Chapter 18: The Winter Tempest

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author.

Thanks, as usual, go out to VIVAvivacious for all of her help.

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The weather outside was the worst it had been all winter; a blizzard warning had been issued on the radio, alerting residents along the east coast of the sudden change.

Seated in front of the warm fire in the study, furiously scribbling notes, Hermione paused to look beyond the frosted windows. She had to squint in order to see the snow swirling wildly around in the air as the winds began to pick up a little. She was torn between wanting to go outside and dance about in the storm for a little while before it got really serious and staying indoors where it was warm and she was unlikely to catch hypothermia. She chose the latter, not wishing to add to Snape's growing list of burdens.

As she observed the weather, she allowed herself a moment to retreat within her own head. Over the past few days, she had been ignoring the continual fight between the light and darkness within her. At one point, she had been more light than dark. Now, she was unsure as to whether it was an even playing field or if the darkness was trying to move in on more of that territory. Pushing it all aside was only a temporary solution.

Guilt washed over her. She didn't deserve to sit there pitying herself when she had plotted the murder of another person. One part of her screamed it was of no consequence, that Greyback was hardly a regular human being. The other congratulated her for a job very well done.

Her thoughts then turned to Snape. Snape had borne witness to so many more horrors and had been forced to do things far worse than her murdering Greyback. He had been forced to kill innocent people all for the sake of Dumbledore and his games. Yes, Hermione did think Dumbledore was a master manipulator who used his puppets in all his plays. Snape was far too loyal and not the sort of man who would break a promise or go back on his word.

Following the train of thought, Hermione's mind flicked back to the memory of waking, curled into Snape's side on the lounge Christmas day after he had read her to sleep. A tingle ran through her. After she had found herself in his arms, she had snuggled closer and simply fell asleep once more. The next time she woke up, she was on the lounge by herself, her head resting on a pillow that had been slipped beneath it, and the throw rug was tucked snugly around her.

Neither of them had mentioned the incident to one another, and she simply assumed it had been one of those odd tender moments that would be swept under the proverbial rug.

She looked back at the journal on her lap and sighed. She wasn't going to be able to concentrate in the study any longer. Snapping the book shut, she grabbed her quill and ink, as well as the journal, and made her way to the door down to the lab. She descended the stairs as quietly as she could, not wanting to make too much noise in case Snape had reached a delicate stage of his brewing.

'What brings you down here?' Snape asked.

Hermione looked over to see him sitting on a stool at the bench, right beside the cauldron. His journal was open, but he was leaning his elbows on the table and had his head propped up on his hands. Hermione thought he looked as though he had been in the middle of a contemplation or daydream before she had entered and disturbed him.

'I didn't mean to interrupt,' she murmured apologetically.

'If I did not want anyone else down here, I would have locked the door,' he replied, gesturing for her to join him at the bench. 'What have you been up to today?'

'I've just been refining the spell we're going to use on this potion so the acceleration process is not only faster but a perfectly smooth transition from semi-complete to completed,' she answered, opening her journal to the page she had been scribbling on and pushing the journal across the table to Snape.

He drew the journal closer and nodded his approval. Her logic was as sound as always. He returned her journal to her quickly and returned to stir his potion six times counter-clockwise.

'We should have performed the charm on the Winter Solstice to slightly boost its effectiveness; however, as neither of us were able to, any time in the near future would serve our purpose just as well,' he informed her. 'I wouldn't mention any of the Winter Solstice details to Dumbledore, if I were you.'

'Noted,' Hermione answered with a frown.

It was her fault they had missed the Winter Solstice. Guilt ripped through her for a moment before she clamped down on the feeling. No – it was too late to change anything. The guilt would only make things worse for her. Shaking her head, she looked down at her spell.

'We could cast this today if you wanted,' she offered. 'It's still close enough to the Solstice for it to count even a little.'

Snape allowed a small bark of laughter escape him at that. 'I'm certain the tides and position of the earth to the sun and moon doesn't actually work that way,' he responded, cleaning his glass stirring rod with a cloth.

'It couldn't hurt to give it a shot,' she replied with a shrug.

Snape nodded and removed the apron he had taken to wearing whenever he was not dressed in a frock coat and robes. He turned the flame beneath the potion down so it was just a simmer before beckoning Hermione around the bench to join him over the side where the cauldron sat. Unbuttoning the cuffs of his shirt, he rolled both sleeves to his elbows. Hermione's eyes widened at the sight of so much of Snape's pale flesh. Never before had she even so much as glimpsed his skin.

Him arms were wiry in strength and muscle tone. She saw the Dark Mark tattooed starkly against his white skin. One day she would discover a way to remove Snape's Dark Mark. Without even realising she was doing it, Hermione reached out a hand and touched Snape's forearm, her index finger tracing over the dark tattoo. He looked down at her hand, startled.

'I'm sorry,' she whispered, snatching her hand back, her fingers tingling from where she had touched the smooth skin of his forearm.

Snape frowned and reached over, grasping the hand that had just been on his arm and held it up in front of both their faces. The tips of her fingers were glowing slightly with a white light. He rubbed his thumb over hers and the glow increased and sought out his fingers as he began to withdraw them.

'It seems your magic is drawn to the darkness,' Snape murmured, gently tracing his thumb over the knuckles of her hand.

'Apparently,' she replied, unconsciously leaning closer to him as his hand continued to hold hers.

He quickly released her hand then and put both of his hands on her shoulders, steadying her and bringing them both back into the present. She blinked up at him rapidly, swallowing and taking a couple steps backwards. Uncertain of what had just passed between them, she decided to push it aside. Whatever it was, she worried it had something to do with the darkness within her.

Snape cleared his throat beside her, picking up his wand from the bench. Hermione pulled her wand from her sleeve and went to join him beside the potion. Grabbing her journal, she opened to the page the final spell was jotted down on. She slid the end of her wand into the simmering potion, and Snape followed suit.

'Veneficus Propero Quod Universa is Venenum,' they chanted in unison. 'Scindo Veneficus ex Animus.'

A beautiful turquoise glow emitted from the ends of their wands and swirled around and through the bubbling potion. It lasted for a moment before the colour faded and the potion stilled, clear as crystal. Hermione looked up at Snape, who nodded and turned off the flame beneath the cauldron. They removed their wands from the brew, and Snape grabbed a silver spoon, scooping out the crystal liquid and using his hand to waft the scent to his nose. It had a very strong scent, similar to the Old Spice Hermione could remember her grandfather wearing from when she was a young girl.

'Congratulations, Miss Granger,' Snape said with a smirk. 'You have just cut six months off the brewing time for this very complex dark potion.'

Hermione allowed a small smile to curve her lips. 'I could not have done so without such a formidable assistant,' she said jokingly.

Snape allowed a low chuckle to escape from him and lifted the cauldron from the stand over the burner and moved it to cool on the bench beside the sink. Once they cleaned up the bench and all the chopping boards, knives, and stirring implements, Snape cast a charm around the cauldron to ensure there was no contamination. After they were certain there was no more they could do in the lab, Hermione led the way up the stairs to the sitting room, where she stoked the fire.

Afterwards, she manoeuvred herself into the empty space on the lounge beside Snape, tucking her legs up beneath her as usual.

She stared for a while into the flames that were gently crackling in the warm fireplace and casting shadows over the walls of the dark room. Neither had bothered to turn on the lights, content to just sit on the lounge and allow the light of the fire to cast a warm orange glow over them. Unlike the blizzard beginning to rage around the cottage, both of them were warm, and for the time being, safe.

'I was wondering about something concerning the potion,' Hermione piped suddenly, startling Snape out of his silent, trance-like state.

'Go ahead and ask your question,' Snape replied. 'It's not as though I'd be able to stop you from asking even if I didn't want to hear what you had to say.'

Hermione raised an eyebrow at his sarcastic teasing before continuing. 'Well, now that the potion is complete, the Order will have the final weapon for Harry to use against Voldemort in order to destroy him,' she began. 'I was wondering, how exactly do you intend to deliver this potion to the Dark Lord? And when do you think the Order will begin sorting out when to strike?'

Snape pursed his lips in thought. 'Well, as to your first question, I am, as of yet, uncertain as to how I intend the Dark Lord to come into contact with it,' he replied. 'I will give that some more thought over the coming days before I report the completion to the rest of the Order. As for your second question, I imagine Dumbledore will simply include this potion as the final piece of his arsenal and will likely go on the offensive next month.'

'January? But that is during the school term,' she said, confused.

'When I say next month, I could mean as early as New Years' Day up until around the ninth before students return to Hogwarts from their holidays,' Snape replied.

Hermione nodded in understanding.

'I suppose we're going to have to come up with something really quickly, or Dumbledore will likely attempt to accuse me of delaying progress with the potion.'

'Don't pay any mind to the senile old man,' Snape said, reaching over and tucking a curl she had been trying to blow out of her eyes behind her ear. 'Albus has simply seen one war too many in his lifetime, and after so long you begin to lose all sense of self-preservation and clarity of mind.'

'He will have to come to me on his knees to have a chance to earn my forgiveness and favour again,' Hermione said, her dark, mean side giving a whoop of joy.

'There may be a time in the near future when this could indeed occur,' Snape said with a small smirk. 'I would be interested to see it.'

Hermione almost smiled at him, taking in the tenderness in his dark eyes. She didn't know what any of it meant, but for now, she did not want to think on it.

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A/N – Potion complete! I hope you enjoyed the Snape/Hermione interaction.