A/N: If you were following my tumblr (corvusdraconis), then you know where THIS story came from. This story is most definitely AU/Post Hogwarts, and so many people are alive that canonically died.

Help, I'm posting without supervision because I didn't want to stack more onto my poor Beta! I'm sorry for any mistakes you may find. Rest assured, when she does get to it, I will repost.

Chapter 1: Well… Crap

Neville Longbottom shuddered as he stepped into the Potions classroom and gave a small shudder. Years had been spent in dread of the Potions classroom, and becoming a Auror turned professor had not dispelled the sensation of dread that came over him the moment he walked near the threshold of the entryway.

"Neville," Hermione's warm voice called to him from beside a cauldron. "How are you doing?"

"Good, Hermione," Neville said with a smile.

"Hannah doing well?" Hermione asked with a small curve of her lips. "Pregancy treating her well?"

Neville blushed. "She craves the oddest things at the oddest times.

"Is that why you are here?" Hermione chuckled. "To beg for my secret recipe dilly beans and a jar of my special tomato sauce?"

Neville slumped. "Is it so obvious?"

Hermione laughed. "Only Hannah would inspire you to walk into the Potions Classroom for any reason, Neville, even if I am the one teaching in it."

Neville flushed. "I know I shouldn't hold the room against you, Hermione, but… hell, I don't even know why you let them rope you into training under S…nape when you had a perfectly good Ministry job."

Hermione snorted. "Politics was not the life for me, Neville. I could ask you the same, as from what Harry said, you made a perfectly respectable Auror."

"I always understood plants better than people," Neville rationalised. "At least when the venomous tentacula tries to kill you, you know it's not personal."

Hermione arched a brow. "So, what is the the flower pot?" Hermione asked, pointing her thumb at the bundle in Neville's arms.

"Oh!" Neville replied. "It's a horse moon flower. Well, at least, I think it is. Legend says that when these flowers were common, the centaurs roamed the land far more than they do now. Have you heard of it? Okay that was stupid of me, of course you have."

Hermione shook her head in amusement. "I know only what was written in the tomes in the library, Neville. It was the sacred flower amongst the centaur because when Chiron was poisoned and begged Zeus to let him die like a mortal rather than live forever in pain, his blood spilt upon the ground and the horse moon flowers sprung from his blood."

Neville nodded.

"They say, the flowers are what brought civility to the centaur, purging the drunken lawlessness that once plagued the centaur race," a low rumbling voice said from the doorway. "It's pollen gifted our people the ability to reason and feel shame, but also gave us knowledge of the the cosmos and prophecy, hunting and archery, as well as medicine and music."

"Firenze," Hermione greeted warmly. "Come in, my friend."

The palomino centaur squeezed himself through the door by ducking his head. "I thank you for enlarging the door for me, Hermione. The human-sized doors were… painful."

Hermione smiled. "I should open them up a little more. I keep forgetting how tall you are, Firenze."

"Nay, my two-legged sister, the door is fine. I can duck. I am more gladdened that I do not get stuck like a crab in a crab trap," Firenze chuckled.

"Crab sounds wonderful," Hermione replied with a grin.

"I will take you when we next leave to check our traps," Firenze said with a grin. "The colts and fillies will adore having someone to show off their prowess."

Hermione smiled at the thought of the young centaur scrambling along the shore to pull up the crabbing traps. "It amazes me how fast your people work when it comes time to harvest," Hermione said with a swift grin. "Even the young."

"We are a hunter and gatherer people, Hermione," Firenze said warmly. "Our life depends on efficiency."

Hermione tapped her head. "Knowing it and seeing in action are separate things." Hermione seemed to realise something. "Neville, are you trying to study the moon flower to see if it can help your parents?"

Neville gave a small but grim smile. "Yeah. There are many legends and even fewer factual studies, but one thing many of the legends seems to agree on is that it has healing properties. Maybe one of them… can help my mum and dad. I haven't been able to get one to bloom yet, but, maybe you could take a look at it? Study the sap? I'd really… I'd really appreciate it if you could."

Firenze peered at the small, almost innocuous, flower bud. "They say, amongst my people, that the flower blooms for the centaur, and only those with a centaur's heart will ever see it bloom for them. Even fewer will accept the gift it bestows."

"Believe me, if it helps my parents, Firenze," Neville said, "I would accept whatever gift it bestowed."

Firenze snorted, shaking his head, his mane falling about his shoulders. "My people are weaned on the stories that all gifts come with a price. The price of our civilisation came with the death of the greatest of our kind. We have great knowledge of the stars and cosmos, yet, because of how we look, few humans take us seriously. We are ageless once grown, yet, gone are the days when we were all immortal as well. Our colts and fillies are cherished because our numbers are not as they used to be. There is always some greater balance."

"My parents have already paid a price a hundred times over," he said shakily. "Surely that means something."

Hermione touched Neville on the shoulder, giving Firenze a sympathetic look. "I don't think Firenze means that your parents aren't deserving of a cure, Neville. He just means that the flower may have some side effects that make the possible positive effects harder to swallow."

Neville slumped a little and sighed. "I'm sorry, Firenze. I've just…"

Firenze shook his mane. "It is no trouble, Neville. We would all do many things for those we care about—you, your parents and I, my herd."

Neville shoved the pot into Hermione's hands. "Please, Hermione. Will you test the sap? Scrapings? Anything that might test positive for healing properties? Pomona tells me that mixing it with the other healing tinctures could have disastrous effects if I can't figure out what the base nature of the plant is." He trailed off, mumbling. "Please, Hermione. I want… I want my children to know their grandparents."

Firenze touched Neville's arm. "Neville," he said gently. "I know your quest for your parents is of great concern, but the horse moon flower was never meant for healing humans."

Neville looked torn.

Hermione touched his shoulder. "Look, Severus and I have a tea meeting tonight after rounds are done. I'll examine your flower, but if nothing comes of it, Neville, I don't want you to obsess over it."

Neville flinched as Hermione mentioned the DADA professor.

"The tomato sauce is in the second cupboard on the left in my storeroom, Neville," Hermione said, distracting him. "The dilly beans are on the fifth shelf to the right." She cradled the moon flower and pushed Neville towards the store room.

As Neville scurried off to get the jars of food, Firenze stared at the moon flower with concern. "I know you do not believe in divination, Hermione. I know you do not like to believe in fate, but will you forgive me for believing in them for your sake?"

Hermione tilted her head and stared at the centaur curiously. "What are you asking, Firenze?"

Firenze placed a hand on her cheek, gently running a thumb across her skin. "Some things cannot be changed, Hermione. Some fates cannot be averted anymore than Mr Potter could avoid his. Do you believe such things, Hermione?"

Hermione searched her friend's eyes. "You're talking with your head in the stars again, Firenze. I can never be sure what you are saying."

"Will you forgive me for believing in what you do not?" Firenze asked softly.

"Firenze, there is nothing to forgive," Hermione reassured him.

"You know, when you saved Bane's life from that poacher's trap, he said you had the heart of a centaur," Firenze recalled. "Did you know that was why our herd claims you as our sister?"

"I thought it was because you called me that," Hermione confessed. "Severus helped me save him too, you know. It wasn't just me."

Firenze gave a subtle smile. "Bane spoke for him too. High regard from one such as he—a humbling I never though to see from my herd brother."

"He was in pain, Firenze. He needed help," Hermione justified. "Anyone would have done the same."

Firenze shook his head. "No, sister. Not anyone. There are even those amongst my herd that would have contemplating his being caught in a poacher's trap as being cosmic karma."

Hermione made a face.

Firenze stared at the unopened flower. "Some gifts are earned, my sister, and they are delivered by the hand unknowing. I pray you do not think me selfish for hoping that one of people's legends are true."

Hermione touched the flower bud with her fingertip. "What legend is that, Firenze?"

Firenze hummed. "The horse moon flowers bloom for only handful of reasons and they will bloom only when the time is right. One is to create more moon flowers when the moon and stars are harmony, another is to announce the birth of a new centaur, and another is to bring peace to a mind seeped in violence or drunkenness. But, there is another reason the flower is said to bloom. To the worthy, it is said, the greatest gift is given, but the legends do not specify exactly what that is."

"Vague, my friend," Hermione chuckled. "Perhaps a vacation day in the middle of O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s week where I do not have to grade assignments."

Firenze chuckled. "Perhaps it is best that people do not know what the legends specify, lest our forests be swamped in humans looking for the moon flowers like your friend, Neville."

"Please do not be angry with him for abducted one of your flowers, Firenze," Hermione said with concern. "I know Bane takes any trespass in the herd's territory for any reason very poorly, even when Magorian tells him otherwise.

Firenze shook his head. "I will not reveal his crime to my herd, Hermione. To him, it is just an normally innocuous flower with the possibility to help his parents. I only wish it could. I fear he will be… disappointed."

Hermione touched the flower with her fingertip. "I will look at it. Perhaps, we will both be surprised. If not, well, at least I will have tried. I do want to help him find a treatment for his parents. He has lost faith in potions, I think, because they failed his parents, but he continues to try and make these herbal remedies instead. Pomona said that was the reason he took up being the Herbology Apprentice when he first quit being an Auror. As an Auror, he couldn't help his parents, but around many exotic plants, there was a chance he could."

Firenze seems thoughtful. "Pomona always had a respect for the life of the forest," he said after a moment. "The centaur had no ill with her. She was safe wandering our woods. We allowed her to take cuttings for herself because she always asked respectfully."

Hermione nodded with a small smile.

Neville returned with a few jars of dilly beans and tomato sauce in his arms. He was bruised across his face and wore a frustrated expression.

Hermione's eyebrows raised. "You opened the jars on the wrong shelf, didn't you Neville?"

Neville sighed. "Why didn't you tell me you were keeping black-claw face-punchers in a jar in the storeroom?"

Hermione and Firenze raised brows simultaneously.

"She is the Hogwarts Potion's Mistress, Mr Longbottom," a deeper voice intoned from the doorway. "What self-respecting Master or Mistress of Potions would not have a jar of black-claw face-punchers sitting in the storeroom?"

Neville froze in place, his eyes slowly sliding to the side to stare at the tall and foreboding figure of Severus Snape.

Snape's arms were crossed across his chest, pulling his cloak closer to his chest as his narrowed eyes glared at Neville.

Neville's hardened years as an Auror went fleeing down the corridors as Snape stared at him, and he gulped involuntarily. "Thank you for the sauce and dilly beans, Hermione. I will tell Hannah that she owes you for them."

Hermione snorted slightly. "Go home and take care of Hannah, Neville. I will let you know tomorrow if I found out anything with your flowery friend here."

Neville looked relieved. "Thanks, Hermione."

The Herbology professor nervously shuffled out of the Potions Laboratory, skirting past Severus with a quick rustle of his professor's robes.

"And what have you volunteered me for, Professor Granger?" Severus asked knowingly.

Hermione gave him an affronted look. "Who would do such a thing, Professor Snape?" Hermione quirked her lips as she emphasised the word professor. They had long since disposed with titles and last names, at least when students were not around, but Hermione could always tell when he was irritated when he relapsed into calling her Granger, Professor Granger, or the dreaded Ms Granger. Oddly enough, the dour wizard would often flinch when Hermione called him by his title in return, perhaps realising that Hermione's use of his given name had a far more appealing tone that he preferred to hear.

Five plus years as Master and Apprentice had, at the very least, put them on far better terms than they had been as teacher and student. They had formed a rapport that most of the staff at Hogwarts approved of. Minerva had said that since Hermione had come on staff, Severus was actually quite tolerable to be around. Severus' answer had stated, "well at least she isn't an insufferable know-it-all eleven-year-old anymore."

All of the snide jibes aside, Hermione had settled in well to the teaching side of Hogwart's life, and her Master's project had been the creation of an herbal healing balm for the centaur that worked like Dittany did on humans. The balm had a bit of an extra kick and was crafted using the natural and traditional plants the centaur normally used in their healing. She had mixed them until the effects were maximised and used it on Bane when he had been caught in a poacher's trap.

Since then, the truce between the centaur and Hogwarts included both the students and staff instead of only "the foals" as long as those entering the Dark Forest did not travel too close to the colony's main encampments without permission or escort by one of the centaur.

Firenze, now fully accepted back into his tribe, continued to teach Divination at Hogwarts, much to Trelawney's dismay, and students were taught traditional divination for their third year elective, centaur-centric divination for their fourth, and then they were allowed to choose a concentration for the years after. Students seemed to be equally divided between traditional and centaur divination, which appeased Trelawney's thought that she would lose her job to loss of interest.

Despite the drama between Trelawney and Firenze, life at Hogwarts had simmered down to a dull roar of almost subdued magical education. Students were given far more opportunities to express themselves with their magic, had far less stresses put upon them without a Dark Lord looming on the horizon or a Chamber of Secrets basilisk trying to murder them. House competition was still encouraged in regards to points, but students were encouraged to study together and make friends in all the houses. Courtyards were filled with mixed and mingled House members, and fanatical House loyalty was saved for the Quidditch pitch.

Minerva had implemented a new point system that rewarded team work, and students found that helping each other reach their goals gave them more points than blinding serving their own House. Gryffindor and Slytherin saved their rivalry for sports, but within the last few years, both Houses managed to mingle their tables in the Great Hall without starting brawls. The very halls of Hogwarts seemed to breathe out a sigh of relief, and as if to celebrate, the moving stairwells managed to behave for long stretches of time without trying to buck some poor student off onto the wrong floor or plummet to their untimely death.

Minerva had requested that Severus take the position of Deputy Headmaster when he adamantly refused to retake up the position of Headmaster from her. He stated that she would have been the most obvious logical choice had the war not worked out as it had, and he was just happy that he'd survived Nagini's attack to even return to life let alone teach.

The tabby Animagus seemed to much more sympathetic after the war. Harry's announcement in front of Voldemort had cleared Snape's reputation where no amount of reassurance from Albus Dumbledore had been able to. Neither of them were going to be bosom buddies after the war, but they had settled into something less immediately hostile. Harry seemed to finally realise that while Professor Snape was a git, he wasn't completely heartless, and Snape had finally come to terms with the fact that Harry was not completely the clone of his father.

Albus' written confession of what he had done for the ever nebulous greater good had done the rest to heal the rift caused by Severus' supposed betrayal of the Headmaster, and many of the old staff had begun to realise that Severus hadn't been the only one to harbour secrets during the war. The truth about his death curse thanks to the ring Horcrux had taken Minerva the hardest.

It had been thanks to Minerva that Hermione had been lured from her Ministry job into teaching. Minerva seemed to realise that Hermione was not content playing politics. After Hermione finished creating movements to offer freedom to House-Elves who truly wished to be free the opportunity to do, Hermione had taken on other tasks. She had moved on to advocate for more equal rights to the other sentient magical races such as the goblins and centaur. Hermione was quite done with the exhausting work it had taken to advocate for the each of the groups. And she often voiced that she considered teaching like a blissful vacation in comparison.

Thanks to Hermione's work, Hogwarts had the first magically inclined goblins and centaurs added to their rosters. The lack of tolerance and change found before and during the Wizarding Wars finally seemed to force the reality that all of the magical races were important and shunning potential allies by making them seem less than a human was only creating the next Dark Lord or supporters to the next uprising.

The goblins, after spend countless hours with Hermione discussing their needs and desires and having her represent them to the Ministry in even more countless debates, named her the Lady of Silver in honour of their most cherished metal. Hermione became one of the few known witches to become fluent in Goblin Gobbledegook, and Hermione seemed to realise that being privy to their language was perhaps the greatest honour that could be bestow upon not only a human but a witch. It was said that when Hermione visited Gringotts, every Goblin knew her on a first name basis.

The centaur had been a harder group to advocate due to their traditional want for isolation, but thanks to Firenze breaking the ice for her with Magorian, she had many successful talks about philosophy, tradition, and the needs of the centaur race.

Hermione being Hermione, she had gotten to know all of the Dark Forest herd by name, knew all their quirks, and had intimate details of centaur dynamics amongst the herd and with other centaur. Thanks to this, other centaur herds across the U.K., Scotland, and Ireland allowed her to speak with them, and eventually agreed to allow her to advocate for them. By the time she was done parlaying with all the different tribes, she had become one of the rare humans that allowed herself to be marked by each tribe's personal Mark, branding her as welcome amongst each of the tribes a neutral peacemaker.

When all was said and done, the centaur were no longer legally "beasts" nor were they classified as "beings" to be grouped the same as vampires and hags. Hermione's work, while ultimately successful, had drained Hermione's tolerance for politics so thoroughly that she practically jumped into Minerva's arms when the Scottish Headmaster offered her an Apprenticeship and teaching position at Hogwarts.

Hermione had admitted to the elder witch that after her work with the House Elves, goblins, and centaur, the Hogwarts Board of Directors were comparatively tame. Minerva and Severus had shared custody of Hermione as an Apprentice due to some strange Board imperative for new professor flexibility, with Minerva teaching her the ways of Hogwarts and Transfiguration and Severus grooming her to take Slughorn's place so the poor old wizard could actual retire again.

By the time Pomona Sprout had wanted to lure Neville into taking her position, the climate of the Board had changed again, no longer demanding professor flexibility, but Hermione had simply continued dual apprenticing because she had come to enjoy being close to both Minerva and Severus.

Five more years had passed as Hermione learned the other side of Hogwarts life, and by the time she stood on her own two feet as a Mistress of Potions and Transfiguration, everyone on the outside was convinced she wasn't human at all, but rather, an living library incarnate. Others that knew her simply thought she had finally found her true calling.

Now, at the age of thirty-seven, with a reputation built on her own merit rather than the shadow of Harry Potter, Hermione Granger welcomed the life of a professor and found herself teaching her childhood friends' children. Harry had asked her if she ever regretted not settling down and starting a family, but Hermione's somewhat sad expression came with the realisation that some sacrifices had to be made to accomplish what she had in the span of almost two decades. One of those sacrifices had been her relationship with Ron. Now, Hermione was teaching Ron and Lavender's oldest daughter, Rose as well as Draco and Astoria's Scorpius. Neville and Hannah were getting a late start on children, but Hermione knew it was only a matter of time before children would underfoot.

On quiet evenings during tea with Severus and Minerva, Hermione would confess that she couldn't imagine anyone being able to tolerate her in a dating relationship now that she far more set in her ways than ever she was as a younger witch. The once young insufferable and undeniably swotty know-it-all had grown up into a strange combination of Hermione Granger, Minerva McGonagall, and Severus Snape.

Minerva had chuckled as she sat in on one of Hermione's first classes. Taking a page out of Minerva's teaching handbook, Hermione sprawled over her teaching desk as a smug looking sea otter and watched the students file into her class. And taking a page out of Severus' teaching style, she tolerated no stupidity or horseplay in her Potions Laboratory. Yet, despite her strictness, Hermione was well loved as a teacher. While stern and intolerant of rule breaking, she was always highly approachable for help, and Hermione had become known as a professor who liked to have joint classes with other professors when the material overlapped. Many of those classes were taught in joint with Neville's Herbology classes, sometimes she would have Firenze come speak about how the sun and moon cycles affected magic how it could trickle down and affect potion brewing, and on another day she would have Flitwick come in and speak on various charms that were helpful around potion cauldrons.

One of the class favourites was when the elder Madam Pomfrey would come in and speak about healing potions and how they worked as well as how they shouldn't be used. Potion grades on the O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s were uniformly high, and many of those that continued onto N.E.W.T. level potions had a better grasp of potions than those from other schools.

Poppy had commented after the first year of Hermione's joint classes, there had been far less incidents of potion mishaps, overdoses, and accidental addictions and praised her for allowing her to come and speak during her classes. Hermione had simply smiled, stating, "potions are something we have to deal with on a daily basis. We may not make potioneers out of the majority of the students, but we can at least keep them from blowing each other up or poisoning each other on accident."

Oddly enough, even Severus had given Hermione his nod of approval over the changes she was making in the curriculum, though he did pause to jibe her over becoming Hogwart's new greasy Dungeon Otter. Hermione had huffed, spouting that otter fur was naturally oily to waterproof themselves. Severus had given her a rare quirk of both lips— a tiny smile that might as well have been a broad grin.

Severus gave a soft grunt as he peered at the pale flower bud in Hermione's arms, bringing Hermione back to the present. "I do not believe I have ever seen these flowers outside of the centaur inner territories. How did Mr Longbottom manage to acquire it?" He looked towards Firenze with an arched eyebrow.

"Not, I, brother," Firenze said with a shrug. "Neville likes to ask all sorts of questions of me, but did not ask my permission to gather this particular flower. I believe it would be to my best interest not to tell Bane or Magorian that he has been making forays into the woods for digging up one of our sacred plants. It is quite rare for the flower to flourish outside of centaur lands, so, in a way, it is a testament to his care."

"His project to cure his parents?" Severus asked idly.

Hermione nodded. "I told him I would at least do the analysis of the sap since the chances of it blooming for us would be quite unlikely. I do not wish to dissect the flower to get at the pollen, as the properties would most likely change due to the nature of the harvest. Most magical plants are…quirky. Also, I really don't want to be responsible for maiming a sacred plant."

"Wise choice, sister," Firenze chuckled.

Hermione gave a lop-sided grin. "And I don't want our four-legged brother to beat me up!"

Firenze snorted, tail swishing.

Severus eyed the moon flower with curiosity. His dark eyes looking it over. "Firenze, is there a reason the flowers are so seldom seen outside of areas inhabited by centaur? That cannot be a coincidence."

"They have always flourished around our people, brother," Firenze replied. "My dam used to say I was born in a patch of them and that is why my coat was so pale. I believed her for a long time until my coat finally turned gold instead of white."

"How long did that take?"

Firenze grinned. "A few decades."

Severus scoffed.

"About as long as it took the students of Hogwarts to finally believe you were not a giant vampire bat that would burst info flames with the slightest kiss of the sun," Firenze ribbed.

Severus glared at Firenze as Hermione tried to stifle her snicker into her hand. Her hand curved around her face, gentle tipping the flower towards her as she chuckled. Realising she was tilting the poor flower, she dropped her hand quickly, scanning over it to make sure it wasn't damaged.

The moon flower, curved into the gentle slope of a horse's head, whickered at her, depositing a fine layer of bright yellow pollen onto her fingers.

Hermione would have dropped the pot in surprise had Severus not been ready to assist, his hands grasping the falling pot and Hermione's hands together.

The moon flower curved the bell of its head around their joined fingers, whickered, and covered their hands in pollen.

"Severus!" Hermione babbled.

"Collection vial!" Severus muttered.

Together, the pair of them shuffled carefully together to the nearby laboratory table. As they tried to put the potted flower down, they found the moon flower had wrapped it's tendrils around their joined hands, entwining itself around their hands.

"Firenze," Severus snapped. "Is this normal?"

The centaur, who seemed to be locked in a fascinated stare, shook his head to clear it. "What? No, well, I have no idea. I've never had one attach itself to me."

"Glorious," Severus said. "Just our luck."

Hermione tried to untangle herself without damaging the plant, using both physical action and verbal spells, but the moon flower seemed to wrap even tighter around their joined hands. "It's like an octopus!" Hermione squeaked.

"Firenze!"

"Wh.. Yes?" the centaur replied.

"Vial, top drawer," Severus snapped. "Might as well collect some of this pollen and make this embarrassing situation worth it.

Firenze walked over to the laboratory table, inching around Severus and Hermione carefully due to his horse sized bulk. His flank bumped into the nearby table, causing the cauldrons and beakers to rattle, and Severus shot him a disparing look.

"Sorry, brother," Firenze said. "This room wasn't exactly set up for centaur."

Severus glowered as Firenze grabbed clean vial and unstoppered it.

"There is a small measuring spoon here by me. Use it to push the pollen into the vial, if you would please," Hermione said.

Firenze awkwardly lowered the vial down and used the spoon to push the pollen into the glass. The moon flower seemed to be annoyed with Firenze's ministrations and simultaneously wrapped more tendrils around Hermione and Severus's fingers and shook it's flower head at him. Petal lips pulled back to expose inner ridges that looked like horse teeth, and the plant snapped at him, dusting the pair with more pollen. Drool-like sap dribbled down over their fingers.

"Well at least we have a large sample of pollen," Severus sighed as Firenze hurridly pushed more pollen into the vial and avoided the flower's nipping, sap-dribbling teeth.

"Some warning about this would have been nice, Firenze," Severus quipped.

"I swear to you, brother," Firenze said as he carefully placed the vial in the holder on the table. "I have never seen this happen. As a colt, I used to pick them for my dam, and they never once clung to me like creeper vines.

"While we seem to be… incapacitated, Firenze, can you swab some of this sap for us?" Hermione asked. "There is a collection swab here by me."

Firenze paused as he looked around the table and finally reached for the stick with rounded end. Carefully he rolled it around over over their sap and pollen covered fingers, deftly avoiding the irritated moon flower. "Is this enough?" Firenze asked.

"Should be," Severus said, looking at the sticky collection swab. "Just place it in the tube there and cork it."

Firenze carefully did as he was told.

"S..Severus?" Hermione said groggily. "I feel, odd."

Firenze's head snapped around as there was a crash. Hermione slumped into Snape, and he staggered, trying to catch her while his hands were bound. He struggled against the tendrils, no longer trying to preserve the moon flower now that Hermione was collapsing.

"Hermione!" he exclaimed, straining. He sank to the ground with her, toppled over by their unsteady bindings and Hermione's odd dizziness. The tendrils from the moon flower, however, were stronger than goblin silver, or so they seemed.

Severus muttered a chain of spells, but nothing worked to loosen their grip. He felt them writhing against his skin like the movement of a snake. It did not pain him, but it did not release him.

Hermione was shivering against him. Severus used their joined hands to pull her close, using his body to cushion her from slamming against the floor.

"Hermione," Severus grunted as he nestled her under his head, pressing his face into her hair. "Firenze, some help here!"

The centaur struggled to pull both Severus and Hermione up into his arms. He attempted to pull the tendrils from their hands. "Severus, Hermione, can you shift into your Animagus forms?"

Hermione's eyes fluttered closed. Severus grunted. "No, something… something is diverting my magic." The Dark wizard's eyes fluttered and he slumped with Hermione.

Firenze gathered them both into his arms. "Hold on. I think Minerva will forgive me for galloping in the halls this time."

The centaur squeezed through the door, heaved the pair into his arms, and tore down the hallway, praying he didn't get stuck in the stairwell.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"How is this even possible?" Minerva stammered as she wrung her hands together. "Firenze?"

The palomino centaur shook his mane. "Believe me, Minerva. I have never seen this happen before. It is the flower that brought civility to the centaur. "If I had believed there was any danger at all, I would have warned them."

Minerva tugged on her robe sleeves as she fretted, pacing.

There was a creak as the main door the hospital ward opened and Neville came in, looking concerned. "You summoned me, Headmistress?" Neville asked, his face lined with worry.

"Neville," McGonagall said sternly. "What plant did you give Hermione to analyse?"

Neville's eyes widened. He looked to Firenze with worry. The centaur nodded at him grimly. "It was a horse moon flower, Headmistress," Neville said. His voice was steeled with his effort not to trip over his words. I… I have been culturing them in the greenhouse to research a cure for my parents."

McGonagall frowned. "As I understand it, these flowers are not usually found outside of centaur lands?"

Neville flushed. "No, ma'am. They are known to flourish only around centaur. The literature and legend described a moon flower that was known to be an exceptional healing flower. It was capable of healing both the mind and body. All I had was description and a drawing, but not a name. When I saw a patch of them when I was walking through the Dark Forest, I had to know. I dug one up and raised it in the greenhouse. I fed it, nurtured it, and simulated the conditions of the area I found it in. It flourished and sent out new rhizomes, but it never bloomed, even in the moonlight. I brought it to Hermione to test the properties." Neville stopped talking, realising he was babbling.

Minerva took in a breath. "Did you… experiment on the flowers in any way, Mr Longbottom?"

Neville gulped. Anytime the Headmistress reverted to Mr Longbottom made him revert to his twelve year old self being talked down to by his Head of House. "I fed it various fertilisers to keep it healthy, but nothing out of the ordinary. I mulched the pots, sprayed them with fresh fish emulsion, simulated the dappled sunlight, and…" Neville stopped talking as Minerva eyed him wearily. "Sorry, no I didn't do anything overly strange." Neville seemed to realise something. "Hermione, is she okay?"

Minerva closed her eyes.

"Merlin's bushy eyebrows!" Poppy's voice came from behind the privacy curtain.

"Poppy? What's going on?" Minerva asked in a half screech, her voice cracking with her emotion.

Poppy stuck her head out from the curtain. "Minerva, I think you need to come look at this."

"Firenze? If you would?" Minerva asked, gesturing to the curtain.

The centaur nodded, leading the way.

-o-o-o-o-o-

As Firenze looked behind the curtain, his breath caught in his throat in wonder.

Before him lay a vast carpet of horse moon flowers. Vines and tendrils, leaves and blooms waved by some invisible wind. A thick coat of pollen was settled over everything in front of him.

Hundreds of the centaur's sacred flowers were blooming over Severus and Hermione's still forms. They were completely covered in a large pile of foliage and blooms. As the witch and wizard breathed, pollen entered their lungs in a visible stream. Trails of sap were running across their exposed skin with a visible silvery blue cast.

Tendrils were moving like the slithering of countless hibernating snakes waking in the spring. Flowers trembled, whickered, and nodded their horse-shaped heads.

"Great Chiron," Firenze whispered reverently. "By the blood of Chronus and Philyra."

The centaur fell to his knees, dropping down to the ground as his human torso slumped in unmistakable bow of reverence. He extended his hands out, not touching, as if to feel the very magic in front of him.

Pollen horses galloped around his outstretched hands, bucking and playing. The flowers rustled, sounding like the gallop of countless hooves moving in unison.

"Poppy," Minerva gasped. "What is this?"

"I was doing my scans on them, and the flowers just started to branch out and replicate until they were almost covered. It happened in a matter of seconds, Minerva. It's like they are sleeping. I do not detect distress, but the flowers… I have never seen such a thing."

As they were speaking, vibrant moonlight cast down upon the bed of blooming moon flowers from the open windows. The flowers whinnied in unison as the pollen horses reared up in unison. A white glow of moonlight reflected off each of the flowers.

One by one, the pollen horses sank burst into particles of pollen and were inhaled by both Severus and Hermione. One by one, each of the flowers sank into the foliage and disappeared. The smaller tendrils slithered and then seemed to sink into the trapped wizard and witch.

The larger vines shuddered and fell away from the pair as a surge of cool lunar magic shimmered outward in a nova of power, blinding all who were unfortunate enough to have their eyes open.

Firenze, who had the forethought to cover his eyes with his arm, was the first to regain his bearings and refocus.

His eyes widened as he saw that Severus and Hermione's hands were still pressed together as though the tendrils had still bound them together, but the vines were gone. Instead, delicate blue and silver shimmered across the skin of their wrists in the form of inked vines. An image of the blooming horse moon flower delicately graced each of the wrists like a tattoo.

Movement caught his attention, and he saw two sets of pointed equine ears poking out of their hair. Satin black ears nestled in Severus' hair, and black tipped, honey-coloured ears poked out from Hermione's bushy hair.

Their teaching robes were scattered every which way, and the remains of both professor's lower garments were cast away as though something had busted out of them. As Firenze's eyes travelled lower, his curiosity far too strong, he gave a soft neigh of surprise. From the torso up, Snape and Hermione looked virtually unchanged, but from the torso down, a drastic transformation had occurred.

Severus' lower body was dark, glossy black horse with shiny obsidian hooves. Hermione's lower body was a deep honey golden brown that tapered into a light gold. Dark black socks adorned her lower legs, and a dark brown stripe went down her back leading to her brown and black tail.

Firenze could only whicker, instinctively giving the almost crooning call that would comfort a herd-mate.

Two sets of tufted ears flicked. Slowly, Severus' and Hermione's eyes opened, blinking ever so slowly as their eyes squinted in the moonlight.

"Merlin's pants!" Neville exclaimed with a cracking voice. His eyes were locked on the lower portion of Hermione's body. "I turned Hermione into a bloody horse!

It was probably good there was no one else in the Hospital Wing that particular evening because everything went straight to Hades after Neville fainted dead a way on the infirmary floor.