Chapter 5. Vereor

Hermione glared at Snape, even though she wanted to focus her anger at George.

She wasn’t the only one; cries of frustration, anger, and fear echoed throughout the Great Hall.

“What did you do?” Hermione cried.

Fred and George looked slightly terrified by the chaos around them, but their grins remained on their faces as if they were going to crack without them. Fred leaped off of the podium and began to counsel couples or trios affected by the spell, and George provided a sequel to his brother’s speech.

“The chocolates only have a temporary spell on them – there is no need to worry,” he said as he tried to reach the podium.

“The potion within the chocolates only causes those who consume it to gaze only upon their loved ones.”

“Or upon the first person they happen to see,” Snape remarked.

“The spell is only temporary, as said before, it’s broken with the kiss of your loved one.”

“If I hear ‘loved one’ one more time...” Hermione said through gritted teeth.

“Well, Miss Granger, would you get on with it?” Severus looked down at Hermione with a bored look on his face.

Hermione leaned into Snape with a look of hatred in her eyes. “Never,” she spat. Snape took a step backwards, for the smell of liquor in Hermione’s breath almost made him dizzy.

She tried to turn away, but a feeling of extreme nausea came over her. Her stomach jumped, her throat tingled, and her tongue began to produce excess amounts of saliva with every extra moment her eyes were not upon her former Potions teacher.

“My, my, Miss Granger has grown so ill at the very sight of me,” the man said sardonically as he watched her retch at his feet.

Hermione could do nothing but revert her gaze back to him and wipe her mouth with the sleeve of her robes.

George sighed and cleaned the mess before him with a wave of his wand. “Now he’ll never kiss you…as disgusting as that scenario is.”

Hermione cursed at George and wished she could do some other curses in his direction. “Don’t you have an antidote for this?”

“Still in development,” George said beside her.

Hermione wanted to say a great many things to George but held her tongue. She clenched her teeth and bared them in what appeared to be a smile.

“George, would you please stand next to Professor Snape for a moment? Oh yes, that’s right, just a little bit closer…perfect.” Hermione’s lips widened in a real smile as a bolt of golden light came from her outstretched wand, and George fell to the floor holding his crotch.

“That takes care of that,” Hermione said as she pocketed her wand. Snape couldn’t agree more.

~*~

After a few minutes of yelling and hex-dodging, Fred and George brought the situation to peaceful, or at least a less chaotic state. Most of the guests were looking at their dates when the chocolates were consumed, and so a kiss was not much in the scheme of things. There were other individuals beside Hermione and Snape who had uncomfortable predicaments, including a sixth year boy who was staring at another boy’s date, and Professor Flitwick, who was in a compromising situation with a house-elf. “I only wanted a sherry!” he squeaked once the deed was done.

Hermione and Professor Snape remained to be the only two people in Hogwarts unwilling to break the spell. She set her mouth in a firm line after viewing the scene before her to the best of her ability. For the most part, this employed a technique in which she would look at Snape and dart her eyes amongst the crowd before setting her eyes back on Snape once more.

“You’d better get back to work on the antidote,” she said quietly.

“Then we’d best be off then,” Fred said anxiously as he appeared next to his brother and prepared to escape the wrath of Hermione.

“There is no way in Hades that you both are leaving here unharmed,” Hermione said.

“George, you will go to continue working on the antidote. Fred will stay here so that we know that George is coming back.” She crossed her arms, waiting for the twins to follow her orders.

“All right, Hermione, I’ll be sure to come up with an antidote soon,” George said as he escaped through the crowd.

“Are you sure that there aren’t any other ways to break this curse?” Hermione turned toward Fred while keeping her gaze upon Snape’s shoes.

“The potion was developed in an experimental stage,” Fred said, his gaze upon his own shoes.

“But you made it anyway, without a finished antidote, and distributed it to the public masses.”

“You could always kiss him, Hermione – that is another option.” Hermione shook her head vehemently, and Fred sighed in response.

“In that case, I could always assist George-”

“Don’t you dare,” Hermione said. She suddenly smiled at Snape and clapped her hands together.

“Professor, I need access to your Potions lab,” she said, her once angered eyes twinkling in delight.

“Ah, being ordered around by an annoying girl on the greatest of holidays,” the professor remarked, narrowing his eyes.

Hermione bit her lower lip in a final effort to hold back the worst of her anger. “Sir, I know that you do not want me in your company this evening. The feelings are mutual; however, we have a curse to break.”

I could take her now. Just push her into the wall, crush my lips against hers, and get it all over with.

With a sigh of resignation, he turned away from her and headed for the dungeons.