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A Matter of Time	By : AdaraB Category: Harry Potter AU/AR > Het - Male/Female Views: 7796 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns everything in the Harry Potter universe. I own nothing and I make no profit off of this story.

Chapter List
- 12
- 13
- 14
Chapter 13 – Potions

31 October

“Miss Grey, you’re early. Nearly half an hour so.” Snape said, astonished that she was early to their session. No one was ever earlier than need be to Potions class.

“Yeah, but I figured I could get a head start on the next potion I’ll be brewing since the one you had designated for today will only take a half hour to do. Do you mind?” She asked timidly.

“Not at all. I have no problem with you wanting to get ahead in your school work.”

“Thanks.” She said and walked to the supply closet to gather ingredients for the Dreamless Sleep potion.

Snape stared at the spot where she had stood for a long moment. He never ceased to be amazed with this girl. He had thought she would be a complete disaster as most of his students were when they began Potions with the exception of Malfoy and Granger. With their sessions taking place on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday nights he had come to realize that she was becoming quite adept at Potions. She was a fast learner and like Granger could recite the text at the drop of a hat. The only difference there was that she didn’t recite the text as Granger did so often that it annoyed him. Miss Grey could put things into her own words quite easily which was a nice change from hearing the text repeated over and over again.

He watched as she brewed her potion. Her movements as she sliced, diced and crushed the ingredients, swift and accurate. He wondered where she got this talent, why she liked Potions so much as she had told him before. When she was able to rest, as the potion had to simmer on low heat for ten minutes he asked her the question he had been thinking.

At his question she looked up. Professor Snape usually never spoke to her while she was in the middle of brewing.

“Oh, well I was majoring in Chemistry. It’s very similar. I finished high school early, three years early. I skipped three grades, fourth, seventh and ninth. My teachers thought I should have taken the exam to be given the title of a certified genius. I declined because I’m not a genius. A photographic memory doesn’t make you one either, it just helps you learn faster. The only reason I agreed to skip those grades was because the class material bored me half to death, there was no challenge, so I moved on up. I was about to graduate with my Bachelors Degree in Chemical Engineering. I was at the top of my class even though I was at least four years younger than the rest of the students. I had a job offer from a really prestigious company too… Now, that’s all down the drain.” She said miserably.

Snape had no idea what to say to that. He had not expected even one of those words to come flying out of her mouth.

“Well,” he said slowly, “you certainly have an affinity for Potions. You may want to think about becoming a Potions Mistress since you can no longer do your Chemical Engineering. I would be willing to take you on as an apprentice, after you have completed your N.E.W.T.s of course.”

“Really?” She said in complete shock, her face not conveying any other emotion.

“Well, you may think on it. You do have time to decide.” He replied thinking her indifferent to his suggestion.

“I don’t need time to decide, I want to do it. That is if you still think I’m good enough by the time I graduate.”

At the end of her sentence, her timer went off and she returned to her potion.

Severus went back to his grading, very pleased with the outcome of their discussion. She would make a fine Potions Mistress. He thought it would actually be a pleasure to work with her. He knew Granger was out to get the position as his apprentice and this would give him the perfect out from taking her on. He would however, need to find a way to keep her away from the Dark Lord. He would indeed find use of her outstanding abilities. Putting those more dreary thoughts aside, he went back to thinking of how he was rid of Miss Granger forever come this summer. Smirking to himself, he continued to grade the four essays she had done in advance and handed in to him the day before.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ashleigh was walking down the hall heading toward the Slytherin common room. She had promised Draco that she would see him at some point during the day but that point had yet to occur. The thought of being able to spend even a small amount of time with him put a little hop in her step. She had been spending most of her time studying which allowed her to get the reading for all seven years done in the last fortnight. She also spent half of her meals at the Gryffindor table since she found Harry is in fact her cousin. She knew just about everything about him now. Well, not everything. She knew for a fact that there are things that he is refusing to tell her and that it is probably for some stupid noble reason like protecting her. He was after all the protective sort, not that she was complaining. She liked that attribute in him. It had been a long time since someone had tried to protect her from the evils of the world.

The only thing she could foresee that she needed protection from however, was Blaise. He still came on to her on a regular basis but he had found a new seat at the Slytherin table, right across from her next to Draco. She supposed she should be happy about his relocating but it wasn’t as if he moved far. The exact spot across from where he used to sit wasn’t exactly what she had in mind. At least Draco was there to fend him off now.

Draco was another one who had become very protective of her. When he heard about how Blaise had treated her and the fact that Harry and Ron had to intervene, he was in all but a rage. He took Blaise up to the boy’s dorm to hash it out. Whatever went on, she would never know. When they came down they both looked perfectly fine, chatting like the old friends they were. She received no apology although she had not expected one. From that time on however, either Draco or Harry was with her just about full time. She suspected that they had spoken to each other about how to keep Blaise at bay. It was sweet that they cared about her enough to guard her from a very persistent pursuer.

Draco, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny had actually become friendly. She didn’t know if they would ever be good friends, but at least they were getting along and not threatening to hex each other at every turn. That was a nice change, one that she was proud to say that she made happen.

Ashleigh was lost in her musings when she was grabbed around the middle from behind causing her to elicit a scream.

“How’s my favorite cousin?”

“Harry, I’m your only cousin. Well, the only one you associate with any way. ” She said, turning to give him a proper hug.

“Yes, well, that’s less competition, isn’t it?” He replied with a cheeky grin.

“Where are you headed off to?” He asked as he let her go.

“Slytherin common room. I promised Draco that I would see him at some point today. I’ve been so busy that I haven’t been able to see much of him. How are the two of you getting along?”

“Pretty well actually. I never thought I would become friends with Draco; we had always been sworn enemies and all that. How are your sessions with Snape?”

“Oh, they’re great. I love Potions. If only every class was as interesting. I finished two of my potions today and handed in four of my essays yesterday. I have six more completed but decided to go easy on him and only turn in the four.”

“You know, you’re going to give Hermione a run for her money.” Harry said with an amused grin.

“I’m not here to take away any of Hermione’s achievements. She’s worked too hard for them. I had my own, once upon a time, but that time is over. Well technically it hasn’t come yet. You know what I mean.” Ashleigh slapped his arm as he started laughing at her.

“I know what you mean. I’ll let you go so you can spend some quality time with Draco.” Harry said, raising his eyebrows up and down suggestively. He knew that she liked him more than a friend even if she didn’t know it herself yet.

Ashleigh blushed at his meaning, turned and walked away calling “Prat” over her shoulder. She had picked up some very useful British insults in her two weeks at Hogwarts.

Harry just smiled as she walked away and playfully insulted him. He had always wondered what it would be like to have a brother or sister of his own. Ron and Hermione was the closest thing he had to siblings until Ashleigh had popped in from the future. The Weasley’s had always treated him like family, but when it came down to it, he wasn’t. Now he knew what it was like to have a sister, even if she was his cousin and he would be damned if he let something happen to her. He had made a personal vow the moment the potion had turned blue that he would protect her with his life. Now that he knew her better, that vow had not changed in the slightest except to enforce it further. He wouldn’t let another member of his family die because Voldemort wanted to kill him.

Silently, Harry walked back to Gryffindor Tower. His thoughts never swaying from what could happen to Ashleigh if Voldemort found out about her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Entering the Slytherin common room, Ashleigh looked around for Draco and found him sitting with Crabbe and Goyle. She honestly had no idea how Draco, smart as he is, hung out with two boys that were about as smart as a single amoeba combined. It certainly didn’t do anything for his social standing, not that he needed help with that. On the contrary, he was one of the most popular people in school. From what she heard, his social standing in school had increased since he had become friends with Harry. Apparently, being friends with the ‘Boy Who Lived’ made you very popular.

“Hey Draco, long time no see.” She said giving him her winning smile.

“Hi, have a seat.”

She took the seat next to him on the couch and smiled at the three boys. As soon as Crabbe and Goyle saw this, they turned tail and ran up to the boy’s dorm.

“I think they’re still afraid to talk to girls.” Draco said with a laugh, settling back and putting an arm around Ashleigh’s shoulders.

“I know of one I’m kind of afraid to talk to at the moment.” She murmured.

Draco noticed the direction of her eyes and followed it with his own. Pansy Parkinson was standing across the room having come from the girl’s dorm. She stood there staring at Ashleigh and Draco with one of the most dangerous death glares Ashleigh had ever seen. Ashleigh knew the girl was jealous of her relationship with Draco, but it wasn’t her fault that he didn’t like the stupid cow.

“Don’t worry about her; she’s too stupid to actually do anything. Do you want to go back to your room to talk?”

“Yeah, let’s go.”

As they left the common room, they didn’t notice Pansy running over to Blaise.

“Blaise! We need to do something about Draco and that cow he likes to hang around. I know you like her and I want Draco back.”

Listening to Pansy, Blaise slowly formed a grin on his face, a plot already forming in his head.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Once Ashleigh and Draco reached her rooms, they made themselves comfortable in front of the fireless grate. Ashleigh took out her wand and performed an ‘Incendio’.

“I don’t think I’ll ever get tiered of doing that.”

“I think you’ll be surprised at what you’ll get tiered of doing after a couple of years. How are your lessons coming along? You’ve been studying so much I barely get to see you anymore other than at breakfast or dinner, which reminds me, you weren’t at the Halloween feast!”

“I wasn’t hungry; I decided to do some extra Potions work instead. I figure that every bit I get done is one step closer to being in regular classes with everyone else. My sessions with the professors are going well. They said I’ll definitely be able to take my O.W.L. exams by Christmas. I’m already up to second year in all of my classes except for Potions.”

“I thought you were doing well in Potions?”

“I am, I’m at third year in that class. What, did you think I was still on a first year level?”

“Well, the way you said it was a bit misleading.”

“Professor Snape said he’d be willing to take me on as an apprentice after I graduate.”

“Really?” Draco said, completely shocked. She must be really good if his godfather was willing to give her an opportunity such as that. He knew many people that were interested in that position that wouldn’t make it as far as the Potions Master’s door.

“Well, that’s simply amazing. It certainly doesn’t happen very often that he is willing to agree to mentor someone.”

“I didn’t ask. He offered.” She told him, a little put out that he thought she would ask him such a thing after only two weeks of his tutelage. Did he really think her so vain?

“Oh, sorry. He just gets so many requests from students about that position; I just assumed you had too. I didn’t mean to offend you.” He said, rubbing her back gently.

“It's alright, I forgive you.” She replied, leaning her head on his shoulder. “Hmm, this is nice.”

He could tell she was tiered and by the time he said “Yes, it is,” she was already fast asleep. Very carefully, he picked her up and took her to her bedroom. The coverlet was already turned down so it was a very simple process to get her under the covers. Thankfully, she had taken her trainers off when they had settled on the couch so all he had to do was tuck her in.

Draco stood back and stared at her for a few moments and suddenly wished he had enough guts to tell her how he feels about her. He had thought about doing it that night while they were sitting by the fire talking but decided it wasn’t quite the right time. Knowing he was doing the right thing by holding off, he gently kissed her forehead and exited her room.

As he left her rooms, he nearly ran into Professor Snape.

“Draco, is Miss Grey still up?”

“No Sir, she just fell asleep while we were talking. I heard you offered to take her on as your apprentice. I must say I was surprised to hear it.”

“The girl has an exceptional hand in the art of potion making. I wouldn’t want that to go to waste. It has been an obscene amount of time since I have come across someone skilled enough to be even adequate in the position. I must say that her work is rather refreshing. I had hoped to return her essays to her tonight. No matter, I shall see her in two days time, I’m sure she can wait that long for her marks. Good night Draco.”

“Good night Sir.”
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A Matter of Time