Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The following day when Hermione entered the lab, she was somewhat surprised by what she saw. There were several complex apparatuses set up on the four tables in the center of the room. It looked as though at least one experiment had been interrupted in progress. The walls were covered with shelves filled with every conceivable Potions ingredient and some items she never would have considered for use in Potions. She could only assume they were meant for Dark Potions.

Finishing her survey of the room, she found several lab notebooks. One happened to have an inventory of everything in the lab. As she flipped through the book, she felt a hum. Looking at the back cover, she saw a note that the notebook was charmed to keep inventory automatically. It was not something she had ever considered, but given the large volume of supplies, it made perfect sense. Clearly there was much more to Snape than she had initially thought. He was turning out to be a most intriguing man.

The other notebooks chronicled the experiments he had left unfinished. Each apparatus contained one of the more common bases for antidote potions and had been placed under a Stasis Charm so they would remain viable. He had also postulated several theories for each base. It took her several hours just to skim through all the journals, and she found herself more and more in awe of his intellect. She could now understand why he had seemed so bitter teaching at Hogwarts, it really was a misuse of his rather impressive talents. The teenage scribbling in the margins of the Potions book Harry had used sixth year had only scratched the surface of his brilliance.

He had also meticulously outlined steps to be taken to analyze Nagini's venom. She was wondering why it had been necessary for her to be the one to find the antivenin. It seemed as though any competent Potions master should be able to follow his research steps. And someone with actual experience researching antidotes would probably have been a better choice.

As she flipped to the next page, she saw it was addressed to her.

Hermione,

Severus

She was dumbstruck by the praise. This was the same man who for years had taken such apparent joy in belittling her. Now she was doubly motivated to find the cure so that she could ask him about this dichotomy in his personality.

**************

Days turned into weeks as she followed his instructions for breaking the venom down. As the steps progressed and her results diverged from what he had anticipated, she came to understand why he had insisted her problem-solving skills would be invaluable. Even combing through all the books at her disposal, she sometimes could only make an educated guess on what to do next.

During that time she had stocked the pantry and brought some of the other basics for living such as dishes and linens to the house. While it still didn't feel like home, at least she could be reasonably comfortable. Which was good because she was spending more and more time at her new house.

Sometimes it would be two or three days before she returned to the flat she shared with Ron. After a few of her extended stays, he stopped asking her about what she had been doing. He did not care about the technical details involved in researching a potion. The distance between them grew, but she rarely noticed as she was so completely engrossed in her research.

The lab tables were covered with books. She had to be very careful with her research because she had a finite supply of the venom, so she had to ensure that she did not waste any of it.

After spending several hours one afternoon perusing the books and notes that she had been studying, she determined that what she needed was the distillate from Acromantula venom. Checking the inventory, she saw that there wasn't any. This was one ingredient that she knew she would not be able to find in Diagon Alley. Not only that, but she knew that it was incredibly expensive. She did not have that sort of gold.

She slumped back in the chair in frustration at having come so close only to fail. Suddenly she remembered that Severus had also left her his vault. Once she had found out he was alive, she had put the vault out of her mind. Now it appeared she had no choice.

Quickly, she cleaned herself up, determined to get to Gringotts before they closed. Just as she was about to leave, it occurred to her that she didn't have the key to the vault, and she had been over every bit of this house. Should she contact Malfoy and see if he knew where the key was, or should she just go to Gringotts with a copy of the will and hope for the best?

Not wanting to deal with Malfoy, she opted for the latter. Worst case, she could probably get Bill to help her out.

************

Walking into Gringotts, she approached the nearest Goblin. "I have inherited the contents of Vault 1199, but the key was not included with the will." She slid the copy of the letter from the Ministry across the counter.

The Goblin scrutinized the letter. "Wait here."

It seemed to take forever because she was incredibly nervous that they wouldn't allow her access to the vault. Or that it wouldn't have enough money in it for her to get what she needed.

Finally the first Goblin returned accompanied by a second. "You are Miss Hermione Granger?" the second one asked.

"Yes. Severus Snape left me his vault."

"The Ministry paperwork appears to be in order, yet you have no key."

She didn't like the tone of his voice. "It wasn't included in the letter from the Ministry, and it wasn't left at his house. Does this mean I cannot access the vault?" She knew that Goblins were not always straightforward and just wanted to get to the end of this conversation as soon as possible.

"Normally there is a fee charged for a lost key. But there are special circumstances, and this is one. You will need to fill out a lost key form, and then you will be escorted to your vault."

For a moment she thought about arguing that she had not lost the key, but then she realized that would only prolong the process. "Fine."

Once they arrived at the vault, the Goblin handed her a key. She couldn't help the nervous feeling after her last visit to the bank. She was actually surprised they hadn't thrown her out. Then again, they probably had not recognized her as one the people who had caused them so much trouble and embarrassment.

As she opened the vault door, she closed her eyes and said a silent prayer. Opening them, she was shocked at what she saw. There were piles and piles of Galleons. More than enough to purchase the Acromantula venom and still make only the barest dent in the savings. She never would have guessed that Severus could have amassed such wealth.

She paused, wondering where exactly the money had come from. Was some of it Death Eater spoils? It seemed unlikely he could have accumulated this much gold from teaching. While she did not know what the salary of a Hogwarts' professor was, it surely could not account for this much wealth. It was just one more question to add to the list she had for Severus once he was revived.

***************

After leaving Gringotts, she proceeded directly to Knockturn Alley. She had only been there once before, and she certainly didn't feel comfortable there, but she didn't seem to have much choice. In the notes, Severus had told her that he procured all his ingredients at Donovan's. He had also included the warning that Donovan could be quite surly and prone to taking advantage of new customers and that she should use his name to ensure a fair deal. She wasn't sure how she felt about that. After all, everyone thought that Snape was dead. Why would his name carry any weight anymore?

Walking down the alley, she scanned the dingy shop signs, looking for Donovan's. When she finally found it, she grimaced at the disgusting things displayed in the window. They rivaled anything that had been in Snape's office.

Entering the shop, she headed straight for the counter, hoping the quickest way out of the shop would be to just tell the shopkeeper what she was looking for. Producing a small list, she slid it across the counter. "I require the following," she said in the most confident voice she could muster.

He looked at her list. "Difficult. Very difficult. And expensive. Very expensive. I'd say it'll take... at least two weeks, possibly as long as four for me to get everything. And it will cost 250 Galleons. Of course I'll be requiring that up front," he said in an unctuous voice

"Two weeks! What sort of a business are you running?" She was shocked at what he was telling her. "And 250 Galleons is quite excessive."

"You're talking about Acromantula venom. Not an easy thing to get."

"I believe that you are taking advantage of me. I shall take my business elsewhere." She could have used Snape's name, but she felt that would be betraying the secret of his survival.

"Be my guest," he said in a derisive voice.

She turned on her heel to storm out, but instead found herself bumping into Lucius Malfoy. Startled, all she could say was, "Oh."

"Having difficulties, my dear?" he asked smoothly.

It took her several seconds of waffling to try to formulate and answer, and in that time Lucius swept past her and approached the counter. "I believe the lady gave you a list," he said firmly, in a voice that dared argument.

"She did, and I quoted her a fair price. She turned up nose at it." Donovan tried to sound confident, but his voice cracked slightly.

Malfoy looked every bit as menacing as he ever had as he loomed over the shopkeeper. "I heard your price, and I don't believe it is fair. You wouldn't be trying to take advantage of her, would you? I will have you know that she is working on a rather important potion for me."

He stammered, "F-f-for you? Well, let me check my books. It is possible that in my haste I misquoted." He pulled a book from under the counter and began flipping through it. "Oh, yes. I was quite mistaken. Everything she has asked for should come to 125 Galleons." He could no longer conceal the fear in his voice.

Malfoy slammed his hand on the book to stop the incessant page flipping. "I believe you meant to say 100 Galleons."

"Oh, yes. One-hundred Galleons. That's what I meant, Mr. Malfoy. And I can have everything ready day after tomorrow," the man replied nervously. He turned his attention back to Hermione. "Come back day after tomorrow and everything will be ready for you, Miss."

"Thank you," she said quietly, startled at how easily Malfoy had gotten his way. Obviously his power had not diminished. Eager to be out of the shop, she pulled her cloak tightly about her and rushed toward the door and the fresh air beyond it.

Malfoy caught up to her as she paused a short way down the alley. "I hope you don't mind my interceding on your behalf, but I know that while Donovan is quite willing to take advantage of people, but his merchandise is also the best you will find here."

She didn't know what to think about his interference. "Thank you. You saved me the trouble of having to find another shop." Not wanting to spend time with him, she continued. "I... think I should be getting back. There is plenty of work to be done before then.

He strolled beside her, shoulder to shoulder. "Are you making headway?"

"Slowly, but I'm getting there. If you don't mind, I really do need to get back to my work." There was still something about him that she didn't quite trust. There had to be something more behind his desire to help Severus, and not knowing what it was bothered her. Unfortunately, she was expending all her energy on curing Severus and had no time to spend deciphering Malfoy's behavior.

"Of course," he said silkily. "I shall check on you in a few days to ensure that Donovan procured the appropriate goods for you. If there is anything else you require, my dear, please do not hesitate to ask for my assistance." He gently brushed her cheek and grinned gently before heading in the opposite direction.

Thankful for his departure, she Apparated back to Spinner's End, anxious to finish getting everything set up for the arrival of her Acromantula venom.

*****************

About a week afterwards, she was engrossed in her newest set of experiments, which seemed to be going very well. Suddenly, she became aware of someone knocking at the door... "Who could that be?" she asked herself. She quickly washed up and went upstairs to the front door. Wand at the ready, she slowly opened the door. "Ron? Harry? What are you doing here?"

"We could ask you the same thing," replied Harry.

"Yeah. This is Snape's house, isn't it?" Ron asked.

"First off, what are you two doing here? Then I'll answer your questions."

"Can we come in?" Ron asked.

She wasn't sure this was the wisest thing to do. She didn't want them to know what she was doing. "Not yet."

Harry tried to force his way in, but was repulsed at the threshold. "What the bloody hell?"

"Look, what are you two doing here and how did you find me?" She hated being interrupted and wanted nothing more than to get back to her research.

Ron sighed and launched into the explanation. "The Ministry owl came two days ago. When you didn't come home, I used a seeking spell to find you. This area looks kind of dodgy so I asked Harry to help me figure out what this house is."

"I did some research and found out this used to be Snape's house. Ron told me about the letter you received, so we were wondering what's up?" asked Harry. After a few minutes he added, "Hermione, please. Can we come in?"

She took a few seconds to reason with herself. On one hand, she really didn't want to get into it with them, but on the other hand, she was almost positive they were going to camp out on her front stoop if she didn't let them in. "For a little while, but I'm quite busy and can't take a lot of time to socialize with the two of you." She stood aside and said, "Come in."

They took seats in the living room and she purposely didn't offer them tea, not wanting to prolong the visit any more than was absolutely necessary.

"So what are you doing in Snape's house?" Ron asked.

"He left me the house because he had a very important research project in progress that he wanted me to finish. I just didn't think it was a good idea to tell you that he left me the house because I knew that you would make a very big deal of it."

"A big deal? Of course it's a big deal! Snape would just leave you his house to finish a research project?" Ron said, the volume of his voice steadily rising.

"Don't yell. This is exactly why I didn't want to tell you. And yes. Just a research project. It was being done here, so that's why."

"It just seems odd. A house is a big possession."

"Well, it's not like he had any family to leave it to, did he?"

Harry stared at his feet and Ron looked slightly embarrassed. "That's true. But you could have just told me."

"I was excited by the challenge and I just didn't want to get into an argument with you. If I had told you, you would have started asking a lot of questions that I still don't have the answers to. Right now you know everything I know."

"Are you sure? You aren't keeping any more secrets, are you?" Ron asked in a demanding tone.

"Yes, Ron. I'm sure." She normally didn't like lying, but in this case, she really wanted to keep the fact that Snape was still alive a secret for a little while longer. She wanted to wait until she had all the answers before she told Ron and Harry. The two of them would react poorly to her keeping that secret, but at this point she didn't care. Telling them would only raise more questions that she could not yet answer. And knowing Harry, he would insist that Snape be treated by professional Healers at St. Mungo's instead of by her.

"Don't you want to know what the owl said?" Harry asked.

"What owl?"

"The Ministry owl. The ruled on our disposition."

She had forgotten they had mentioned that. "Oh, right. So what have they decided?"

"They are going to award NEWTs based on our last grades at school."

"Well, that seems fair," she replied quickly.

Ron eyed her suspiciously. "That's it? You aren't going to bemoan the loss of a whole year of classes and all the wonderful things you could have learned?"

"Well, look at what we did while we were on the run. I would say that we learned much more about Charms and Transfiguration then we would ever have learned in a classroom, not to mention Defense Against the Dark Arts. It would be a waste of time and then having to tailor the tests... it makes perfect sense. And I can always look up anything I might have missed. I mean I have been reviewing Arithmancy texts..." As she had hoped her quick stream of thoughts on academics were enough to bore Ron.

"Okay, okay. I get it. I'm just surprised by your reaction. You were always so upset when exams got cancelled. Tell you what... join us for dinner to celebrate?" Ron asked.

"Yeah. I've found this great new place in Glasgow. I can send a message to Ginny to meet us at your place before we go," Harry added.

She really didn't have a reason to say no. In fact, it would draw even more suspicion if she did. And maybe she needed a break. "Okay. Just give me five minutes here to get stuff cleaned up so that the research isn't ruined."

"Five minutes," Ron said sternly.

Rushing down to the basement, she knew he meant it. And she didn't want them in the lab. It was good that NEWTs were being awarded based on their last marks. It would give her more time to work on her research without having to worry about studying for useless exams.

She paused. Ron was right. She really had changed. The old Hermione never would have thought of an exam as 'useless'. Well, it was a change for the better. There were definitely more important things than tests. And then once she had finished the antivenin, she could start looking for a proper job.