Chapter 14: Scientific Engagement

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.

As usual, thanks go to VIVAvivacious for her help with beta-ing this chapter.

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A scientist in his laboratory is not a mere technician: he is also a child confronting natural phenomena that impress him as though they were fairy tales.

– Marie Curie

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Greenwich, Ipswich: 17th December, 2009

As the clock ticked, the consistent noise thrumming through the house with every stroke of the second hand, Severus Snape felt himself growing more anxious. It was eight days until Christmas, and he had yet to procure the perfect present for Hermione. They were always so busy with their Lycanthropy research; there was barely any time around his potions making for all of those whom he supplied and visiting her for research and relaxation that he hadn't thought to go to the shops to find something suitable.

The last time he had spoken to Minerva, she had cautioned him against being afraid of the consequences of being in love. Since then he had come to accept that his feelings for Hermione were indeed quite strong, and he was wont to call it love despite his common sense screaming that it was too soon. He had ignored that side of his brain and instead let his feelings direct his encounters.

Certainly he and Hermione had been intimate to a certain extent, but thus far they had gone no further than kissing and the occasional grasping of her breasts over the fabric of her clothing. He was still too afraid to broach the subject of sex, figuring they ought not rush into anything, lest they make a silly mistake. He was not willing to risk how far they had come by trying to push her into something she was not ready for.

Sighing heavily, he rubbed a hand over his weary eyes and stood from the armchair he was sitting in.

He went down to the lab and pulled down a pewter cauldron, then headed into his storage closet to gather the ingredients he would need to make a large batch of Pepperup Potion. He had received a letter that morning from Poppy asking him to brew more, as they had recently had somewhat of a flu epidemic at the school.

He filled the cauldron halfway with water and placed it carefully on the stand above the flame he lit, setting it on a low temperature. He started the preparing all of his ingredients, mincing, crushing, slicing, and squeezing the juice from various plant roots and herbs. As he was pounding the black peppercorns with his mortar and pestle, he allowed his mind to wander for a moment.

It wasn't long before Snape was thinking about Hermione yet again. He didn't know what he was going to do about her. Should he take her away on a holiday? Should he ask her if she had any plans for Christmas? What if she already had organized something? Would he then have to spend Christmas alone for another year? Well, he'd managed to cope just fine over the years, but he was quite certain he did not want to spend this one by himself.

His inner monologue was cut short when he heard the water beginning to boil in the cauldron. He began tipping ingredients in and stirring them until they started to dissolve. After adding three tablespoons of ground grape seeds, he gave it a quarter stir to the right and withdrew the stirring rod, taking it over to the sink and giving it a thorough wash. The potion would need an hour to simmer before the next step in the brewing process, so Snape went upstairs to the sitting room to Floo Hermione before he imploded.

He lit the fire and tossed in a scoop of Floo powder, making the flames turn instantly green. 'Hermione Granger, Wythenshawe, Manchester,' he said clearly.

A moment later, Hermione's head appeared in the flames. 'Hello, Severus,' she said with an enigmatic smile. 'What can I do for you?'

'You can tell me what your plans for Christmas are so I can make arrangements myself,' he replied.

Hermione looked surprised by his request. 'Oh, well, I actually hadn't really thought about it,' she said, looking a little sheepish. 'I think Harry and Ginny were expecting the two of us over for Christmas lunch. Ron is supposed to be there too. And there is the Order Christmas party on Boxing Day at Grimmauld Place.'

'I was wondering if you would like to go away for a couple of days after Christmas,' he replied on a whim. 'I wasn't aware I had been invited to the Potters' house for Christmas lunch, actually.'

Hermione's eyes widened and she looked at him apologetically. 'Oh! I am sorry, it totally slipped my mind, but I would be thrilled if you would come with me,' she said quietly. 'And I would love to go away with you.'

'Excellent, I shall make some plans then, to leave, say, the day after Boxing Day?' he suggested. 'Did you have anything planned on Christmas Eve?'

She shook her head. 'No, but now that you mention it, would you like to have dinner with me that night?'

'That sounds like a good plan,' he said with a small smile. 'Well, I have a potion on downstairs that I had better check on. Can never be too sure that everything is going well.'

'All right. Will I be seeing you tomorrow?' she asked.

'I have a few tasks I need to get done tomorrow, and I'm not sure how long they will take me,' he replied. 'I will have to get back to you. If I don't make it, I will owl you, and I'll be by the day after to work on the project.'

Hermione had a puzzled look on her face for a split second, but she smiled and nodded at him. 'All right, well, I'll see you when I see you. Goodbye, Severus.'

'Goodbye, Hermione,' he replied before closing the Floo connection.

He sat on the floor and leaned his head back against the lounge chair behind him, sighing heavily. Well, at least he had some idea of what the holiday would bring. He would need to find a place to go away for a short trip now, but that wouldn't be terribly difficult. He had a favourite holiday location in the south of France that he used to visit during the summer when he had been a teacher at Hogwarts before the Dark Lord had returned. It was a place he could associate with good memories, and that was what he wanted to share with Hermione.

Pleased he had come up with something, Snape was left with one last task – finding Hermione something special for Christmas. Price was no issue, as he was willing to spend whatever necessary to get the perfect present. He had been considering for the past day or two that there was something very particular he wanted to give to Hermione at Christmas, but the more he thought about it, the less he was certain that it would be received well.

He summoned a velvet box from upstairs to him and opened it up, staring at the pretty white gold ring within. A single square-cut obsidian gem sat between two small solitaire diamonds. He tilted it from side to side, watching as it sparkled and changed colour on the surface. The black opal was rare and beautiful, and he had commissioned the ring to be made by the jeweller in Diagon Alley last week. He had been considering giving it to Hermione as an engagement ring.

But, they had barely been together for three months, and she was sure to say no. His palms were sweating then, and he was more nervous than ever before. He wasn't sure what he would do if she were to reject his proposal. He wasn't so sure he'd ever be able to work up the courage to do it again. He groaned. Being in a relationship with another person was a lot more complicated and tricky than he was used to. He just wished everything were a lot less difficult.

He really needed to find Hermione another gift in case he choked and decided not to propose to her, and he needed to do it fast.

Deciding he would do just that, he got up from the floor, placed the ring back in its box, and put it in his pocket. Resolved, he headed back down to the lab.

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Wythenshawe, Manchester: 24th December, 2009

Hermione bustled around her kitchen, pulling things out of the refrigerator and pantry, gathering together everything she would need for making dinner that night.

She had invited Snape over to dine with her and had prepared a menu a few days beforehand; she had even bought all of the groceries she would need. However, she had gotten so wrapped up in catching up on the month's academic periodicals that she had lost track of the time, and now she had a mere two hours before Severus was supposed to arrive on her doorstep. She still needed to shower and get dressed on top of cooking both dinner and dessert.

She set about the task of preparing the dessert. It would, after all, require more time, as it had to set in the refrigerator, than it would take for dinner to cook. She found a set of four medium-sized dessert glasses and lined the bottoms with a layer of sponge fingers. She then carefully poured the espresso and hazelnut liqueur mixture she had prepared earlier over each of the sponges.

From there, she beat the mascarpone cream cheese with vanilla essence and some white sugar, gently folding some whipped cream and beaten egg whites into it. She then spooned some of that over the sponge layer, and then repeated the process twice more. She topped each of them off with the remaining whipped cream and a dusting of cocoa powder. Pleased with the resulting tiramisu, she placed them all on a tray and slid them back into the refrigerator.

After quickly waving her wand so the mess she made would tidy itself, she got to work on the main course. She hadn't planned anything spectacular or overly tricky, but she had hoped it would impress Severus nonetheless. She pulled out four large mushroom caps and removed the stems, peeling the skin from all of them before giving them a wash. She then combined a smooth Greek feta cheese with semi-dried tomatoes and some basil in her Muggle blender until it was mixed together well.

She stuffed the mushrooms with the cheese mixture and placed them on an oven tray lined with baking paper, then placed them on the stove. She proceeded to dress two chicken breasts, cleaning and marinating them with a bit of salt, before cutting a slot just large enough through them so she could stuff them. She made a stuffing from more basil, pine nuts, cream cheese, dill, and small pieces of chopped sweet potato, carefully wrapped each breast with thin strips of prosciutto, and then covered them on a lined tray with aluminium foil so they would not dry out.

When everything was ready, she placed them into the preheated oven to slow roast and set a timer before leaving the kitchen and heading up to her bathroom. She showered and washed her hair, then stepped out from under the water to dry herself thoroughly. She used a blow dryer on her hair, combing jasmine oil through it as she did so her curls were more sleek than usual, and managed to fashion it into a French twist. She applied a little makeup to her lips and eyes and chose a dress that was made of emerald silk; it had spaghetti straps and quite attractively cinched in at her waist before falling loosely to her knees.

Before heading back downstairs, she sprayed some perfume on her wrists, pulled on a pair of simple black heels, and made certain to check her appearance in the bathroom mirror. Pleased that she looked pretty but not overdone, she walked downstairs to the sitting room and stoked the fire, making sure there was plenty of firewood so she did not grow cold. She looked at the clock on the mantelpiece and saw that it was almost seven o'clock.

She hurried to the kitchen to do one last check on the dinner, then walked across the hall to the dining room that adjoined the sitting room to make certain her table settings were just so. Satisfied that everything was perfect, she sat down at the table to await Snape's arrival.

At exactly 7 p.m., the doorbell rang, and she jumped to her feet, hastening down the hall to greet her guest. When she opened the door, the sight of a clean-shaven Snape, in his customary black winter coat, greeted her. Smiling brightly at him, she pulled him inside and leaned up for a kiss. He ducked his head slightly to give her a light buss on the lips before resuming his straight posture and shucking off his coat. Hermione was surprised to find him wearing a silk charcoal-coloured waistcoat over a nice black button-down shirt, which were both tucked neatly into his finest pair of black linen trousers. He was even wearing his good leather shoes rather than his usual dragon-hide boots.

'You look lovely, Severus,' she exclaimed. 'You clean up very nicely.'

His dark eyes glanced over her form, and there was immediately a hungry look in his eyes she usually saw after they had been snogging for a time. 'You look very beautiful, also, Hermione,' he replied in kind. 'Ravishing, some would say.'

Hermione felt her cheeks heat up. She took him by the hand and led him into the sitting room, offering him a seat and a glass of champagne. He accepted graciously and sipped at the bubbly drink while Hermione regaled him on how her day had been and all the academic journals she had been catching up on. He smiled and was attentive and answered all of the questions she asked.

At 7:30 p.m., she left him to quickly check on dinner to see if it was ready. She poked the chicken breasts and found that both they and the mushrooms had been cooked to perfection. She whipped up a quick balsamic reduction and drizzled it over the breasts and mushrooms once they were on the plate, garnishing them with a few basil leaves. She took the food to the dining room and stuck her head into the sitting room, calling Snape for dinner.

They sat down together and ate in relative silence, only occasionally pausing to speak. Hermione found she didn't mind. The two of them did not need to always be talking to enjoy one another's company. When Snape finished, he arranged his cutlery in the sign of defeat and sat back in his chair to relax.

'That was beautiful, Hermione. I thank you,' he said with a smile. 'A lovely combination of flavours.'

She grinned back, setting her cutlery down, as she had finished also. 'Thank you,' she said. 'I was just experimenting, actually, so I am glad it turned out all right.'

'The best potioneers are the ones who are not afraid to experiment, get things wrong, and then get back up and try again,' he said wisely.

Hermione smiled and nodded. They retreated to the sitting room once more after Hermione had banished all the dishes to the kitchen to take care of themselves. That night, she wanted everything to be perfect, and doing dishes was hardly a romantic activity. She sat beside Snape on the lounge chair, leaning against him as the two of them perused the French Potions Monthly together.

After a while, Hermione remembered the present she had stored under the lounge to give to Snape that night. She hauled herself up and reached below, coming up with a small package and holding it out to her partner.

'I know it isn't Christmas yet, but it was always tradition in my family to exchange one gift each on Christmas Eve,' she said quietly.

Snape nodded and carefully unwrapped the package, opening the box contained within to find a beautifully engraved pocket watch nestled on a bed of silk. 'This is stunning,' he said, flipping it open to find the face was made of ivory. The numbers were hand-painted and elegant. 'I assume this is an heirloom of sorts?'

'It belonged to my great-grandfather on my father's side of the family,' she replied. 'It is not the sort of trinket a girl would carry around, and I thought it would suit you very nicely.'

He nodded. 'I know this is an important part of your family history. I promise you I shall treat it well and put it to good use,' he said sombrely. 'And now, I have a gift for you, of sorts...'

'Really?' she asked in surprise.

Snape nodded, swallowing nervously, if his bobbing Adam's apple was anything to go by. 'I have wanted to give this to you for some time now, but had never been presented with a better opportunity. This night somehow seems perfect to me right now,' he explained.

Hermione's eyes widened in surprise, and a nervous lump formed in her throat as Snape got up from the chair and then lowered himself to the floor before her on one bended knee. Her stomach was filled with butterflies, and she wanted to cry, vomit, and jump up and down all at the same time as he withdrew a small box from the pocket of his trousers.

'Hermione, I doubt I will ever find the courage within me to do this again,' he began nervously, almost tripping over his own words. 'I am in love with you. I care for you deeply, and I would be the most honoured and happy man in the Wizarding world if you would consent to becoming my wife.'

Hermione could feel the tears beginning to blur her vision then. She looked at his nervous, wonderful face and laughed as the tears spilled over. Grinning like a fool, she held out her hand for him, and as he slipped the beautiful white gold ring onto her finger, she couldn't stop shaking. He moved to re-join her on the couch, and they immediately hugged fiercely before she attacked him with a passionate kiss, clinging to him tightly.

'This was a perfect Christmas Eve,' she whispered before kissing him again.

'That it was,' he agreed, holding onto her even more tightly.

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To be continued.