Life on the edge

Chapter 1

"Miss Granger, would you be so nice and do watch your cauldron?!"

Hermione jumped and looked down at her bubbling potion in embarassement. Hastily she stirred the bright purple liquid and prevented it from boiling over. The Slytherins sniggered, and she cast a dark look at Snape's back. Besides the fact that he had been right this time, she had been his target for biting remarks very often lately. It was going so far that she merely felt ignored if she didn't recieve at least one comment of the snapeish sort in one lesson. A faint bubbling made her jump again, and just in time she added the dragon tears to the potion before it really boiled over. Ron leaned to her, grinning:

"Close one this time, eh?"

Before she could answer, a very soft voice behind her said:

"Well, Miss Granger, it seems that you lack concentration lately; please do remember to stay behind after class, we will see if can do something to impove your skills again."

Hermione stared at Snape in disbelief:

"Detention? But Sir, I'm Head Girl and..."

"Maybe, but that doesn't save you. In the contrary. Even you should know how important it is to pay fully attention. And now get back to work, everyone!"

"But Hermione didn't..."

"Mr. Weasly, if you want to join Miss Granger this afternoon, just go on..." Ron shut his mouth close, his neck as red as a hydrant. Hermione hardly recognised Snape's smirk, she was fumig about her cauldron. She really wanted to kick something (or somebody...) very hard, instead she caught a look from Harry.

"No single word!", she mouthed angrily, and Harry raised his hands innocently. Luckily the lesson didn't take much longer, and twenty minutes later they were safed by the bell. While the rest of the class hurried out of Snape's classroom, Hermione trodded to his desk.

"Good, you seem to make some progress..."

Hermione didn't bother to answer that. In fact, every answer she was thinking of was worth a week's detention, if not more...

"This afternoon at five, be at time."

Snape didn't even bother to look at her, and so Hermione just said "Yes, Sir", trying to keep that mock-military tone out of her voice, and turned. Harry and Ron were waiting outside, and together they made their way towards the Great Hall. When they sat down for lunch, Ron was still complaining about Snape's behaviour.

"Come on, Ron, he won't change any more, he's too old.", Hermione said and looked out for something to drink. Harry stared at her in amusement:

"Hermione, is it possible that you have a really good time at the moment?"

"No, it's just that I'm really annoyed and I won't take anymore from Snape, no matter how many detentions he is giving me. I'm fed up."

Ron looked impressed. "Wow! Too bad you can't dump potions, I'd love to see you stomping out of his classroom as you did with Trelawny! Just imagine his face!" The three laughed, and Hermione added "Hey, now I know what I'll think if Snape makes me scrub his crusted cauldrons! And I'll go to hell before telling him the reason if I laugh my head off!"

In a much lighter mood they continued their classes after lunch and finally went up to the Gryffindor common room. When it came to five o'clock, Hermione sighed and went back down to the dungeons.

Snape waited for her in his private lab behind his classroom. On his desk, she saw a line of little glass bottles in a glowing dark red. Snape already stood in a small extra room, and Hermione could see shelves an wardrobes full of glass jars, bottles parcels and a lot more, all holding different kinds of ingredients. He collected some of the jars, put them down beneath a cauldron and turned to her.

"You will brew some pepper-up potion and fill it into these phioles. Be careful, the potion is needed in the hosptal wing. Here are the ingredients, you find the reciepe in "Medical Solutions" over there."

With that Snape sat down behind his desk and started with grading papers. Hermione was positively surprised, she had imagined he would have set the most disgusting task for her he could think of - but instead, he had given her some work she really liked.

"But better not show him...", she thought and walked over to the cauldron. As she prepared the ingredients like the reciepe told her, she recognised that she stood face to face with Snape; he could easily watch every step she took in the brewing process. Hermione became very nervous; the situation seemed to be an exam more likely than a detention. She pulled herself together and concentrated on her task. After some minutes she nearly forgot her exposed position and worked on the potion, following precisely the instructions, and nearly an hour later she gave the mostly finnished liquid a last stirr. Without looking at Snape she cleaned up her instruments and packed up the remaining ingredients, leaving them neatly rowed next to the softly simmering cauldron. A unnerving prickle on her forehead made her finally look up: Snape was staring at her from his desk, all papers finished and piled on his side. With a start Hermione recognised that he must had watched her quite a time yet, and she felt herself blushing. She forced herself to walk over to his desk and picked up the phioles, cursing her slightly unsteady hands, but she managed to grasp all bottles in one go and returned to the cauldron. With relief she breathed out deeply. Why became she so nervous in Snape's present? Of course, he hadn't lost his sarcasm, biting tongue and arrogance in the last seven years but she had got used to it. In class she had not been frightened of him for a long time now; so why now? Only because she was alone with him and would get the full blast if something went wrong? Maybe; but now she found it very unnerving that Snape hadn't said a single word after his instructions. Carefully she filled the last bottle and corced it. She turned and flinched a bit: Snape was still watching her with an intense gaze she couldn't read.

"I'm finnished. Where shall I put those?"

Hermione managed to say in a sudden flash of self-confidence and pointed to the remaining glass jars.

"Just leave them, I'll put them back."

He paused, still keeping eye-contact, then indicated her the chair in front of his desk.

"Please sit down, Miss Granger; I have a question for you."

"What now?", Hermione thought, alarmed all of a sudden, "is he going to lecture me about the spoiled potion this morning? But why that dramatical gesture?"

She sat down and looked up to him. "Awful, even when he sits I have to look up! No wonder he's so arrogant..." She forced her attention back to the present situation and tried to hold Snape' gaze. Despite his usual tactic he didn't stare her out but began to speak.

"As you perhaps know, I'm working on the field of potion research additional to my teaching here. Lately I have come close to a larger discovery, but for further research and the experimental stage I'll need more time than I have at the moment."

He paused again, intesifying his gaze. "I have watched you for some time by now. It seems as if you have some talent for brewing, and if you can keep your mind on the cauldron, as you did the last hour, the results are quite... acceptable. So my question for you is: Could you imagine to assist me, let's say, twice a week to do some brewing Madame Pomfrey asked for, and sometimes to pre-grade the first- to fourth-year essays? Of course this will be additional to your normal timetable and homework, so think about it and tell me your decision at latest next week." Flabbergasted and blushed for excitement Hermione burst out loud:

"Of course I'd like to assist you! Sir, I don't need to think about this offer, it's a great chance for me. So, yes, I'd really like to!"

Out of a corner of her mind Hermione recognised that she must look ridiculous, red-faced, nearly bobbing up and down on her chair in an excited childish manner and speaking a lot too fast out of eagerness. Snape raised an eyebrow and looked down on her.

"Are you sure? Perhaps you should be aware of the big amount of time that this job will take, your freetime. You can be sure that I won't tolerate less than your full co-operation..."

Hermione calmed a bit and open-minded she looked Snape straight in the eyes.

"I'm fully aware of the implications, Sir, and I still want to assist."

The smallest flicker of a smile danced around Snape's lips, than he straightened his face again and rised from his seat.

"I also accept, then, if you are that sure. First meeting on next Tuesday."

Hermione had risen, too, and had let Snape lead her back to the door.

"Yes, that'll go ahead with my time-table."

She already was through the door when she turned and nearly bumped into Snape who had followed her out of the office. A faint scent of sandal-wood and patchouly drifted towards her, a scent that caused cool, pleasuring goose pimples on her back and arms. "Is that him? Never smelled that before..." She looked up to him again, meeting his black, unreadable eyes: "Er...sorry. I just, um... Thank you."

He again raised an eyebrow, and Hermione could tell that he was holding back an unpleasant remark.

"Hurry, you may still get some dinner.", he said instead with slight annoyance. With that he locked his office behind him and strode off, leaving a very happy Hermione behind. "Well... I would bet that was actually a smile, that last expression..." Hermione mused light-headed as she went to the Great Hall; she had to tell Harry and Ron about the best detention she ever had!