One Minute Of Your Time

A/N: I'm back with a new story. It came to me while I was stuck inside for basically six days during Hurricane Matthew and we had no power so there was not much else to do but write. I am thinking of making this into a three part series. Let me know what you think.

Disclaimer: I make no profit from this work. All characters belong to JK Rowling. I just like to borrow them from time to time.

It could not have happened on a worse night. They had been working in the lab for nearly 48 hours straight. They were so close to a cure he could almost taste it. Their work had been so promising as of late; all that was left to be done was add some mandrake root and they would be done. He had plans to celebrate with Lucius at a pub in London that night but it looked like that was clearly not going to happen. The bloody door wouldn't move. It was locked and shut tight. It didn't make any logical sense since the door was supposed to lock from the inside, not the outside.

"Severus, it something wrong?" His colleague asked from somewhere behind him. He assumed she was packing up their supplies they had used that day.

"It appears the door has managed to lock itself from the outside." He replied.

"But that's not possible. It locks from the inside." She replied without thinking.

"Thank you for that trivial piece of knowledge Miss Granger. I know the door is supposed to lock from the inside. I'm telling you it is not however." He replied testily.

Hermione frowned. "Don't get snarky with me. I didn't lock the door." She stated as she came up next to him. "Here, move out of the way and let me try."

Snape made a grand gesture of stepping aside and Hermione sighed. He was clearly in one of those moods. They had both been working in the Ministry for about five years as Potion Masters. The first year Hermione had been his apprentice but quickly graduated and took her rightful place besides him. In those five years she had come to realize the many sides of Severus Snape and learned to see past his outward surly nature. It was probably no small part of him letting her see past his walls but still it counted. Hermione was extremely thankful for that, she counted him amongst her closest friends and relied on him just as much as he did her.

"Have you had any success yet Miss Granger?" He asked from his position on one of their work benches.

"No, but you already knew that." She sighed as she stood up and took a seat near him. Severus merely smirked. It was so easy to get under her skin.

Hermione saw the smirk and started to get frustrated. "It's not as if I want to spend my night here with you either, no need to be an arse."

Severus said nothing. He had never said he didn't want to spend the night with her. In fact, the opposite was true but he would never tell her that. He wasn't foolish enough to believe she would ever see anything in him.

"Shouldn't we alert someone that we are here?" Hermione asked.

"It is almost midnight. No one else is here but if you would like to try, be my guest. Our best hope is just to wait until the first workers start to arrive around eight in the morning." Snape explained.

Hermione knew he was right but she couldn't just sit back and wait; she had to try something. She sent her patronus out of the lab to the Minister's office, hoping someone would see it and come find them.

She regretted what she had said to Severus earlier about not wanting to spend time with him. She actually liked the time they spent together. They were very similar in both intellectual pursuits and personality. He didn't mind spending a quiet night in with a good book and a glass of wine. They could discuss potions for hours on such nights.

It was this that led her to have feelings for her colleague, really strong feelings actually. She hoped he would never discover those feelings. Hermione knew he would never see anything in her. She had been his student for seven years, he probably still saw her as a small, annoying first year.

It was all for the best though. She loved their work relationship and wouldn't want anything to change it. She had first hand experience on how scorned feelings could destroy a friendship.

"Well, what do you suppose we should do to pass the time?" Hermione asked suddenly. They couldn't sit in silence for eight hours, that was crazy.

Severus knew of a couple things he would like to do with her during the night but those were merely fantasies. He suddenly had an idea. "I guess now is as good a time as ever." He mumbled.

"What?" Hermione asked confused.

"I have been working on a special contract potion for an outside benefactor, all perfectly legal of course. I believe I finally gotten the potion correct but have yet to find a time to run a trial. Now seems like a perfect time seeing as I have to document the results." Snape explained.

"Who and what exactly is this mystery potion for?" Hermione asked. She was quite taken aback that he had not decided to include her on this work.

Snape smirked. "Who, I am not allowed to say, a very wealthy private investor. As to what it is, well that's an even bigger secret. I was going to share it will you once I had completed a successful trial but haven't gotten around to it."

Hermione smiled. She loved being able to experience Severus' experiments. Most were incredible; challenging what they knew about potions or making existing ones even better. "Am I to be the first volunteer?"

"If you would like." Snape said as he went to the cabinet in the corner to grab a sample.

"As if you don't know." She said smirking. She knew he enjoyed testing products with her. "What exactly is this one?"

"I don't have a name for it yet. I'm leaving that up to the contractor. It was all his idea, he just needed someone who had the ability to brew it for him. If the potion works correctly it will give you a sixty second glance into your darkest fantasies, what you desire the most." Snape explained.

"Only sixty seconds?" She couldn't help but ask.

"I'm positive it will feel longer than that to the person taking the potion but yes, only sixty seconds." Snape explained. "It's not designed to let your see the entire fantasy. It only gives you a taste."

Hermione considered this for a moment. What harm could it do? Severus couldn't actually see her fantasies, it would only be here and it only lasted a minute. "Alright, hand it over. Let me try." She said reaching for the small bottle he was holding. It didn't look or smell that bad. 'Well here goes nothing' she thought as she drank the potion.

Nothing happened at first or so she thought. Severus stood in front of her like he was before but something had changed about his demeanor that she couldn't quite place.

"So Miss Granger, anything you would like to note about the potion so far?" He asked.

Hermione frowned. "Nothing I can notice so far."

Snape took a few steps closer until he was right next to her. "Are you so sure about that?" He whispered into her ear.

Hermione couldn't breathe. Was this the potion or real life? "I don't know." She mumbled out just as his lips descended on her neck. She closed her eyes. It felt amazing.

She could feel him smirk against her neck. "Come now Miss Granger, surely there has been some change." He continued as his hands soon found their way underneath her blouse and started working their way up.

Hermione couldn't believe it could get any better until his lips met hers in a demanding kiss. She immediately reacted by throwing her arms around his neck like they had done this a million times before. He slowly started to lay her back down against the work bench she had been sitting on. He dominated her from above, covering every inch of her with his body. Merlin it felt amazing to finally have this man above her. She closed her eyes and his hands started to make their way slowly down her body. The anticipation was killing her, she tried to open her eyes but all she saw was dark. Dark? That couldn't be right.

"Hermione." He said, his voice sounded distant.

"Yes?" She replied dreamily.

"Wake up." He replied bluntly.

Hermione's eyes shot open. She was still sitting in the same spot she had been when she first took the potion. Severus was standing in the exact same spot as before. No, that couldn't be right.

Judging by your expression I would say the potion is a success?" He asked.

Hermione nodded. "More than you know."

"Care to elaborate?" He asked. He was intrigued, he didn't think he made the potion that strong.

Hermione smirked. "I think this is something you need to experience."

Severus was shocked. That was an unusual answer from her. Could it really be that good? "If you insist."

"Oh, I do." She said as she handed him the second bottle of the sample then switched places with him.

Severus merely raised his eyebrow at her and downed the potion. He was ready for whatever came his way.

A/N: Hope you liked it! Like I said earlier I am thinking about making this into a three part series. Let me know what you think of that idea and it will happen.

~A