Coming to a Conclusion

Snape pulled out his notes and started to look over everything. With Miss Granger's help, he had been able to test his potion a number of times, and it appeared to be a success. A dose of the potion enhanced both her and his abilities by a great deal, and they could do a number of powerful spells without the use of a wand. Snape felt a surge of satisfaction, knowing he had been able to create something like that. Miss Granger had really helped, and he would have to give her credit for her work. Her Muggle knowledge had helped a great deal, and she had come up with the final ingredient for the potion.

She had mentioned how popular green tea was in the Muggle culture right now for its healthy properties, and Snape had tried adding three fresh green tea leaves to the potion. The green tea had acted as a catalyst and had ultimately made the difference. He was hoping that the potion could eventually be used to help students who didn't naturally have the ability to tap into the elements. It could ultimately help students like Longbottom, who lacked a great deal of talent or power.

Snape smiled to himself and checked the time; she would be here for detention soon, and he was surprised to find himself looking forward to it. She had turned out to be a rather pleasant person to be around when she wasn't in class waving her arm furiously and quoting the textbook. She seemed a different person outside of the classroom when she wasn't trying to impress everyone with her knowledge. She was a little more relaxed, and he saw flashes a sarcastic, biting sense of humor that he could appreciate.

He briefly remembered that swatch of black lace showing underneath her v-neck shirt when she had leaned forward over the work table. She had taken to wearing those Muggle clothes every night during detention, claiming that they were easier to work in. He had found he had a new appreciation for those form-fitting Muggle jeans that were so popular with the younger witches and wizards these days. Snape scowled at his line of thought.

She was nothing more than a student, he thought to himself. I am only interested in her skills as a Potions assistant, nothing more!

Now that this potion was in its final stages, he thought about what his next project would be. He was considering trying to improve the Wolfsbane potion and wondered what Miss Granger would say about that. She was, after all, friends with the werewolf Lupin.

Perhaps she will want to work with me on that one as well, he thought to himself.

It would be a much longer project and would take a great deal of research. He took out a fresh sheet of parchment and a quill and started writing down some possibilities, and then he realized what day it was.

Today was Miss Granger's last day of detention.

Snape scowled. He had just started to really enjoy himself, and her detention was coming to an end. No doubt she was looking forward to going back to spending her evenings with her idiotic friends.

For a split second, Severus considered giving her another two weeks of detention, but she would probably see through that. He drummed his fingers on the desktop as he thought this through. He could come out and ask her to be his assistant, but according to Minerva, Miss Granger was interested in pursuing a career in Arithmancy, not Potions. Besides, it wouldn't do for him to openly admit that he enjoyed her assistance. He remembered Minerva going on and on about Hermione's desire to get a Mastery in Arithmancy.

Arithmancy Masters were rare, and it was a difficult subject to grasp for most wizards and witches. Severus had never had much of an interest in the subject. He thought back to her revelation that she had used Arithmancy to discover that they were soul mates.

Could it possibly be true? Could he really be destined to be her soul mate? It wouldn't be entirely unpleasant to spend his time with a beautiful woman who could also keep up with him on an intellectual level.

Snape found himself imaging a number of evenings spent in his sitting room by the fire discussing the latest article in Ars Alchema or in his personal potions lab debating over different ingredients as they experimented together. He was surprised at how appealing it was to think of such things.

Snape shook his head as if to clear it. She was a student. He should not be imaging cozy little scenes in front of his fireplace with a student. He cursed under his breath; he needed to get his head out of the clouds and stop thinking of Herm... Miss Granger in that way. Her detention would be over after tonight, and he would be grateful to be getting his peace and quiet back. He just needed to keep telling himself that.

Snape's reverie was broken by a knock at the door.

'Enter,' he called as he glanced at his clock.

She was predictably right on time. He watched her as she walked up to his desk with a friendly smile on her face. She was wearing those Muggle jeans again, and he could see her hips swaying slightly with each step she took. He found himself repeating the word 'student' over and over in his head. He quickly looked down at his desk as the witch sat casually in front of his desk.

'Good evening, sir,' she said cheerfully.

'Miss Granger.'

'I don't see any potions supplies. Have you finished the testing?' she asked.

'Yes, the potion is in its final stages, and I don't foresee any problems.'

'What shall I be doing for my detention then, sir?' she asked when it did not look like he would be forthcoming with the information.

Damn! He hadn't come up with anything for her detention! Think.... What can I assign to her?

Hermione resisted the instinct to squirm as Professor Snape continued to regard her in silence. She wondered if he was deliberately trying to make her nervous by letting the tension build before answering her question. She finally opened her mouth to say something; it had been a full minute, and she was feeling anxious. Before she could ask him anything, he spoke.

'Miss Granger, I find that I am short on a number of different potions ingredients. You will help me collect them this evening in the Forbidden Forest.'

Brilliant! he thought to himself as her eyes widened. She was probably terrified at the thought of entering the forest at night.

Brilliant! she thought to herself, biting back a wide smile. She and Severus, alone, under the moonlight in the forest.

It was a perfectly romantic thought! Plus, she had never had the chance to help cultivate potions ingredients. It would be fascinating!

Hermione tried to keep up as Snape walked quickly to the front doors of the castle and out towards the forest. He carried a canvas satchel and had given her one to carry as well. She looked up and noted that the sun was descending in the sky and the moon had already risen. Most of the ingredients that he needed were only effective if picked by the light of the moon. They would get those last and start with the least sensitive ingredients.

Snape stopped abruptly, and Hermione bumped into him with a small 'oomph.'

'Miss Granger, do watch where you are going,' he said as he turned to regard her. He was standing rather close, and she had to tilt her chin up to look him in the eye.

'Sorry, Professor, you surprised me.'

He had stopped at the edge of a large clearing the forest. Hermione peered around him to see that the clearing was full of bushes that were covered in small white flowers. She frowned as she tried to identify the plant.

'Eidelweiss,' he said, answering her question in a low voice.

'I've never seen them on their plants before. When we get them in class, they have already been harvested and cut. They look beautiful.'

'They are, of course, very useful in a number of different potions. We will need a large amount of these. If you cut them wrong, they will become useless, so pay attention as I show you,' he said as he moved towards the closest bush.

She followed him around the clearing for over an hour before he was satisfied that he had enough of the small flowers. The forest was dark, and the moon was up by the time he decided to move on to the next plant.

For the next three hours, Hermione followed Snape around the forest as he collected fluxweed, aconite, monkshed, and lovage. The entire time, he kept a running commentary about how to properly pick each plant and what its uses were if picked in the moonlight. Encouraged by his willingness to teach her about each plant, Hermione found it easy to fall back into the routine of questions and debate that had been established earlier in the week.

Hermione was enjoying herself and felt a small pang of dismay when she remembered that this was her last detention with Severus. They had started to get to know each other this week, and she knew she would miss the camaraderie that had been established between them.

Snape looked at his watch and cursed softly under his breath. It was already midnight, and he needed to be getting Miss Granger back to the castle.

'Miss Granger, it is already midnight. We must be getting back,' he said, distracting her from her study of the fluxweed she had just picked.

Her face fell when he said this, and she sighed audibly.

'Yes, sir. Thank you for bringing me out here, sir. It has been quite interesting.'

He shrugged nonchalantly.

'I needed the ingredients, Miss Granger. You have just saved me a good deal of work.'

As he spoke, he had approached her and was leaning over her to heft up the satchel full of ingredients that sat on the ground next to her. Just as he reached for the strap of the bag, she stood abruptly, and her head bumped into his chin. She flinched in surprise, stumbled into him and fell, knocking him to the ground and landing hard on top of him.

She heard a loud grunt as they landed hard on the ground, her face inches from his.

He blinked a few times to clear his head before he focused on the fact that Hermione was laying on top of him with her mouth only inches away from his.

Hermione felt his breath warm on her face as they lay there without speaking. She didn't know how long they lay there. It was probably just a few seconds, but it felt like an eternity to her. It occurred to her that this was the perfect opportunity.

There they lay, alone near the edge of the forest in the middle of the night, and their mouths were inches away from each other. I want to kiss him! she thought to herself. Would he hex her if she tried?

She could tell by the scowl that was re-emerging on his face that he was recovering his wits.

'Perhaps I should have asked Miss Tonks to join me,' he muttered in a scathing tone, referring to her clumsiness.

Before he could speak again, Hermione screwed up her courage. She was, despite her Slytherin machinations of late, a Gryffindor at heart, and she would regret it if she didn't take this opportunity. Keeping her eyes focused on his, she closed the distance between their mouths.

Snape couldn't believe it. Somehow the annoying girl had displayed incredible clumsiness and managed to land herself right on top of him. He felt a sharp root jabbing him in his back as he felt the warm weight of the girl on top of him. He blinked a few times, trying to recover his senses after the tumble to the ground. As he recovered his focus, he realized he was looking directly into a pair of amber eyes; Hermione's face was very close to his. He could feel her body pressing against his as she lay on top of him. He felt her breasts pressed up against his chest and her hip bones pressing into his torso. He stifled a groan; her body felt so good.

He felt the beginnings of arousal stir in him at the feel of her soft body lying on top of his. He had to get up now before she felt how hard he was getting. He muttered something sarcastic about how clumsy she was and started to get up.

He was startled into speechlessness when she leaned forward and brushed her lips against his. It was light and chaste as far as kisses went, and she pulled back immediately to look into his eyes. Whatever she saw in his eyes must have encouraged her because within a second, her lips were back on his and she was applying a bit more pressure this time. He held himself stiffly, trying to resist the desire she was awakening in him.

It proved his undoing when her tongue traced his bottom lip and tried to gain entrance into his mouth. He groaned and wrapped his arms around her and slanted his mouth across hers.

Hermione felt the change in Severus immediately. She reveled in the feel of his arms wrapped around her as he kissed her aggressively. He rolled her over and lay on top of her as he continued his assault on her mouth. It was the most erotic experience of her life; rolling around on the forest floor in the moonlight, being thoroughly snogged by her professor. She wanted to curl her toes, and she felt her skin prick up in goose pimples as he lightly sucked on her bottom lip. She whimpered and threaded her fingers through his hair when she felt his hand at the side of her breast.

She would never get enough of this.

It was her whimper that brought Severus back to his senses. What was he doing? He was rolling around in the Forbidden Forest, snogging Hermione Granger. He tore his mouth from hers abruptly. She gasped in surprise and looked up to see her professor hastily getting to his feet. He was brushing his robes of frantically and still breathing hard from their exertions.

'Severus...' she said in a questioning voice.

He looked at her sharply at the use of his given name.

'Miss Granger, we must be getting back. I have kept you out here too late.'

She gasped. Was he going to pretend this hadn't happened?

She hastily got to her feet as he picked up the bag that he had dropped when they fell and started to walk back to the castle.

'Severus, you cannot pretend this didn't happen. We kissed... You kissed me, and you liked it!' she said in a shrill voice as she tried to keep up with his long strides.

'Miss Granger, you may call me Professor Snape; I never gave you leave to use my first name'

'Oh, no, you don't!' she yelled. 'After snogging me the way you did, I will call you what I damn well please!'

She stopped walking and stomped her foot in frustration. She thought she had finally gotten somewhere, and now he was acting like it hadn't even happened.

He stopped and turned towards her.

'Miss Granger...'

'My name is Hermione, and I want you to use it.'

He took a deep breath.

'Hermione. We can't.... I shouldn't have let that happen. You are my student.'

'I am of age. I have been eighteen since September. I will also be graduating in a few months.'

He sighed in defeat. She stood before him, crackling with anger and energy, her face flushed and her lips still swollen from their encounter. She was irresistible, and all of a sudden, he lost the desire to fight.

'It's late; I need to get you back to your dormitory,' he said in a low voice.

Hermione huffed in frustration and followed him back to the castle, trying to hold back tears. She was going to have to come up with an entirely new plan.

Maybe I could convince the headmistress to assign me as an assistant to him....

Severus' voice interrupted her scheming; they had come to a stop in front of the portrait leading to the Head Girl's room.

'Miss Granger, you have leaves in your hair and dirt all over your trousers. Five points from Gryffindor, and you will serve another two weeks detention,' he said in a silky voice.

She had time to gasp once before he grabbed her shoulders, pulled her towards him and snogged her senseless for the second time that night. After a moment, he reluctantly pulled his mouth away from hers.

She was too stunned to react and was looking up at him, her eyes wide.

He smirked.

'Hermione, bring your Arithmancy calculations with you to our detention tomorrow,' he said in a low voice before turning on his heel and striding away.