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"To Change Your Life"	By : AnasumiHideki Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Snape/Hermione Views: 7884 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 4
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I make no money from writing this here story.

Chapter List
- 9
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- 11
Hermione and Severus began busying themselves with the antidote. He had no problem brewing the Potion. As volatile and evil as the Potion was, Severus found that it wasn't difficult to brew. For him. Hermione had regrettably failed at it. Yet, the thing standing in their way was figuring out the key ingredient in the antidote that would ultimately take away at least the painful side effects.

Slughorn, as per Dumbledore's request of him, allowed Severus and Hermione to utilize his lab. Being that Severus was to become Slughorn's apprentice anyway, he entrusted it to him, fully. Severus had been able to do his homework in advance, wanting to spend at least a week devoting all his time to this endeavor. Hermione was also in the lab with him more often than not.

Now, Severus was administering the Drink on a specimen, followed by his fourth trial of antidotes.

"Fuck!" he exclaimed with an annoyed growl. Hermione peered around him and frowned, seeing he'd killed what seemed to be the tenth toad. Severus sighed in frustration as he may as well have thrown himself down on the sofa. "I have never failed this spectacularly at an antidote. Or any Potion for that matter. Wolfsbane isn't as difficult as this." he fumed, rubbing his face with his hands. Hermione sat beside him, placing a gentle hand on his back. She began to rub small circles between his shoulder blades, noting that he was very tense. She felt horrible knowing she was the cause of his stress. "I'm sorry." she whispered.

"Hm? What are you sorry for? You're not the toad which keeps fucking dying. The whole point we're doing this is to ensure there's no physical pain when the time comes." he groaned as he closed his eyes, thoroughly enjoying her massage. "We'll figure it out,... It's only been two days." she reasoned quietly. Severus abruptly rose from the sofa, going back to the table to busy himself with another cauldron.

"You never would give up on anything." Hermione smiled thoughtfully as she began adding ingredients to her own few cauldrons. "Having an argument with you was... So pointless." she laughed. "Pointless, because anyone who tried would always end up losing. You were... are, the most intelligent man I have ever met in my life." she looked up to see Severus watching her, listening to her speak. "I have so much faith that you will figure this out before I do. If we don't figure it out together, that is."

Severus watched her for a little longer before he spoke again. "I'd like us to figure it out together." he said, making her smile. "Then we will. I promise. Or we could just be lazy and use a bezoar." she joked.

"A bezoar..." he repeated, eyes growing wide. "That might be it..."

"Huh? Severus, I was only joking... I don't think a bezoar could counteract what Drink of Despair does to a person,-"

Severus held up a silencing hand. "No... Perhaps, putting a bezoar into the antidote is the answer."

Hermione thought about it for a moment. "Yeah..." she said slowly. "Maybe if we grind it up into a powder it will work. An even distribution. It's worth trying."

Severus nodded, feeling as though they might make a bit of headway, but he didn't want to get his hopes up. Hermione retrieved the stone and began crushing it. Soon she had it ground into a fine powder. "What about Black Oleander? Isn't that a key ingredient in the Drink?"

"Snake venom." Severus thought aloud, crossing his arms. Hermione watched as a thoughtful expression blanked his face while she waited for him to continue. She smiled thinking how she so enjoyed his dramatic pauses. "People use snake venom in the the antidotes for their bites." he finally stated, moving over to the cauldron again. He took her bowl of ground bezoar and added it to the Antidote. "Just a comparison, if you will. What poisons... can aid to cure. We'll try three pedals from the Oleander at first. Being that the flower is highly toxic, it wouldn't be wise to use any more than that. I might begin to feel a little remorseful if I keep killing these damn toads." he smirked at Hermione before crumbling exactly three dried black pedals over the cauldron. "If this doesn't work with just the bezoar and the pedals... I have another idea in mind."

"What's that?" Hermione was intently watching him stir the cauldron.

"Rue. It isn't a commonly used ingredient. We'll try this first." Severus carefully dipped the tip of the dropper into the antidote, which, surprisingly had remained quite cool despite the flame beneath it. He summoned yet another toad, and had Hermione give it a good dose of the Drink. They watched as the toad's legs began twitching; it's tongue coming out of it's mouth to lull at the side while it made choked croaking sounds. Hermione gently forced it's mouth open, allowing Severus to dropper the hopefully successful antidote.

They watched with much anticipation. After a few moments, they were ready to jump for joy, as the toad's breathing became normal. Yet, the toad's breathing went past normal, to shallow, to just plain non-existent. Severus narrowed his eyes and scowled. "We were close. I think perhaps adding a few leaves of Rue will work. It's sad, really. The Drink doesn't actually kill you. It's my damned antidote that's killing them. It's counteracting with the Potion. There needs to be another ingredient to stabilize it."

He added exactly two leaves of Rue to the cauldron, stirring once clockwise, and then twice, counter. "I hope this works. Even just a stirring method can make or break a Potion. As I'm sure you know." he sighed, once more summoning another toad. Once again, Hermione administered the Drink, and again they watched as the toad flipped onto it's back; legs twitching while it's tongue fell from it's mouth, as it made horrible croaking sounds. Again, Hermione gently forced it's mouth open while Severus filled the dropper. He held his breath as he dropped it in.

He and Hermione stood and watched closely, bent over side by side, watching the poor amphibian's breathing return to normal. Hermione kept her fingers crossed as they stood and stared at it for twenty minutes straight. It still hadn't died.

"That's a good sign..." she grinned. Severus nodded in agreement. "I think we should monitor him for twenty-four hours though. Just to be safe. Hopefully we will be able to call it a success."

At that moment, Albus entered the room, smiling brightly as he came.

"Hello, Headmaster." Hermione greeted him warmly.

"Good afternoon, you two. Have you had any luck?"

Severus stepped aside, letting Albus view the toad which was now lying on it's belly, breathing deeply as if it were sleeping. "Ah. I would say so. How long has it been since he was given the antidote?"

"Nearly twenty-five minutes. He's lasted the longest out of all of them. I think I'm going to monitor him for a day and check his progress to see if he lives through the night to this time tomorrow." Severus explained, gently picking the toad up, depositing his limp, yet breathing form into a damp specimen cage.

Albus smiled, still surveying the toad. "He looks rather relaxed. Doesn't seem to be in any amount of pain. The Drink causes severe pain that can last for days, even if the mind-terrors have worn off. I'd be willing to wager that you've got yourself a success here, Severus. If so, fantastic job." he praised the young soon-to-be Potions Master.

"If Severus' antidote is a success... Do you think that we will be ready to venture to the Locket tomorrow evening, Miss Granger?" Albus asked, peering over his spectacles; eyes twinkling almost expectantly.

Hermione nodded slowly. "I believe so, yes. I suppose you'll want the details... When we get into the cavern, there will be a wall blocking our entrance. We'll have to "pay" to pass. A payment of blood. There is a small boat under the water that will carry us to the middle of the water where the basin containing the Locket will be. Once there... I'm going to be the one to drink the Potion in it."

Severus narrowed his eyes, glaring hard at Hermione. "No. You're not." He hadn't ever seen first hand what it did to a person, but being that he'd been testing it on toads for two days straight, he could only imagine.

"I hate to break it to you, but... I am. It's a risk I'm ready and willing to take." she stated firmly. Severus looked as though he wanted to throttle her.

"You insufferable witch." he grumbled, turning back to the work station to begin clearing it off.

Albus watched the scene with much interest. "I can most definitely see it." he smiled happily before turning to exit, leaving Hermione and Severus slightly confused as to what he meant.

Severus seemed to be refusing to speak to Hermione as they made their way back to the common room. When they entered, it was thankfully deserted. Hermione sat on the sofa and watched as Severus walked past her, still not saying a word. He disappeared into the bathroom and didn't emerge again for the next half hour.

She decided she would leave him be, having become quite familiar with his mood swings over the years she spent as his student. Then, the few months she spent, chasing after him.

As he let the water beat on him, he thought about seeing Hermione in hysterics. It was something that he most definitely did not want to witness. He didn't want to see her in any kind of pain. Even if they did have an antidote for it. The effects of the Drink would still wear on her, no matter what. No doubt about it, she would be in the hospital wing for the next few days if he allowed her to do this. However brave he knew she was, he just couldn't get his head around why she would volunteer to do it. Yet, then again, he could. Everything she was doing, she was doing (mostly) for him. Because she loved him that much.

Dried and dressed, Severus took a seat next to her. "I'm sorry." he told her, turning to face her. "I don't want to see you in pain. Even if it is just emotional." he said.

Hermione smiled sadly as she closed her book, also turning her body on the sofa to face him. "I can't let anyone else do it, Severus. Dumbledore, or you. I can't let it happen. It has to be me. I promise you, I'll live. The most that it will do after I have the antidote is make me very tired, and chances are I'll be laid up for a few days, but that's fine. At least with the antidote, I won't have any physical pain."

Severus sighed, shaking his head. "There's no swaying your decision then." Hermione grinned, threading her fingers in his hair as she brought her lips down on his. Severus closed his eyes as a soft moan escaped him. She closed her lips over his as if desperate to swallow the sound of it. A familiar heat began to pool in her core; an exciting throb she knew she would have to ignore. Slowly, he grudgingly moved apart from her and ran his fingers lovingly through her hair. "I have to go check in on my toad." he smirked at her, making her giggle. "Okay then. Let's go check on that toad." she smiled, gently cupping his cheek.

-----

Hermione and Severus stood, once more staring hard at the unconscious toad, watching for even the slightest change in it's breathing patterns. "You know," Hermione whispered, as if not to disturb the sleeping amphibian. "I think I kind of like this toad. We should give him a name."

Severus shrugged. "I don't normally give names to the receivers of my cruelty. It seems a bit... Sadistic to me." he disagreed as he dipped his quill into an ink pot to take a few notes on the current state of the toad, and the time.

"Sadistic? To be fair, Severus... You're a bit sadistic by nature." she teased him as she also began writing on her own parchment, the ingredients they'd used for the antidote.

Severus rolled his eyes as he crossed his arms. She looked up to see him staring down at her with that same scrutiny in his eye that he always had. "Fine then. What label do you have in mind for this unfortunate amphibian?"

"Hmm..." Hermione thought as she finished writing. She laid her quill down and pressed a finger to her lips as she went over the names she knew. "Ah! How about... Edukas. It means "successful." I think it's quite fitting." she beamed, smiling at the sleeping toad. "He survived. He deserves a name."

"He might survive, Hermione. Either way... Whichever name you choose shall be his. Come. We'll check in on him again in the morning." Severus gestured to Hermione to follow as he turned to leave the laboratory.

Hermione bent to look into the cage once more. "Goodnight, Edukas. I believe you'll survive. Severus doesn't believe in himself enough, but he's a genius. Don't you think?" she stuck her finger through the wires to gently stroke the toad's back
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- 11
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"To Change Your Life"