For what it's worth : Chapter 1 : Potions and a Professor

Disclaimer: I don't own the Harry Potter universe. JK Rowling does. 

A/N: Hey everyone! It's a new fic! And it's Hermione and Severus too. I was originally writing a Hermione/Draco, but then I sort of got caught away in the Hermione/Severus stories and I can't say how much I love them. So this is me trying my hand at it, and any similarities are not intentional. It's very hard to write an original story now that so many have been made, but I'm writing anyway.

WARNING: This is set after OoTP, and contains spoilers.

Please read and review!!!

***

Potions Class was silent, naturally, save for the bubbling of a cauldron every now and again. Severus Snape sat up the front, brewing his own potion, and it seemed he would finally get some peace and quiet.

Ever since fifth year, Peeves' pranks had been becoming harder and harder to remove, a thunderstorm in the Potion's classroom being one of them. Snape's classroom was now considered out of bounds, and the new Potion's room could now be found two levels up, where right outside was all full of chatty students and teachers.

Which is why silence here, was considered more than just a blessing.

"Hey look!"

An owl flew past carrying a rather dangerous looking letter. That is, it was smoking round the edges.

"Over here! Watch it!"

"SHUT UP!" Snape roared over the over-excited seventh year students. Their ability to revert to squealing  children at any possible point in time was beyond him.

He jumped up and tried to grab the letter from the talons of the bird. But the owl, definitely smarter than it looked, swooped low and dropped the black mail into his cauldron.

There was an explosion.

Whatever was in the letter caused the spinning liquid in cauldron to react, which in turn caused the entire pewter thing to blow apart, which in turn, caused absolute chaos.

A few students in the first row had been hit with a silver liquid, but when they realized it did no damage they stopped screaming. Some more unfortunate few were hit by shards of the pewter cauldron and most likely needed to get to the Hospital Wing as soon as possible. Severus Snape, on the other hand, had been flung backwards into a glass window with the force of the blast. It had shattered into a million pieces, leaving him now awaiting a 20 meter drop into the fields below.

Harry, Ron and Hermione rushed forward, past the screaming girls, past the laughing boys and past Snape's desk. Hermione whipped out her wand:

"Persona Leviosa!"   

The black robed man outside of the window wavered in mid air and Hermione repressed the sudden urge to let him dangle for a moment. She waved her wand one last time and he floated back into classroom.

"Prof – "

"Finite Incantatem." Snape said, slightly breathless.

The room seemed to stop shaking, and the fog began to clear.

"Professor. Just what was in that letter?"

"Something confidential." Snape replied icily, then remembered that the girl had just saved his life. "But no less, a charm most likely."

He turned to the still half-panicky students.

"Class is dismissed early. Injuries, seek Madame Pomfrey." He yelled over the commotion.

The trio turned to leave.

"Oh." Snape suddenly said, and he looked a little embarrassed – something that Ron laughed about as soon as he was out of the room – when the three of them turned back around.

"And thank you Miss Granger."

There was no trace of sarcasm, so Hermione took it gracefully. "You're welcome."

Snape turned around again, and began to clear up the disaster of a room they were standing in. Harry and Ron left, while Hermione trailed slowly behind. Then, at the door, she looked back and saw the Professor with his wand out, fixing the chairs and spilt potion.

Smiling, mainly to herself, she took her wand out again for the second time and muttered a few cleaning spells before leaving.

*

Hermione joined both Harry and Ron at the table for dinner, and it was obvious the topic at the moment was Snape. It was amazing to know that even after all these years, there were still so many who hated him. The thing was, Harry, Ron and Hermione were not any of these people, despite popular belief.

"I mean. He didn't even bother with House Points! Just a 'Oh thank you Miss Granger' and that's it." Ron said.

"Ron. At least he said Thank you."

"I reckon. Knowing Snape, that was probably the hardest thing he'd ever done in his life."

"Maybe not." Hermione replied softly, looking up at the Teacher's Table. Next to Remus Lupin, Snape was eating silently, while the other Professors chatted.

"Can't we drop this topic?" Harry suddenly said loudly.

A few faces turned, but everyone shut up. Harry himself, was thinking of the incident with Snape and the Pensieve in fifth year. He had told Ron and Hermione about it, and Ron had just laughed – which infuriated Harry even more.

"Yes," Hermione finally said, but her mind was on other things.

*

Hermione knocked on the wooden door that bore 'Head Slytherin : Office' on the front.

"Come in."

The door swung open, revealing Snape's office, decorated with shades of green and silver.

"What did you do – " Snape looked up. "Miss Granger."

"Professor."

"What do you want?"

"Well. I'm actually here for two things. One is that I want to know what was in both the cauldron and the letter this morning."

"Both are confidential." He glared at her.

Hermione didn't budge, nor was intimidated by his expression. "I'm Head Girl Professor – "

"And I suppose you think that allows you to stick your nose where it's not permitted."

Hermione took a step back at this comment and was suddenly very, very angry.

"This is for the safety of the students!" She protested. "Seven students were sent to the Hospital Wing because of your letter!"

"Fine."

Whatever Hermione had expected, it wasn't this. She waited.

"I already told you there was a charm inside the letter. A curse, if you want to be specific. The potion I was brewing was the Wolfsbane Potion. It probably wasn't the potion that hurt the students."

Hermione looked thoughtful. "Is the Potion for Professor Lupin?"

Snape nodded. "It's hard work, but without it finished, we'll have a lovely werewolf roaming Hogwarts in a week."

"And now the Potion is ruined?"

Snape nodded and snapped out of his reverie. "Exactly. Which is why I can't talk to you Miss Granger. I have papers to mark, a Potion to brew, and if I can manage it, to sleep tonight."

"I'll help."

"Nonsense. The Wolfsbane Potion is more than just an elementary Potion."

"I know. I'll help."

Snape paused and studied her for a moment, considering his choices. Then he shook his head, ready to say no at her next words.

"I got an 'O' for my Potion OWLs. And I'm doing Potions in my NEWTs. You know I can brew it."

There was another few seconds of Snape thinking, before:

"Fine. You can help. God knows, I need sleep." He added.

"I can tell." Hermione said absentmindedly, stepping further into the room. Then she remembered who she was talking to, and looked up, slightly alarmed.

Snape's lips upturned at the corners, and Hermione tried to remember if she had ever, in her seven years knowing him, seen him smile.

***

^-^  Any good? I know it's short, but please review!! It'd make me soooo happy. =)