Chapter 6

While Ronald Weasley wasn't the loudest Mandrake in the bunch, he came up with a few good shrieks now and then. His most recent discovery, he thought, was by far his greatest. He had lain awake all night, pondering how to make Hermione be his and his alone. Now, he decided, he had created the perfect plan. It wouldn't be easy, no, and it would take time, oh, yes, but it would work. He had thought about all the couples he knew: his parents, the late Potters, the Grangers, the Longbottoms, the Patils, even the Malfoys. They all had one thing in common, some more than others. It was exactly that thing, that thing that tied the husband and wife together, that he would pursue with Hermione. She wouldn't dare leave him after that.

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Harry groaned and stretched out on the couch of the head's common room as a nudging urged him awake.

"Potter, what in the blazes are you doing here?" The steel grey eyes and platinum blonde hair of Draco Malfoy were unmistakable.

"Oh, erm..." Harry didn't quite know how to answer that question without giving away something that should be kept quiet. "Hermione and I were just studying... ah... Arithmancy."

"Harry," Draco said with a bemused smile on his face, "you're not taking Arithmancy this year. Nice try. Look, I already know what happened. Hell, the whole school probably knows by now. Doesn't explain what you're doing sleeping on the couch of my dormitory."

"Draco, this isn't your dormitory, it's a common room," Harry retorted.

"Minor schematics."

"Draco, you really can be a pain in the arse sometimes, you know that? Anyway, the reason I'm up here is because Hermione wasn't at dinner last night..."

"I noticed," Draco interrupted.

"...so I brought her up some dinner. Happy?" Harry rose off the couch and stretched out his aching limbs. "I must have fallen asleep sometime afterwards."

"You slept on the couch all night?" Harry thought Draco looked a bit concerned, but it was probably just his imagination.

"Not like I had any where else to go. I couldn't go back to my dorm."

"Why not? It is your dormitory, Harry."

"Ron's there." Harry looked towards the fireplace and sighed. "He used to be my best mate you know."

"I know." Draco laid his hand on Harry's shoulder. "Crabbe and Goyle were once my right hand men. When they found out that I wouldn't be taking the mark of... of Voldemort," he said bravely, "they abandoned me."

"So that's why they're not following you around anymore like you were a naked Veela, huh?" Harry allowed himself a grin.

"Yeah, yeah, that would be it." Draco grinned back. "Guess I'm just not as attractive as I used to be."

"I really doubt that." Harry snorted.

Draco looked him squarely in the eyes. "Excuse me?"

"Everyone knows that Playwitch wants you to pose for them, and Witch Weekly sells out every time they feature an interview with you. How can you get better proof than that?" That and I think the way your hair is falling in front of your eye right now is gorgeous, and your lips look absolutely delicious...

Draco tucked a stray lock behind his ear. "I suppose you're right, Harry. Everyone just wants a piece of the Slytherin dragon."

"Yes, we do," Harry murmured softly.

"What was that?" Draco asked.

"I said, yes, they do," Harry corrected himself. He was dating Ginny. At least, he hoped he was still dating Ginny. After last night though...

"Well, Harry," Draco turned to leave, "next time you decide to spend the night here, you might want to remember that you're a wizard and conjure yourself up a bed." Or just come up to mine.

"Haha. I'll try to remember, thanks, Draco." Harry left for his dormitory, heart pounding, smiling all the way.

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Hermione didn't wake until around nine o'clock. She usually awoke about three hours earlier, but last night with Harry had gone on until around midnight. They ate, talked, and he let her cry on his shoulder about everything that had happened. Why couldn't everyone be as nice as Harry was? Snape, a voice reminded her, Snape is nice, Snape is intellectual, and he'd listen to you without trying to do anything you wouldn't want him to. You should talk to Snape, Hermione.

Talking to Snape was an idea that would frighten most students in first through seventh years. Even some teachers had issues with the brooding Potions master. After the way he had been acting the past few days though, Hermione felt he wasn't as cold and heartless as he had made himself out to be. Somewhere deep underneath that dangerous hippogriff façade he put on, Severus Snape was just a cuddly kneazle waiting to be loved. Hermione giggled a bit to herself. If he ever heard her thinking like that, he'd likely have her in a Jelly-Legs Jinx before she could say Protego.

Hermione rummaged around in her trunk until she found some carefully packaged chamomile tea leaves her mother had sent her a few weeks ago. She had been waiting for a special occasion to use them, and this was just it. Grabbing the box, Hermione dashed off to the dungeons to see if a certain tall, dark, and handsome man of mystery cared for a cup of calming tea.

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Severus Snape was hunched over a cauldron when he heard a knock at his door.

"Enter," he commanded, hoping his voice would scare off whatever foolish student had dared come to disturb him on a Saturday morning.

"Professor Snape?" a timid voice asked.

"Come in, Miss Granger." At least it's not a dunderhead. "What can I do for you this dismal morning?"

"Well, sir, I was wondering, if you weren't too busy..." she glanced at the cauldron he was stirring, "perhaps you wouldn't mind sharing a cup of tea?" She looked up at his cold onyx eyes with her warm honey ones, almost begging him not to throw her out. It was obvious something was troubling the young witch.

"Miss Granger, I am in the middle of mixing a complex potion. Now is not the best time for me to have a cup of tea. However, something tells me that you did not just come by to offer me some tea. What is it?" Severus asked patiently.

"Actually, I was hoping I could talk to you about yesterday. You had said Headmaster Dumbledore assigned you to aid me. So, now I'm wondering if you could do so."

"What part of yesterday did you wish to speak about?" Please not about what foolishness I committed in the hospital wing.

"Nothing in particular, really. I'm just feeling confused. So much has happened, and I don't know where I stand." Hermione sighed and took the proffered seat.

"Very well. The potion must simmer for a few minutes now, and we can speak during that time."

"What are you making, sir?" Hermione asked inquisitively. "I don't recognize it from any of our textbooks or any journals I've read."

"Miss Granger, I thought you had come here to talk about yesterday. As to the potion, it is none of your concern."

Smells illegal. "Yes, sir." Hermione conjured a pot and cast a heating charm on the water. "Do you like chamomile, sir?"

"Miss Granger, any type of herbal tea is preferable to inhaling the fumes from potions."

Somehow, the way he said it sounded like a skewed joke, Hermione reasoned. Taking his smirk as an indication to continue, she launched into her matter of concern.

"You see, Professor, I don't know how to handle myself. Harry has been quite helpful to sit with and talk to..."

Of course The-Boy-Who-Lived-To-Ruin-Another-Potions-Class was helpful, thought Severus.

"... and Ron and Ginny are keeping distance. Draco has already helped so much... but what about me? I don't know what to do about these thoughts in my mind." She looked at him, her eyes desperate. Her great concern and distress was evident. Severus wondered, though, how hard it could be to figure out. The boy had harmed her; how difficult would it be to just stay away?

"Miss Granger, I fail to see how this situation could be giving you difficulty. Mister Weasley assaulted you. The solution is evident, you should avoid him." Severus took a deep sip of the warm tea.

"I still... I still care about him." Hermione stared down at her cup, cheeks flaming.

"I see."

The two sat there for a few minutes, contemplating.

"Sir?" Hermione ventured.

"Yes, Miss Granger?"

"I think it's been a few minutes." She said, gesturing to the cauldron.

Double, double, toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble. "Yes, indeed it has been." Moving quickly, Severus took the almost-boiling potion off the flame and stirred it once clockwise, once counterclockwise. He continued this pattern for two and twenty strokes before adding another ingredient, which Hermione didn't recognize as a regular potions ingredient. She watched as the entire potion turned transparent.

"Sir, pardon me, but what was that last ingredient you added?"

"That was sapor velieris, Miss Granger. You need not concern yourself with it."

Hermione knew better than to test Professor Snape's patience, but she couldn't help wondering just what that mysterious liquid was, or what potion he was making. Curiosity overtook her, and she quickly bid her farewell to Severus and hurried to the library to look for any information she could find about sapor velieris.

Severus Snape sighed in his potions lab. He should have known better than to tell her what it was. Now the girl would surely be heading to the library to see just what sapor velieris was. Hermione... Miss Granger, He mentally corrected himself, wouldn't make anything dangerous with it anyway.

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Lots of love and thanks to Robison Rocket for her excellent beta skills and her lovely inspiration!