Chapter 3

When Minerva had given him Hermione's address, she had also insisted on giving him Dennis Creevey's. Severus had scoffed, but now he was grateful for it.

The next morning found him staring up at Creevey's building. It was in a stylish and expensive neighborhood in Wizarding London. How in Merlin's name could a Potions assistant afford such a place?

Severus took the lift to the top floor and knocked on the door of the apartment that belonged to Creevey. The door opened, and Harry Potter was standing in front of him.

"Professor Snape?"

He sneered at Harry Potter's look of shock even though he was surprised as well.

"Potter?" Was Minerva playing some sort of mean trick on him? Potter had sent him dozens of letters over the past ten years, all of which had remained unanswered. Was Minerva trying to force him to see Harry Potter?

"Darling, who's at the door?" a voice said from the other room.

Severus looked past the front room to see Dennis Creevey, clad only in a towel. Their eyes met, and a look of horror crossed Creevey's face.

"Mr. Creevey, just the person I wanted to see."

"Er, just a second, Professor Snape." Creevey rushed into the back room, his face bright red.

"Dennis Creevey, Potter?" Snape said with a smirk. Anger flashed in Potter's eyes.

"Professor Snape, you are in no position to judge me or my partner. You haven't seen or spoken to me since the end of the war, and you've ignored all of my letters. You can't just show up here and start criticizing me. Why are you even here?"

"I need to see Mr. Creevey regarding Miss Granger." Severus looked carefully at Potter to gauge his reaction. How much did he know?

Surprise appeared on Potter's face.

"Hermione? What about her? Is everything all right?"

"Perhaps. Have you seen Miss Granger recently?"

"Yes, we had dinner together with Ron just a few nights ago. She seemed fine then."

"Has Mr. Creevey told you his concerns?"

"Yes, Dennis is very worried about her. But he doesn't know her the way I do. When she gets involved in a project, she puts her entire soul into it. She's the smartest person I know, and she's capable of taking care of herself. I've learned not to interfere with her projects."

"Have you met 'Miranda'?"

"Who?"

So Potter didn't know much about what was going on. He supposed that Creevey couldn't tell him everything because of whatever secrecy charm Hermione had used on him.

"Thanks for waiting, Professor Snape, sir," Dennis Creevey said as he walked back into the room, this time fully clothed. "Won't you sit down?" He gestured to a large black sofa. Severus sat, and Potter immediately took the seat next to him.

"Mr. Creevey, I've come to talk to you about Hermione Granger. Mr. Potter, can you excuse us for just a few minutes?"

"No, Snape. Whatever you have to say to Dennis can be said in front of me."

"Harry, it's okay," Creevey said.

"Don't worry, Potter. I won't harm your boyfriend in your absence."

Harry Potter opened his mouth, as if to make a snappy comeback, and then seemed to change his mind.

"Fine. But I'll be in the next room."

As soon as Potter had left, Severus put up a muffling charm to prevent him from listening in.

"Mr. Creevey, I realize that Hermione has you under a secrecy charm. However, I hope that you might still be able to help me. As you've probably guessed, I went to visit her."

"I knew that you would, Professor Snape! What do you think about her condition? I'm really worried about her."

"Have you noticed any abnormal behavior when she's not under the influence of the potion, Mr. Creevey?"

"Yes." Creevey struggled to continue speaking. Finally, he shook his head. "I'm sorry, sir, I can't talk about any of the side effects of the potion."

Severus sighed. "Mr. Creevey, I want you to clear your mind of anything except for Hermione's behavior. I'm going to use Legilimency on you."

The images that came into his mind were of Hermione both as herself and Miranda...Hermione brewing the potion, Hermione changing from one form to another, and looking down at her body in surprise, Miranda shoving her cleavage in Creevey's face. In one, Hermione slapped Creevey. In other, she kicked a house-elf.

Severus took himself out of Creevey's mind. The Hermione he knew would never slap her assistant, and she certainly wouldn't harm a house-elf.

Severus wished he could ask Creevey what had set Hermione off in both of those cases. However, the only way to find out more was to dismantle the secrecy charm, which was extremely difficult and time-consuming.

He weighed the benefits that doing such a thing would have. Even if he did manage to get rid of Hermione's charm, there was no guarantee that he would learn anything new. Plus, he would be forced to spend time with Dennis Creevey and, by extension, Harry Potter.

He would avoid this option unless absolutely necessary.

"Professor Snape, are you okay?" Creevey asked.

Severus looked at him for a moment, then nodded.

"Do you know which ingredients she used in the potion?"

"Some of them."

Severus quickly put himself into Creevey's mind again and came upon an image of Hermione's lab. He recognized all of the ingredients...wormwood, crushed boomslang fang, dragon blood, and several others. He saw nothing out of the ordinary, but he knew there had to be more.

Severus took himself out of Creevey's head.

"I need to be going. Thank you for your assistance, Mr. Creevey."

"I hope you can help Hermione, Professor Snape."

Severus left the apartment without saying goodbye to Harry Potter. He Apparated to Hermione's house once again. He didn't care if he had to tie her down and pour Veritaserum down her throat; he wanted answers.

Thankfully, Hermione answered the door, not her alter ego.

"Snape, I told you to leave me alone. Why are you here?"

"Miss Granger, you may not believe this, but I'm not a complete bastard, and I'm worried about you."

"You're right, I don't believe it."

"I need to know what's in your potion, Hermione. I believe some of the ingredients might be dangerous to your mind."

She seemed momentarily taken aback at his bluntness. "No secret plans or deception? You're turning into a fucking Gryffindor, Snape."

Her use of profanity didn't escape his notice.

"I suppose I am," he said as he whipped out his wand and held it to her throat. "Hermione, you can either tell me what's in the potion or I can force it out of you."

"You wouldn't dare harm me," she challenged.

"Wouldn't I?"

"Snape, I don't care if you torture me until I'm almost dead. I'm not giving it to you. It's my potion, and you can't take that away from me!"

There it was again...the paranoia. Why was she so convinced that he wanted to steal her formula? While it was true that he was not a nice man, he was not so unethical that he would take another's discovery for his own.

He backed her up against the wall and stared straight into her eyes. His mind suddenly flashed to a fantasy he'd had long ago of having sex with her against the wall of his laboratory. He quickly dismissed that thought.

Using Legilimency on her was not easy...she was one of the best Occlumens he had ever encountered. Where had she learned? He felt a brief pang at the thought that someone other than him had taught her.

Despite her skill at Occlumency, he had over twenty years of experience on her. After about a minute of nothingness, he started getting images.

"What's in the potion, Hermione?" he asked, still inside her head. Usually, asking a question would direct that person to think of the desired subject.

Not so for Hermione Granger.

Thoughts of anything but the potion ran through her mind. There were thoughts of her days at Hogwarts, a trip to the corner shop, one where she had appeared to have walked in on Harry Potter and Dennis Creevey in the act. After that, there was one which looked very much like his fantasy of taking her up against the wall. Had he allowed that image to slip through to her? No, that was impossible. He didn't know how she had the same image as him, but it was obvious that she was trying to make a fool out of him. He took himself from her mind.

"Fine, Granger, you win. I won't use Legilimency on you again. I know that you hate me," he said as he backed away from her, "but, I want you to stop taking the potion."

"I need to continue testing it."

"You know it works properly, Hermione. You now have many options: you can sell the recipe for manufacture...of course, it will be heavily regulated by the Ministry...or write about it for any of the leading Potions journals. You can be rich and famous, now."

"You know that I've never desired fame or wealth, Severus. Besides, there are other aspects that need to be tested."

"Find another person to test it on."

"Who else could I possibly test it on?"

"What do you pay that Creevey boy to do? Considering his incompetence in Potions was only surpassed by that of Longbottom, I can't imagine he is of much value to you."

"Dennis helps a lot with tasks around the lab. He's not paid to be a guinea pig."

"Test it on me," he offered.

"Absolutely not. I know that you're just hoping to learn more about the potion. You've been obsessed with it for over thirty years, and you can't stand the thought that I brewed it before you."

"Listen to yourself, Hermione!" he growled at her. "Do you have any idea how illogical you sound?"

It's the influence of the potion, he told himself. Hermione is not this ridiculous.

"Hermione, I'm leaving."

He left and immediately Apparated back to Potter and Creevey's apartment. This time, Creevey answered the door, thankfully, fully dressed. The image from Hermione of him with Potter was not likely to leave Severus' head soon.

"Professor Snape, I was just leaving for work, and Harry's not home so..."

"Do you have access to Hermione's labs?"

"Yes, I do. What do you want me to do?"

"Nothing, Mr. Creevey. In fact, take some time off. However, I would like to borrow several hairs from your head..."

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

Severus disliked using Polyjuice Potion and today was no exception. Although being in a twenty-five-year-old body might appeal to some men of his age, Severus had much less faith in his wandwork and reflexes as Dennis Creevey. On top of that, they had switched wands for the day since Creevey's wand was necessary to get into Hermione's laboratory. Severus had not had the time to find a spare wand, and Creevey had refused to be without one, so Severus was forced to give up his own.

Severus walked into her house and began dismantling the wards to the lab. Creevey had been able to tell him little about the wards due to the secrecy charm, but Severus was able to figure them out without too much difficulty. Having Creevey's wand helped him bypass most of the challenges he would have faced otherwise.

"Dennis, you're late," Hermione said when he walked through the door of the laboratory. She stood in front of a cauldron and didn't look up when he came in.

"Sorry, Hermione. I'll stay an extra hour to make up for it," Severus said in Dennis Creevey's voice.

He stopped in his tracks when he realized what was in her cauldron.

The Perfectus Potion was a dark blue color. He watched the rhythmic motion of her arms as she stirred. He had never seen a woman look more alluring than she did right now.

"Dennis," she said. "I need twenty vials. This is going to be bottled in just a few minutes."

"Of course," he said, wondering where she kept the vials. His conversation with Creevey had been brief...he had found out little more than the location of the laboratory...so he didn't know the setup of her lab.

However, since there were only two doors, and he had entered through one of them, the other was likely a storeroom. Unless there was a hidden door, of course.

Thankfully, the door led to the storeroom.

Severus looked inside it in surprise.

It was set up exactly the same way as his. He wondered if using his setup had been a conscious choice or if it was just something she had done naturally.

He brought the vials back to her and watched wordlessly as she began bottling the potion. He didn't ask to help...using proper bottling techniques would likely give away his identity. He doubted that she would let Creevey touch something so valuable, anyway.

"Dennis, don't you have something to do?"

Severus had no idea as to what Dennis Creevey was supposed to be doing. What would Creevey say in this situation? Severus wasn't sure, but acting like a bumbling idiot probably wouldn't seem too unusual for Creevey. "Er, sorry, Hermione. What do you want me to do?"

She sighed impatiently. "Honestly, Dennis. The storeroom. You're supposed to be organizing the chemicals and ingredients."

"Right, of course, Hermione."

Severus went back into the storage area and began looking around. He wasn't going to bother organizing, but while he was back there, he could browse around.

The chemicals were typical of a well-stocked Potions researcher with a few rarer ones thrown in. Severus made a mental note of some of the rarer ones...most of which appeared to be parts of animals from all over the world. He wondered how many of them had been tried in making the Perfectus Potion.

Unfortunately, they gave no clues as to which ingredients were used in the potion.

At that point, he realized that his body was changing back. Severus fumbled in his pockets for more Polyjuice. It was hard to find it in Creevey's clothing. His own functional clothes were much easier to deal with than the ridiculous Muggle jeans he was wearing. As Severus' hand closed around the potion, he heard the door open. Without hesitating, he turned away from the door and gulped the potion down.

"Hi, Dennis," a voice said from the doorway. "Did you miss me?"

Severus sighed in relief as he turned to look at Miranda, who either hadn't noticed or didn't care that he had just taken a swig from a potion vial.

"I'm sorry, Miss Cavendish, but I'm very busy right now."

"Don't be so formal, Denny. Do you want to go and have some fun?"

"I'm going to keep working," Severus told her.

"Fine, I'm going out. Come by the Pixie Club later tonight."

She left, and he heard the door slam behind her. He waited until he heard the front door to the house close, then he walked back out to the laboratory. After a quick check throughout the rest of the house, he was certain that Hermione had gone. He began hunting throughout the lab to try to find the location of the potion she had just bottled.

She hadn't left it out...she wasn't stupid. But, it was not that difficult to find, once he found the most heavily warded area of the laboratory.

After a few incantations, the door to a vault appeared.

It took well over an hour to work through her wards. He was surprised to get them when he did. Luckily, she still wasn't back.

Severus opened the vault and stared at the bottles in front of him. The potion glowed, beckoning him. He picked up one of the vials, suddenly feeling a desire to try some. He uncorked it and smelled it, inhaling its sweet scent.

Severus brought one of the vials up to his lips.

Suddenly, he snapped his head away, nearly spilling some of the liquid out of its container.

What was that? he wondered.

He set the vial back down, then began staring at it, wondering what to do. He desperately wanted to try it, just to see what it was like.

The academic part of him refused to act on that idea.

He debated about taking all of them so that Hermione wouldn't continue taking the potion. However, if he did that, she most likely would get angry enough to press charges, then have him thrown in Azkaban for theft. The Ministry had been looking for excuses to lock him up for the past ten years and wouldn't hesitate if Hermione said something. Still, he was tempted.

In the end, he took only about ten drops, pouring them carefully into a vial that he then charmed to prevent breakages and put into his pocket.

Severus quickly put the wards back up on the door and left the lab. Then he went outside and went back to Creevey and Potter's apartment. As they switched wands, Severus said little, even though Creevey was trying to ply him with questions. Finally, he got back to his own house and could work in his own laboratory.

As he picked up the vial, he suddenly felt as though he was in a trance. He raised it to his mouth again, but this time didn't take it away.

Instead, he let several drops fall onto his tongue and allowed himself to swallow them.

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

The moment Hermione drank more of the potion, her body relaxed, her mind cleared from the stress. That was what she had been waiting for since the previous night.

Hermione had been on edge all day. She hadn't known what was going on with Dennis (he was acting strange), but she ignored it. She had more important things to worry about. Problems were bombarding her mind from all different directions, and she didn't know what to do about any of them. First of all, there had been Severus Snape. Why did he keep badgering her? And why was she still so affected by him?

Secondly, there was the potion. Perhaps it was ready for manufacture, but she wasn't ready to share it just yet. She liked the feeling of having it for herself. If it was widely available, it would no longer be special.

That evening, Miranda went back to her favorite club. Hopefully, she wouldn't see Draco Malfoy again. She was certain that he was furious after what had happened the previous night.

After dancing with a few of the other regulars, she realized that she was being watched. Her eyes rested upon a man sitting at a corner table, a man who, quite possibly, was the sexiest person she had ever seen.

Miranda watched in fascination as he rejected a young woman who had approached him. His gaze was still fixed on her. Without thinking, she began walking in his direction, not worried in the least bit that he would reject her.

She walked up to him and put her hand on his arm.

"Care to dance?" she asked him, her lips close to his ear.

"I rarely dance," he responded in a husky voice, "but I'll make an exception just this once."

"What's your name?" she asked. "I'm Miranda."

"I'm Toby Prince."

She smiled at him. Something about him seemed familiar. She quickly brushed the thought aside. She had never met this man before; there was no way she would have forgotten someone that looked like him.

They danced for a few minutes, her body pressed against his. At one point, they began kissing. She wasn't sure who instigated the first kiss, but she didn't really care.

"My place?" he said as his teeth nipped at her ear. Miranda nodded.

He led her by the hand out of the club. As the cool night air hit her, he pulled her into his arms and Disapparated.

They arrived in a warm sitting room, not speaking as he lowered her onto the sofa. As Miranda began unbuttoning his shirt, her eye caught something on the table, and she stopped.

"You read Potions Weekly?" she asked.

He kissed her neck. "Those belong to my housemate, who is, thankfully, out of the country right now."

Something seemed strange here, but she didn't really care. The way that he was stroking her breast was much more important at the moment.

"Bedroom?" she asked. He nodded then lifted her up in his arms. She giggled then kissed him once again.

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

Hermione woke up the next morning in a bed that was not her own.

She began cursing inwardly as she looked down, noticing her lack of clothing. It was not the first time this had happened during the past few months, but it was still awkward.

Vague images of a good-looking, black-haired man came back to her. She didn't look at the man in bed next to her as she carefully lifted his arm from around her waist. She remembered sex that had been nothing short of mind-blowing and amazing, better than anything Hermione had ever experienced before.

Too bad it hadn't actually been experienced by Hermione.

Hermione began searching through the clothing that was strewn across the floor until she found her wand. She summoned her potion. The vial was empty. Just great. She would have to do the walk of shame as Hermione. At least she could Apparate and hopefully not be seen by any of her neighbors.

As she fastened her bra, she dared to glimpse at the man in the bed.

Hermione gasped. "What in Merlin's name is going on here?!"