while, and other than himself and Harry Potter, he couldn't think of anyone.

As he had that thought, he realized what he had been missing.

She didn't want the potion for a friend – she wanted it for herself!