Chapter Three: The Art of Manipulation Part 2

The following morning passed miserably. After a seemingly endless number of unsuccessful attempts at performing Occlumency, Hermione had given up in frustration.

Muttering something about that being enough for the day, Snape excused himself from the study and left Hermione to ponder her problem.

She wanted so badly to master this craft, but so her efforts thus far were rendering little, if any, results. She was simply unable to clear her mind long enough to block Snape's mental advances. Even when she felt her attempts were improving, all he needed to do was increase his efforts ever so slightly, and her mind opened up to him with a waterfall of memories. It was incredibly frustrating.

The headaches...fortunately...had been taken care of. A small dose of Headache Potion before sessions was all it took to prevent the migraines from returning.

Tired of sitting alone in the room of which she had spent so much time over the past couple of days, she rose off of the couch and made her way past the kitchen and into the living room.

She arrived just in time to see Snape extracting a small roll of parchment from the leg of a large barn owl, watching curiously when he unraveled the note and read the contents with interest. When he was done, he placed the roll of parchment into the right pocket of his robes and faced her with a slight scowl on his forehead.

"It appears that we will be receiving some company," he informed her dully. "Minerva has decided, as a solution to your thus far dismal performance, that you should take lessons from someone less... intimidating... as she put it."

With a confused look on her face, she continued to stare at Snape, waiting for more information on this Mystery Guest. When no such knowledge came, she decided to be bold and simply ask him.

"Well? Who is it?"

Apparently taken aback by her agitated tone of voice, Snape's eyes widened as he simply stared at her for a moment. Once he had regained his composure, he narrowed his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest in an annoyed manner.

"Miss Granger, I will thank you to watch your tone in my presence. And our Mystery Guest is none other than your celebrity friend himself. Do not fret, Miss Granger. I am sure Mr. Potter will be more than capable of assisting you."

Damn! He did it again! Why can't the batty git stay out of my mind for just a damn min...

"The batty git cannot stay out of your mind, Miss Granger, because you are a dreadful Occlumens!" he snapped.

She flushed at the insult, a strong sense of guilt settling itself in the pit of her stomach. She made to open her mouth in apology but was forced to close it again when Snape turned his back to her and made his way up the staircase to the second floor. Frustrated and embarrassed by her choice of words (regardless of whether or not they were spoken aloud), she slumped down on the sofa, awaiting his return.

Nearly thirty minutes had passed with no sign of Snape. The embarrassment had long since subsided by now, leaving her only anxious and impatient. Annoyed, she climbed the stairs with the intent of seeking him out, making sure to stomp irritably along the way.

She turned left at the top of the staircase and opened the door at the end of the hallway. Expecting Snape's bedroom, she was quite disappointed when she found only an empty broom closet.

Strike one...

She closed the door tightly and turned on her heel, trying to discern which of the remaining doors would lead to Snape's quarters. Chancing the door to her immediate right, she flung it open and entered without caution.

A muffled squeak escaped her mouth as her hand flew to cover it, the sight of her half-naked professor nearly shocking her enough to knock her backward.

There he was, hidden only by a medium-sized, green towel wrapped around his lower torso, the material only just covering his thighs down to the tops of his knees. His hair was dripping wet, wild and tussled with the lack of a proper combing. His chest was smooth and bare, and little drops of water were still making their way down from the moist tresses toward his abdomen, eventually absorbing into the towel around his waist.

Too shocked to say anything of substance, Snape just stood there, mouth agape at the startled woman standing before him, before he realized what he was...and wasn't...wearing.

Snatching his wand up from the bed with his right fist, he pointed it at the door and shouted, "Diffindohomora!"

Instantly the door slammed shut, leaving a shocked and, once again, embarrassed Hermione on the other side.

***

She berated herself aloud as she banged her head against the wall of her bedroom...she could not believe she had so arrogantly infringed upon Snape's privacy. Unable to stop her mind from wandering, she mused over the fact that she was even more frustrated what she had seen...under those usually-donned loose, black robes, Snape actually had quite a body.

"I'm so stupid..."

"Stupid, no. Insolent, yes," Snape's smooth voice called to her from the doorway.

She stared up at the now fully-clothed professor, her cheeks cheeks flushed and her forehead upwardly creased.

"I'm terribly sorry, sir! You were just gone for so long, and I hadn't heard any running water, so I just thought you were..."

"Avoiding you?" he quipped. "Yes, Miss Granger, that is precisely what I was attempting to accomplish. But, seeing as you find it so troublesome to be out of my company for any period of time, I will be sure to ask your permission from now on before bathing."

She shot an indignant look at him before retorting, "Now wait just a minute! I was not troubled to be out of your company, I simply..."

"Whatever you say, Miss Grang..."

"STOP INTERRUPTING ME!" she shouted at him before he could finish his taunting remark. "You listen to me, Severus! I am forever grateful to you for rescuing me from Lord V–Voldemort. That being said, you cannot treat me like a child that you have saved from running off with a stranger! I am an adult, and I deserve to be treated as such!"

Clearly taken aback by her statement and her audacity at addressing him by his first name, all Snape could manage to do was look at her with a stunned expression on his face.

"And furthermore," she continued, "I'll thank you to use my proper name. I am no longer your Potions student, and it will no longer due for you to address me as such. I want to be called by my first name. Out of respect for you, I will continue to address you as sir or Professor until you find it acceptable for me to address you informally."

"Very well, Miss Granger," he answered her, still apparently in shock at her impudence.

"It's HERMIONE!" she shouted at him, wishing she could physically bash her point into his skull.

And what a thick skull it is...

"That is enough, Hermione," he said harshly. "You may refer to me as Severus. That being said, it is one thing for you to ask me to address you as an adult. It is quite another to expect me to put up with your childish insults, whether or not they are given verbally."

Legillimency... crap...

At the conclusion of her last thought, a loud crack sounded from the floor below them.

Snape spoke to her in a hushed whisper. "Stay here."

Hermione did as she was told, leaning an eager ear against the door to her bedroom, attempting to ascertain the identity of the person that had just Apparated into the household. Several minutes passed during which she was still unable to hear as much as a single word being uttered from the floor below her. Just as she was about to give up on her eavesdropping and retreat to her bed, she was flung backwards by the force of her bedroom door opening against her. Her buttocks hit the not-so-plush carpet with a hard thump. Her tailbone throbbed as she attempted to sit upright in order to properly view the person, or persons, that had just entered her boudoir.

"Ginny!" she beamed.

The redhead attempted to stifle her giggles over Hermione's amusing tumble. As Ginny regained her composure, she offered an outstretched arm in Hermione's direction, helping her up off of the carpet and onto her feet.

"Harry was sent on a mission for the Order, so I'm here to help you to develop your Occlumency skills."

"What do you mean? Who taught you?"

Ginny took her friend by the hand and led her over to the bed. They sat across from each other, each with one leg bent under and one hanging over the edge of the bunk, as Ginny filled her in on the events of the past thirteen months.

Apparently, Harry, Ginny, Ron, Neville and Luna had been working full-time for the Order ever since the battle that had claimed Hermione as a prisoner. The assignments varied in difficulty, some being as simple as keeping watch over the Order's headquarters and some far more taxing. Ginny regaled Hermione with the story of her last assignment, which was to assist Harry in locating a large, gold cup that was thought to be one of Voldemort's Horcruxes.

"So then," Ginny informed her, "Harry spoke the incantation we found in the book. No, I don't know what it is. A huge steam of black smoke erupted from the cup, and that was it. Bye, bye Horcrux."

Hermione ooh'd and aaah'd at the various interesting points in Ginny's tales. Finally, Ginny looked down at her hands lain limply in her lap, sighing miserably before looking back up at Hermione.

"We've been so worried about you, Hermione. Snape wouldn't tell us a bloody thing other than that you were alive...and that you were safe."

"It's alright, Gin. I'm out now. I'm safe."

She looked down at Ginny, expecting a smile to play upon her lips. Instead, she was somewhat heartbroken when Ginny raised her chin toward her, tears streaming down her face.

Ginny looked up at her with a fearful gaze.

"But you're going back," she whispered regretfully. "You are going to be back with that... that... monster. And they're all just going to let you. What if he doesn't believe you? What if he finds you aren't of any use to him? What then, Hermione?"

Hermione was on the verge of tears, both lids threatening to spill over onto her flustered cheeks.

"Ginny," she started. "Ginny, it will be alright. I promise. Severus is going to be looking after me."

Ginny's brows furrowed upward in confusion.

"Severus?" she cocked a brow at Hermione, an inquiring smile forming on her partially-opened lips. "Since when is Snape, 'Severus'?"

Hermione sighed. "We're adults now, Ginny. There's no need for us to keep referring to him as our professor. We don't even go to school anymore."

Ginny continued to grin. "Ok, Hermione, whatever you say."

Hermione attempted a scowl, but it lasted only a short moment before she broke out in a wide grin and the girls began to giggle madly.

They were interrupted by a cool, smooth voice coming from the doorway.

"If you two ladies are quite finished, I was hoping that we might actually attempt to accomplish what Miss Weasley was sent here for in the first place. Or am I being unjustifiably optimistic?"

The girls continued to giggle the entire trip down the stairs, through the kitchen and into Snape's Study. Hermione seated herself on the couch and stared up at the two parties before her, waiting for one of them to signal the next move.

Ginny looked impatiently at Snape, tapping her foot in an annoyed fashion. "I can handle it from here, Professor," she stated coolly.

Hermione watched in silence for several minutes as her friend and her former professor stared intently into each others eyes, not a single emotion betraying their expressions. After five or so minutes had gone by, Hermione was growing impatient.

"What..." she began, but was promptly cut off by the motion of Snape's outstretched hand being raised towards her in a stopping gesture.

Confused, she continued to sit quietly as the two squared off for several more minutes. Eventually, they broke free of each other's penetrating stares, and Snape turned to Hermione.

"I shall leave you to your lessons," he droned before turning back to Ginny. "Your Legilimency and Occlumency skills are acceptable, Miss Weasley. We still have yet to see, however, if they will translate into a teaching environment. Try not to kill her unless it is entirely necessary?"

He turned to leave, and as he was exiting the door, Ginny stuck out her tongue at him in a very first-year fashion.

"I saw that," he called to her from the doorway.

Just as his robes disappeared from sight, Ginny let out a soft, "Batty old git."

"I heard that, Miss Weasley!"

"Damn..."

Hermione chuckled lightly Ginny's boldness. The female Weasley gave a faint smile in her direction and then pulled her wand from within her robes.

"Inanimus Conjurus," she muttered, and a tall, wooden stool appeared before the two women.

"How did you manage to learn Occlumency, anyways?" Hermione asked. "I mean, who taught you?"

"Harry did, after the first battle. He thought it was necessary for me to be able to...you know...protect myself."

"So you two are doing okay?"

"Now, now." Ginny smirked. "We are supposed to be working here, young lady!"

Hermione smiled in response.

"Okay, we really need to get started now. McGonagall only gave me leave for the day. We have to accomplish as much as we can while I'm here. You ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be," Hermione managed.

Ginny stared at her now with a serious, let's-get-down-to-business look in here eyes.

"McGonagall told me that you've been able to shut out memories for a bit. Right?" Hermione nodded. "Okay, then you have the basics down. The reason I am doing this in place of Snape is because you need to practice with someone you feel extremely comfortable with. That's how I was able to learn. Now, I'm going to count to three. After each number I want you to clear your mind a little more, eventually blanking it out completely. You need to achieve nothingness, Hermione. Okay?"

Hermione nodded once.

"One..." Ginny counted.

Emtiness...

"Two..."

Blank thoughts... blank thoughts...

"Three..."

Nothingness.

"Legilimens!"

For hours the girls practiced, each session bringing Hermione closer to her goal. By the time the clock on the wall struck midnight, Ginny told Hermione that she was confident enough her abilities to bring in an outside tester. She left the room for a few short moments, returning confidently with Snape at her side.

"Go ahead," she taunted. "Try her."

After several attempts at breaking into Hermione's mind, Snape gave an approving nod in Ginny's direction.

"Impressive, Miss Weasley," he commented. "You may just prove yourself to be less of a dunderhead than I thought. I see Potter has been doing more with you than just snogging."

Ginny glared at Snape through narrowed eyes before tentatively brushing him off and turning back towards Hermione.

"Hermione, just remember what we practiced today. You'll be fine. I have to get going now. I have an assignment in the morning, and McGonagall would be positively furious if I were late."

After a prolonged embrace, the two friends broke apart, each giving the other a casual kiss on the cheek.

"Good luck, Hermione."

Ginny turned to leave and gave a courteous nod in Snape's direction. "Professor."

"Weasley."

With an evil grin, Snape called after Ginny, "Tell Potter I said hello. That is, if you two can tear yourselves away from each other long enough to attempt a conversation."

"Git."

"Dunderhead."

Hermione snorted at the two of them. Snape glowered at her with a sarcastic look on his face. "It is time for you to retire, Miss Granger."

They walked up the staircase single-file, separating at the top of the steps.

Snape looked at her for a moment before speaking. "Tomorrow we will be attempting to fool one of the most powerful wizards of all time. You will need your rest." He reached into the front pocket of his robes and pulled out the same clear vial of orange liquid that he had given her the night Lucius Malfoy had shown up. "As I said before, half the bottle should more than suffice. Try not to dwell on the inevitable."

He turned toward his bedroom and she called after him, "Goodnight, Professor."

Pausing at his door, but still not turning round to face her, he answered, "Goodnight, Hermione."