Given the Chance

By: Goddess-Isis-112

"Oh," she uttered, blushing. What is wrong with me? she pondered as Snape glared quizzically in her direction with the tiniest hint of a sneer on his lips.

"What is it, Miss Granger?" he sighed in exasperation as she continued to blush furiously at her thoughts.

"I..just...w-what if w-we need to use the loo?" she stammered, babbling the first excuse that would come to mind. Snape glowered at his student, his brow creasing with alarm.

"Do you need-"

"Well, no," she uttered, bowing her head and focusing on her wringing hands. "Just...w-what if?"

"Well, I suppose we could transfigure something into a toilet," Snape replied awkwardly, shifting uncomfortably on his spot on the floor, and...yes, Hermione was sure of it, there were faint splashes of red dancing on the apples of his angular cheeks. He became aware of her stare, and he glared in her direction. "Well, get on with it then."

"Right." Thank Merlin my school bag fell with me, Hermione thought, picking up a random scroll, and glancing over her neat script, it took a few moments before she concluded that it wasn't very important when Snape snorted at her.

"As to be expected, the Miss-Know-It-All Gryffindor would rather save some worthless Divination assignment than use it for a much better purpose," he snarled nastily.

"Divination!" Hermione bristled at the mention of the horrid class. "I do not take Divination, nor have I been in the same classroom with that overgrown, daft cow Trelawney since 3^rd year!" Snape merely sneered at her once more.

"Five points, Miss Granger, for yelling at a Professor, and another five points more for openly insulting another Professor in the presence of one of the faculty," he grinned nastily as Hermione fumed. "If I recall correctly, you have already lost ten points for Gryffindor House previous to this, so your total is twenty points in the span of an hour. Bravo." Anger boiled through her veins, and instinctively, Hermione flung the scroll in Snape's direction, succeeding in hitting him squarely in the middle of his chest. For a moment, Hermione felt a pang of regret, but the small sense of revenge caused her lips to twitch into a tiny smile. It felt damned good to retaliate, even if it were something as diminutive as throwing a scroll around.

Blinking, Snape stared at the scroll which had landed by his feet before he shot Hermione a cold look. "Idiot girl! Are you begging for a month's worth of detention, Miss Granger?" Snape growled. "Attempted violence directed toward a Professor could land you an expulsion from Hogwarts-"

"Oh, yes, one could commit a mass murder with a single scroll," Hermione scoffed dryly before she could stop herself. Snape's face grew hot.

"TWENTY POINTS!" he yelled fiercely, getting up from his spot on the floor and pulling himself up to his full height. "What exactly are you trying to do, Miss Granger? Provoke me into a duel?!" Hermione also got to her feet and crossed her arms, defiantly glaring back at him. Gryffindor be damned if she were about to stay there forever with Snape without striking back.

"Look, Snape, you are NOT making this easier! There is no way I am going to stay in this tiny room for Merlin knows how long and let you disrespect me," she hissed angrily in return. "Take away as many points as you please! You've done so for seven bloody years! I. Don't. Care. Anymore! And while we are throwing insults back and forth, you are an insufferable git, and you can transfigure your own toilet!" Snape recoiled as if slapped and gaped at the furious student who looked ready to pummel is face with her clenched fists.

Brown met black and both looked angrily at each other, and a realization dawned on Snape for the first time that Granger was no longer the little, awkward girl he had grown accustomed to teaching. In fact, she was quite the contrary; she had definitely blossomed in her final year, and that uneasy fact crawled into his mind, making it difficult to stare at her flushed, livid expression. The intensity of her brown eyes threatened to drown him, and he jerked his eyes away from hers only to land on...her lips: plump, pink...inviting him to-

He turned away suddenly, shaking his head to free himself from those imposing, inappropriate thoughts. Besides, there were other important issues to attend to at the moment that were demanding his attention; if he did not act immediately, he would soon find himself under even more embarrassing circumstances, and so he merely picked up the scroll and turned away from her, uttering only three words: "Leave me alone."

For a moment, she thought she had heard him incorrectly, but he said nothing else, studying the scroll he held in his hand, and she felt her anger seep away to that of shame. Maybe she had said too much in too short a time, or maybe her words actually did hurt him. Maybe, just maybe, Snape actually had...well, feelings. Biting her lip, she kept her gaze focused on him as he placed her scroll in one corner of the room...and transfigured it into a toilet.

He looked sharply at her, his acid tongue spitting out, "Usually, when one needs to use the toilet, he or she does not need an audience." Blushing, she turned away, feeling her cheeks redden even more when she actually heard him. She waited patiently, wanting to apologize, but somehow feeling it improper to speak to him as he was busy with...his lavatory business. She waited...and waited...and waited. Merlin, how much did he drink before class started? Hermione wondered, amazed at how long he kept going.

"If you needed to use the loo that badly, why didn't you ask for something to transfigure sooner?" she found herself asking.

"Are you going out of your way to make this horrible situation as uncomfortable for me as possible?" he barked back at her just as he finished. He zipped up his trousers, and out of habit looked around for a basin to wash his hands, and he found it in Hermione's corner, where she was looking up at him apprehensively. He approached her section and gave her a brief nod of appreciation as he washed his hands. A hand towel was resting on a rack next to the basin, and although he gave no indication, Snape was impressed. The girl, no...the young woman, he corrected himself, was thorough...very thorough.

"I'm sorry," a small voice came from behind him, and he swerved around to look at her, his billowing robes giving the satisfactory impression of a bigger movement. She wouldn't meet his eyes, choosing to study his shoes instead. "I shouldn't have said what I did, and I know I probably deserve whatever punishment you give me once we find a way out of here." His mind immediately jumped to the double-entendre, visualizing a writhing Miss Granger on dark green satin sheets wearing fur-covered handcuffs...and only handcuffs-

"I'm sorry," she repeated again, mistaking his silence for that of quiet fury and effectively snapping him out of his thoughts. He muttered something to the effect of "superfluous apologies" before stalking over by his toilet, as far away from her as possible. Somehow, the room felt even smaller, now that he had recognized her...womanly assets...and he only hoped it was a case of momentary insanity. Hermione merely shrugged slightly in confusion at his unusual behavior and did as he asked, leaving him alone to brood.

Meanwhile, back at the Headmaster's Office, three pairs of eyes studied a worn piece of parchment, particularly examining two still, overlapping dots labeled, "Hermione Granger" and "Severus Snape."

"But that's impossible!" Ron Weasley sputtered, disbelieving his eyes. "How can Hermione and Snape still be in the dungeons when we've searched the entire area?"

"It is 'Professor Snape,' Mr. Weasley," Albus Dumbledore corrected, "and according to the Marauder's Map, that is where they are." Suddenly, the old wizard's eyes lit up and twinkled merrily. He reached over to his bowl of lemon drops and popped one into his mouth. "I might know as to where they could have disappeared to." The two Gryffindors jumped at his words, and he held out his hand to silence them. "We need the aid of Miss Granger's familiar."

"Crookshanks?!" Ron cried out.

"What for?" Harry questioned.

"Trust me," Dumbledore answered, relaxing back into his chair. "Crookshanks will find them." Both boys looked at each other and frowned as Dumbledore sat with his eyes twinkling.

*****

TBC...