Chapter 2: Insufferable Know-it-All

Author's Note: I apologize sincerely for the shortness of this chapter. I hope the next will make up for it ;)

Chapter 2: Insufferable Know-it-All

I watched her retreat, her hair bouncing in its characteristic spirals. I regretted being kind to her, but I needed to have her under my watchful eye, lest she become a loose cannon in my class. I couldn’t have her undermining my every sentence. Nor could I have her trailing Malfoy and deducing what he was up to— that would come in its own time.

I retreated to my chamber behind the store room, changing quickly into a night shirt. I slid into the bed and contemplated the black hangings. Insomnia crept upon me once more, but my thoughts reverted to the irritating girl who had debated with me minutes prior. Her irritating hair which had softened into orderly coils, her irritating curvature, her irritating slender waist, her irritating innocent eyes all swam through my mental screen. God, she was irritating.

Over the course of the week, Hermione came in to help once more. She bounced in right after Charms on Thursday and was thoroughly distracted.

“Miss Granger, I need you to dye these pieces of parchment black for our next practical lesson on nonverbal spells.”

“Why black?” she paused and looked slightly frightened and quickly added, “Professor.”

“Must I explain my every choice to you Miss Granger?” I sighed and continued, “Black to white is considerably more difficult than orange to red.”

“Then why not leave them white?”

“Because—” I paused, realizing I had no good reason. She smirked slightly, and I angrily went to the back room to retrieve some textbooks.

“Make these automatically flip to page one thousand and twenty-seven when touched, the grey ones must turn to page four hundred thirty-six and the black ones must turn to page three hundred and ninety-four.”

She nodded and sat at one of the student desks. I took my seat at my desk and began grading sixth year essays. I came across hers when I sat down and read it over as I heard her softly saying the incantation for her job over and over again.

“…Potion-making—a beautiful and intriguing science—is also made more efficient with the use of non-verbal spells. But the trusting of a nonverbal spell can be difficult and highly risky due to the lack of an auditory medium in which to perfectly enunciate the spell one is operating with…”

I was engrossed by the point she was making. I was amused that a simple response to textbook reading was made into a comparison and contrast paper on sciences and human nature, but I was admiring of her prowess in the subject. As I gave her an ‘O’, I noticed her look up at me.

“Yes, Miss Granger?”

“I don’t want you to give me good grades because I am doing this; I want good grades because I have earned them.”

“Well your paper earned its grade, Miss Granger.”

A worried look came across her face, a look I must have worn half my time at Hogwarts. I smirked at her confusion and returned to my grading and her to her spell work. Thirty minutes passed and I was finished. She had enchanted two third of the books when I told her that the remaining books were for the first years and didn’t really need to be enchanted. She stood, and I was transfixed by her skirt once more. My eyes slid out of focus and sensations came to me, such as feeling sweat-drenched skin against mine, heavy feminine breathing in my ear… and I snapped back to reality quickly to find Hermione standing where she had been before, looking at me questioningly.

“You are dismissed.” I emphasized the middle word, being irritated at her lack of movement. She gave me an odd look and walked past me. Having a potion-maker’s nose I immediately identified the scent of jasmine wafting from her. She did know how to tantalize.

“Severus,” greeted Horace as I stepped into my previous classroom, “how lovely to see you!”

“Horace,” I inclined my head.

“I want to thank you for giving up your classroom,” he said as he extricated himself from his chair.

“It was no trouble at all,” I said, my eyes traveling about the classroom.

“I wanted to thank you with some of this.”

“Really, there’s no—” I paused when I saw him extract a vial of Felix Felicis. Its golden contents glimmered even in the darkness of the dungeon, “My, Horace, I’m at a loss for words.”

“I insist you have it, dear man!” He chuckled, thumbing his suspenders pompously after I took the vial in my hand.

I strode to another cauldron and noticed a mother-of-pearl potion. I was entranced by a scent emanating from it that immediately brought my memory back to the images that played in my mind when I saw Hermione Granger in that skirt. I inhaled deeply, closing my eyes. I swear, I could almost taste its scent on my tongue…

“I always smell pineapple when I brew Amortentia,” professed Slughorn at the sight of me. “What is it you smell?”

“Jasmine,” I replied automatically.

“Ah, a great natural aphrodisiac.”

“Of course,” I said, abashed at my moment of weakness. “I really need to prepare my lesson for tomorrow, Professor.”

“Alright, Severus,” he paused as I strode away, and then called to my retreating back, “Be sure to use that potion soon!”

I paced my chamber, panicked at the thought of my smelling of The Girl’s scent in the Amortentia potion.

What the hell is wrong with me? I thought, I hate the little twerp and her tendency to be a know-it-all. I abhor everything she has ever said, and ever will say.

Then an irritating voice of truth spoke,

Just see how things play out. Give it time…