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All My Agony Fades Away	By : astartelydianna Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Snape/Hermione Views: 5365 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any recognisable places, characters or plot lines and I make no money from this story.

Chapter List
- 5
- 6
- 7
Author’s Notes: I actually don’t really have anything worthwhile to say so on with the story!

Disclaimer: You know the drill people! I don’t own anything recognisable! If I did I’d be able to afford a better laptop!

Chapter Six

Hermione smiled as she made her way up to the great hall that morning only to see couples exchanging gifts everywhere and the cherubs singing at the entrance. Fortunately the castle was decorated slightly less...”enthusiastically” than in previous years. Dumbledore has taken great delight in brilliant pink, red and white ribbons, banners, flowers and hearts everywhere. Minerva had opted to add some garlands of flowers and greenery throughout the castle but that was about all save the great hall. The cherubs flew at the entrance and some inside, inside she found more garlands and bunches of flowers as well as table decorations of white candles and red,, white and pink rose petals. Over all the decorations were a lot more tasteful in Hermione’s opinion.

Ginny grinned up at her as she passed their table, in her arms a large bouquet of flowers.

“They’re lovely Gin.” Hermione smiled.

“From Harry, I got him sweets.” She grinned back, gesturing to Harry and Ron tucking into Harry’s chocolates. “Men are so easy to please.” Hermione laughed as she made her way to her seat at the head table.

“Morning Hermione, happy Valentine’s day.” Gideon smiled, handing her a rose as he sat next to her. Hermione smiled and flushed as she placed the rose next to her plate.

“Thank you.” She said quietly. She felt a little guilty having not got anyone a valentine’s gift, she had just assumed that she wouldn’t get one...after all she wasn’t seeing anyone and didn’t think anyone was interested in her. “You didn’t have to give me anything.”

“You said you didn’t have anyone and no beautiful young woman should be left out on Valentine’s day.” He told her fondly.

“Tell that to every other year of my past.” She laughed then stopped mid laugh suddenly feeling rather embarrassed. “You think I’m beautiful?”

“Of course.” He chuckled.

“Thank you.” She whispered, then on impulse she leant over and pressed a kiss to his stubbled cheek as a thank you.

~*~*~

She could tell it was Friday because all the students were already winding down ready for the weekend as they always did, not that she could blame them if she didn’t have her session on Saturday’s she’d probably be happy for Friday too...then again maybe it was Valentine’s day cheering everyone up?

“If you aren’t going to stop daydreaming and make yourself useful you may as well get out of my classroom.” Professor Snape barked at her as the students filed out.

“Excuse me? I wasn’t aware I was daydreaming at all...” she protested.

“You’re just like every other wretched female in this castle on Valentine’s day, head in the clouds thinking about whatever poor victim that was unfortunate enough to fall for their feminine wiles.” He muttered. “It is not helpful to me to have you daydreaming in this classroom.”

“I wasn’t day dreaming! I don’t have a man in my life to fall victim to my feminine wiles of which are in short supply I’m afraid!” she snapped. “Still if you think I’m not being of any use to you I’ll go and leave you in peace.”

“Professor Gilwing seems to be falling for them just fine like any other idiot male led around by his genitalia Miss Granger so don’t play coy with me and don’t lie. If you intend on spending the rest of your day fantasizing then please do keep your word and leave me in peace.” He said firmly.

“For your information Gideon gave me a flower because he knew I had no one else to give me one and said no one should feel left out on Valentine’s day! There was nothing more to it than him being a considerate friend and colleague! Maybe you are in dire need of receiving a Valentine’s gift yourself to stop you being such an arse!” she screamed before storming from the room. As soon as she reached her private rooms and shut the door firmly behind her she felt her heart hammering and herself fill with dread. She had shouted at a teacher...a colleague and her Potions Master! She sank slowing down onto her sofa in horror, he could terminate her apprenticeship for that...and knowing Professor Snape her probably would.

Hermione didn’t bother leaving her rooms for lunch or dinner, she didn’t want to risk incensing Professor Snape any further any time soon. Maybe if she let him cool down he’d let the incident slide...it wasn’t likely but it was the best that she could hope for.

Meanwhile her Professor was continuing his day as normal, although in a worse mood than normal meaning many points were lost by nightfall. He hadn’t meant to get into a bickering match with the young witch but Valentine’s day was just one of those days he hated more than most. It put all the students in a stupid mood and also served to remind him how never once had he actually had someone to celebrate the ridiculous holiday with. He wasn’t overly bothered by that of course but sometimes he thought it would have been nice to have settled down with some witch...of course it was too late for him to do that now; he was too dark and bitter now for starters and would only make a woman as miserable and bitter as he was in the long run.

So of course seeing Miss Granger so young and with her life ahead of her being charmed by the Dark Arts Professor had ruffled his feathers in a “if I’m not happy, no one else is allowed to be either” kind of way. Also he thought that Professor Gilwing was an idiot, but he thought lots of people were idiots so that wasn’t really relevant. Hermione Granger however wasn’t an idiot and despite her other faults she could do far better than a slightly more intelligent version of Ronald Weasley...because that is what the DADA Professor appeared to be to him. Or perhaps a slightly less useless Lockhart?

~*~*~

Hermione received an owl from Ginny first thing the next morning, which was surprising because it was a Saturday morning and the day after Valentine’s day so she had assumed that she would be having a lie in after staying up late with Harry last night.

‘Mione,

That’s three missed meals, I’m officially worried! Professor Gilwing didn’t know where you were and was worried too, so I just thought I’d warn you in advance that if you don’t show for breakfast this morning McGonagall will be paying you a visit to check on you. If you don’t come speak to me later, I’ll be tracking you down myself.

Hope you’re alright.’

Hermione sighed, it was breakfast time and she wasn’t dressed. She quickly pulled on yesterday’s clothes as they were closest and headed up to the great hall to face her fate. If the Headmistress got involved it would only make things worse with Professor Snape when the time came and make everything into more of a big deal.

Harry caught her sleeve as she passed the table on the way to her seat and she realised not just Harry but also Ron, Ginny and Neville all focusing their attention on her.

“You alright?” he asked.

“I’ll be fine.” She nodded.

“Snape being an ass?” Ron asked with his mouthful, before choking on it causing Ginny to clap him harshly on the back.

“Ron, swallow then talk.” Hermione chided. “I’ll explain everything later guys...Gryfindor common room after dinner tonight?”

She made her way to her seat and avoided looking at the dark figure at the end of the table and took her usual seat. Gideon made conversation with her like always, it proved to be at least a partial distraction from the dark presence the other side of her.

“I’ll see you later.” He told her. “No more missing meals I hope.”

“We’ll see...” she murmured to herself, noticing that the miserable potions master was also leaving.

“You decided to join us today Miss Granger.” Professor McGonagall commented.

“Sorry, I was...busy yesterday I lost track of time.” She replied. “I didn’t realise anyone would worry so much.”

“I trust we can blame our dear Severus for your absence.” The older witch said sagely. “Obviously he hasn’t said a word and won’t admit to a thing but he forgets how well I know him. What did he do?”

“Nothing worse than usual...” she sighed. “It was me really; I lost my temper with him and might have shouted a few choice words...” She was surprised when the Headmistress laughed out loud at her and stood from her seat.

“You’re not the first and you won’t be the last dear.” She said reassuringly leaving Hermione to finish her breakfast. She picked around at her plate a little more before reluctantly glancing at the clock; she had to be in the dungeons ready for her private potions session in three minutes. She swiftly made her way there filling with dread a little more with every step...where was that Gryfindor courage when she needed it?

She made it into the classroom about thirty seconds after nine o’clock and went and stood behind her desk to wait for Professor Snape, if she was lucky he wouldn’t even realise that she had been a tiny bit late. Sure enough he swept out of his office less than a minute later and said nothing of her time keeping instead placing the base potion she had created last weekend in front of her in a cauldron and then placing an open book next to it.

“Finish this.” He told her abruptly before heading into her office again. Hermione wanted to speak up but didn’t, if he was going to ignore yesterday than she would also. She glanced over the second and third page of the potion that she had started dubiously, she had never made this potion before and some of the steps towards the end looked fairly complicated. She shrugged to herself knowing that she could do little other than follow the instructions that she was given so she gathered her ingredients and began brewing.

Two hours later found her practically sweating as she tried to drop in the last ingredients in time with the stir patterns. She added the lavender oil a drop at a time as instructed and continued to stir in rhythm. The once the last drop had been added all that was left was to leave it on a low heat with continuous stirring. Her arms ached immensely by now and judging by her Professor’s smirk as he occasionally crossed the room to his desk and back to his office he knew full well she was exhausted by now.

She noticed that he started to check on her more and more often towards the end of the potion and finally came to hover at his desk in the last fifteen minutes of it. Determinedly she continued and kept glancing at the potion to check that it looked how it was described in the book. It wasn’t until she got a waft of the potions scent that she faltered in her stirring, it was at that point that she vaguely noticed her Professor creeping up on her but she didn’t really pay him much attention as it was taking all of her concentration to keep stirring as her eyes fought to close themselves. She continued to stir with one hand and reached blindly behind her for her stool to sit on for the final minutes, as she reached for the stool a hand took over from hers in stirring the potion. Seeing Professor Snape take up the final four minutes of stirring she let herself flop onto the stool and sagged.

It would appear that the anti-insomnia potion was powerful enough to make her tired just from smelling it. She noticed her Professor turning the heat off and placing a lid over the cauldron to allow it to cool without the fumes affecting anyone before stepping away.

“Feel better?” he asked her arching an eyebrow.

“You knew that it’d affect me.” She commented, realising that actually she did feel better. She felt more relaxed than she had in weeks, her arms ached a little and she was tired but she was so relaxed...physical work was obviously good for the soul.

“Of course, if you had been in a normal state of mind recently I would have forewarned you to breathe through your mouth only.” He commented dryly.

“Normal state of mind?” she asked, she felt indignant and had meant for it to come out sounding more annoyed but she was too relaxed to fight.

“Clearly Miss Granger you are in need of a decent amount of sleep and some time to relax. Your attitude recently has been far from becoming of a young lady, even for a Gryfindor.” He replied.

“But...you were mean to me, on Valentine’s day...people are supposed to be nice of valentine’s day.” She pouted.

“In all your years Miss Granger have you ever known me to be nice to anyone for any reason?” he asked.

“I saw you being nice to a first year Slytherin once, he was crying...and it was sort of nice for you to tell me about my NEWTs when you didn’t have to...so yes Professor you have been known on the rare occasion to be nice.” She pointed out.

“I shall endeavour to try harder...the occasions you speak of must have been an oversight...” he told her causing her to laugh out loud.

“A joke Sir?” she laughed.

“That too has been known to happen on occasion.” He murmured.

“Before you go back to your normal self which I’m sure you will...” she said quietly, staring at her hands. “Why haven’t you taught me anything so far, you haven’t marked anything or given me feedback...how am I supposed to know-” She stopped talking as he held up at hand to interrupt her.

“Did you need some form of instruction to help you brew the potions that you have covered so far?” he asked her, she shook her head. “And to your knowledge were they successful?”

“ Well yes but-”

“Then why do you need teaching or feedback? If you are only looking for praise Miss Granger I would think you would know by now that I am not going to be giving you praise for completing a satisfactory potion that we both know you are already capable of brewing.” He replied. “I am not here to satisfy your need for constant approval, I am here to teach you and teach you I will, we have nearly covered all of the more basic potions for your degree now and things will start to get more challenging but even so I believe that my role for the moment although I may now have to supervise a bit more due to the more complex and volatile nature of the potions you will be brew you should still be capable of brewing most of them from instructions with little assistance.”

“So what will you teach me?” she asked.

“If we can cover nearly all of the brewing from instructions in this first year, then we can work on theories, experiments and researching next year and that is when I shall be teaching you. You may be capable of following instructions in books but you will find it harder when you have to think for yourself for once, improvise and create your own adjustments to existing potions perhaps create a whole new potion of your own. I have never thought you incapable at potions and that is why you always received acceptable marks, however your work was never inspired either, it lacked the intention and passion that makes a potion more effective and that is why you never received any praise in my class. After the summer Miss Granger I expect you to put down your precious books.” He told her.

Hermione couldn’t quite work out whether to be complimented or insulted, it was probably the most that he had ever spoken to her in one go. So Gideon was pretty much spot on with his assumption on Professor Snape’s lack of feedback...interesting.

Author’s Notes: So I’m hoping by now that this story has gained some interest, even if only a little. I know it’s pretty slow going but bare with me this is going to be a long haul kind of story
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All My Agony Fades Away