Chapter 13: A Scientific Career

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.

A giant hug of thanks goes out to my beta, VIVAvivacious, for all of her help with this chapter.

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We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something.

– Marie Curie

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Camden, London: 30th October, 2009

The classroom was silent as Hermione looked over at her students. That morning she was teaching her first-year college students, and they were completing their theory essays on the uses of dragon's blood in potions. She looked back down at the small clock on her desk. It was only another hour until the class was over, but she was counting the very seconds until she could make good her escape.

She hadn't been able to stop thinking about two things. The first one was her current Potions project. Snape had found Remus Lupin's journal three weeks beforehand, and it had been incredibly helpful to them as far as researching the reactions of those infected by the werewolf mutation was concerned, among other things. They would not be able to find a more accurate account anywhere in Britain.

The second thing she had been unable to stop thinking about was none other than Severus Snape.

They had been seeing one another after a fashion for a little over a month, and she still found herself blushing when he touched her tenderly and gave her the kisses she so desperately wanted from him. She had been unable to comprehend just how attracted to him she truly was. Of all the people she had to go and fall for, Snape was the last person she, or anyone else for that matter, would have expected.

It wasn't as though he were a sweet or even gentle man. He was still quiet and downright grumpy some of the time. He wasn't a handsome man, but she liked the way he looked just fine – she could never be one to judge based on looks. Hermione had spent most of her life being the odd one out and the plain girl. He had a strong chin and the darkest, most beautiful eyes she had ever seen, and even though his nose was long and hooked at the end, she thought it would be strange if he had any other nose.

She shook her head and sighed to herself. She was beginning to get sappy over a man, something she was not known for. Since leaving Hogwarts and splitting up with Ron when they had decided they were better suited as friends, she had gone on two dates. The first one had been with a man so self-absorbed she had feigned illness after the first course and gone home to read a book alone. The second man had been a lot nicer, and she had actually gone out with him a few times before deciding there just wasn't a spark.

But with Snape, it was different. He was an intelligent man who also happened to possess an incredible wit and the gift of common sense, unlike most other men. He never made her feel stupid, and he had not once called her a know-it-all and mocked her intelligence since Berlin. She wasn't sure what had changed his mind about her, but she was glad for it, and she was also glad she'd had the opportunity to get to know him better.

She looked back at the clock once more. There was only half an hour left until the class would finish. She couldn't believe she had been daydreaming about Snape for that long.

Hermione looked down at the paperwork in front of her and began filling out the class attendance sheet. She made a habit of keeping track of her students so she knew which ones could be relied upon to show up for class and actually learn and those who did not and who would require extra encouragement and tutoring. By the time she had figured out which student was which, she had used up twenty minutes, and then she simply sat, staring across the room absently while the last ten minutes ticked by slowly.

Finally, when the timer she had set for herself went off, she stood and cleared her throat before addressing the class.

'All right everyone, I expect you have had sufficient time to complete your essays. I would like you all to leave them on my desk as you leave,' she announced clearly. 'For those of you needing assistance with your term project, I will be here all day on Monday and Tuesday so you may consult with me. There will be a timetable on the classroom door, so fill your name out in an empty time slot, and I will be able to discuss your work with you then.'

There was a rustling of parchment and scraping chairs that followed as all of the students began gathering their belongings to leave. A lot of them were talking to one another on their way out, gossiping about what they would be doing on their weekend and the like, but not a single student failed to hand in their essay. Hermione ran a disciplined classroom, not unlike Snape when he taught at Hogwarts. However, unlike her partner, she did not scare the living daylights out of her students. She was firm but fair.

She gathered up all of the essays in one pile after the last student left and placed it in her briefcase along with her work journal and Lycanthropy notes, which she did not go anywhere without these days. Satisfied that the room was in reasonably good order, she left for the weekend that she would inevitably spend marking essays from both her first year and senior classes and working on the Lycanthropy potion with Snape.

She made her way to the Apparation point on the Institute grounds, and with a wave of her wand and a swirl of black teaching robes, she Apparated home.

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Newtown, Reading: 31st October, 2009

The whoosh of Apparation washed around her ears as she arrived in the backyard of the Potter residence.

Smoothing out invisible wrinkles from her robes, Hermione straightened herself out and made her way up to the back door into the kitchen. She could hear a lot of chatter coming from there and assumed that the Potters were well and truly awake and having breakfast with the children. She knocked on the screen door before opening it and letting herself in. There was a bit of an unsaid rule between her and her friends; nobody should stand out in the cold if they could let themselves into the house.

Before she even had a chance to greet anyone, a shock of black hair came careening around the corner, and an excited and very awake James jumped up in front of her and tugged on her shirt sleeve so she would pick him up for a hug. She laughed and obliged, picking him up and carrying him with her into the main square of the kitchen where her friends were seated at the breakfast table eating what appeared to be fresh blueberry pancakes.

'Hey, Hermione,' Harry greeted, standing to give her a one-armed hug.

'Hello, Harry,' she replied with a smile, letting James get back down again so that he could re-join the breakfast table. 'Smells good. Who was the cook?'

'I did actually,' he said with a grin. 'Pull up a seat and dig in.'

Hermione nodded and took the empty space beside Ginny. James, who apparently had learned some gentlemanly manners since the last time she had seen him, helped by loading two big pancakes onto her plate as well as a generous serving of whipped cream and fresh berries.

'You look hungry,' he said with a wide-eyed innocent grin.

'Thank you very much, I am hungry,' Hermione said before picking up her knife and fork and beginning to eat.

'What brings you to our little part of the world?' Ginny asked curiously as she discreetly breast-fed Lily under a blanket she had draped over them. 'We haven't heard from you for a couple of weeks. What's new at school?'

'Just the usual essay-marking, exam writing, and lecturing,' she answered, watching Harry clumsily feed Albus the cut up pieces of pancake. 'I thought I would come over today before I bury myself under the rock of responsibility and do some marking this afternoon.'

'We're glad you came by,' Harry said. 'Ron sent us a letter from Romania and said to ask how you were. You know he'd write to you himself, but he's always been rubbish with letters.'

'Oh, how is he going over there? I hadn't thought to ask,' Hermione asked, curious. 'I thought he was only going to be in Romania for a month.'

'Well, the department head asked him to remain there for a few more months, so Lavender and the kids have moved over as well while he's there, and they were given a house to live in,' Harry replied. 'He loves it. It's just the kind of thing Ron needs to be doing, and it makes him feel more important.'

Hermione chuckled at that. 'He has always had self-esteem issues, what with having five older brothers, each of them brilliant in their own way,' she said.

'So, are you going to tell us about what is going on in your life?' Ginny asked, looking at her with curiosity in her eyes. 'Particularly in relation to your life. I heard tell that there was a hunky new professor at the Institute.'

'Really? I hadn't noticed,' Hermione said, looking down at her food. 'I've been rather busy with the teaching side of things and my latest collaboration with Snape, so new staff members tend to not register on my radar. I am only teaching part-time as well, so I am not on campus every day.'

Harry looked over at her then. 'You're working with Snape again, huh? What's the next big Potions miracle the two of you are going to create?' he asked.

'A cure for Lycanthropy,' she said simply, looking up at Harry to see his reaction.

His mouth was closed, but Hermione could tell that the cogs were turning ferociously inside his head. Ginny smiled at her at the mention of the cure before rearranging her shirt and bra, then removing the blanket. Lily gurgled and Ginny lifted her to rest over her shoulder and began to burp her. Hermione looked back to Harry, who had yet to say a word.

'I think Remus would be really happy to know you two were working on something so important,' Harry said finally.

'I really hope so,' Hermione said with a huge smile. 'Severus and I have been poring over every scrap of information we can get our hands on, working on it whenever we have a free moment.'

Harry blinked at the mention of Snape's first name. 'Calling him Severus now, are we?' he said teasingly.

Hermione could not stop the blush from travelling across her cheeks and down her neck. She averted her gaze to the pancakes before her once more and took a bite, deliberately avoiding giving them an answer. She mumbled an affirmative response through a mouthful of food, but apparently that did not satisfy Ginny.

'Hermione Granger! Has something happened between the two of you since you told me about liking Snape?' she asked, sounding scandalised.

'She likes Snape?' Harry exclaimed loudly.

'Of course she likes the man, are you completely thick?' Ginny scolded before turning back on Hermione immediately. 'Now, spill the beans, Hermione. Is there something between the two of you now?'

'There might have been a development on that front,' she said shyly, poking at her pancakes. 'And it might have involved Severus coming over to my place and admitting to having feelings for me, and I might have admitted that I felt the same towards him.'

Ginny squealed with delight. 'Oh, that's so... well I'd say cute, but it's not really a word I associate Snape with. But really, that is great to hear!'

Hermione smiled and felt the blush recede before looking over to see that, to her surprise, Harry was smiling. 'You're not mad, are you?' she asked him.

'No, Hermione,' he answered. 'So long as you are happy, I will not object to you dating Snape.'

Hermione smiled. 'I am happy, Harry. He has been lovely by his own standards, and we are well matched as far as our minds go,' she replied. 'He is... honestly, he is brilliant, and thoughtful, and kind. I wouldn't go so far as to call him sweet, but he cares for me, and I care for him, quite a bit actually.'

Ginny beamed at her. 'You sound like you're in love with the man,' she teased.

Hermione's eyes widened as her young friend said those words. She was in love with Severus Snape. The thoughts about him that had been niggling at the front of her mind had been trying to tell her for days. She loved him, and she had no idea what she should do with the knowledge, now that she had it. Shaking her head, she turned her attention back to her friends.

'You know what... I think I do love him,' she said simply with a soft smile, ignoring the shocked faces of her two best friends.

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Hogwarts, Rural Scotland: 1st November, 2009

Snape sat in the chair before the Headmistress's desk, wondering why he was sitting there in the first place. He had merely come to Hogwarts that day to deliver the Pepper-up potion that Poppy Pomfrey had ordered in preparation for the winter and all of the inevitably sick students that would walk through the halls. He sighed heavily and looked around the room. It hadn't really changed a lot, as Minerva had kept a lot of Albus's belongings there. He wasn't so sure he would have were their positions reversed.

He was just about to get up to look for the Pensieve when he heard footsteps echoing in the hallway outside the office. The door opened, and Minerva walked in, looking the same as ever, if a little more healthy than the last time he had seen her.

'Hello, Severus, it's good to see you,' she greeted. 'Can I offer you anything to drink?'

'Thank you, Minerva, but I just came up to say hello and hear you out before I head off to work on an important project,' he replied.

She nodded, understanding his unspoken desire to leave. 'I know this is the last thing you want to hear from me at the moment, but come next school year, I am going to be short a Potions professor here at Hogwarts again. Professor Allan has been here for 8 years now, but he had recently gotten engaged to a Canadian, and will be departing at the end of the school year in May,' she explained. 'I would like it if you would consider taking the role up once more.'

Snape frowned. The last thing he ever wanted to do was return to Hogwarts to teach. And aside for his loathing of the place, he had too many other things that would be disrupted by going back to that godforsaken school – his personal Potions work, his project with Hermione, and his budding relationship with the aforementioned young witch.

'Minerva, honoured though I am by your request, I am afraid I must decline again,' he said seriously. 'You know how I feel about this place. And there are other factors involved with my decision this time.'

'Would these other factors include Hermione Granger, by any chance?' Minerva asked, smirking when Snape's face flushed with colour. 'Why, Severus, I didn't think you had enough warmth in you to blush.'

'Oh, you are a riot, Minerva,' he said sarcastically. 'When did my personal life suddenly become the business of every Tom, Dick and Harry?'

'When you collaborate with attractive young single witches and create a super potion that until now did not exist, you have to expect everyone will want to know if the two of you are involved. And by the look on your face, I would say that it was closer to a yes than a no.'

'You are close to hitting my last nerve,' he grumbled.

'Oh, cheer up, Severus,' she said. 'What is life without love?'

'Who said anything about love?' Snape asked, folding his arms across his chest and looking down his nose at her.

'When you have been alive as long as I have, my boy, you'll be able to spot love from a mile away,' she said with a heavy sigh. 'You have been too long without love in your life, Severus. It might do you some good to welcome it for a change. And you could do a lot worse than to fall in love with Hermione Granger.'

Snape stopped to consider her words for a moment. Did he think he was in love with Hermione? Well there was a very strong possibility there. In fact, if he were totally honest with himself, he had probably been in love with Hermione for a while now. He rubbed his chin, feeling the slightly rough stubble that was beginning to grow there. Minerva was rarely wrong about anything, so why would she be incorrect now?

Grumbling, he stood from his chair and walked around the desk to give Minerva a hug goodbye. She accepted it gracefully and gave his shoulder an encouraging squeeze.

'I will see you again in the near future, I imagine,' he said politely.

'You take care of that girl, Severus,' Minerva said warningly. 'She is not someone to be regretted or wasted. Tell her that you love her before it is to late.'

'I shall consider what you have said,' he replied.

And with a nod, he turned on his heel and headed out of the Headmistress's office and out of the school. He had much thinking to do on the matter of his feelings for Hermione Granger.

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To be continued.