Teamwork

Teamwork

Chapter 1

Professor Severus Snape turned the piece of parchment in his hands over and over again, having long ago stopped actually reading the letter. Head of the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes Marjory Earhart had sent him an Owl that morning requesting his expertise in experimental potions. They wanted him to contribute to a project concerned with the creation of a new memory control potion. No further information had been given by the Personnel Department. He shrugged his shoulders and pondered the topic for the umpteenth time in just a few hours.

Dumbledore would hardly disagree with him going off to London, not to speak of his students. And of course he had been denied the position as Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher once more that year. He had stopped counting when it still happened after the Potter boy had left Hogwarts. So maybe a change would do him good, he thought and dropped the letter onto his desk.

Purposefully he strode over to the back of his office inspecting the rows of shelves holding various potion ingredients. He went through the rows, stopping here and there to wave his wand at an item and make it carefully hover into a large trunk in the far corner of his office. He would need wolfsbane most likely, shrivelfig as well. And armadillo bile...

*~*

Hermione stepped out of the fireplace, an unusual good mood curving her lips into a smile. She nodded at several witches and wizards as she passed them on her way across the Atrium. Some just shook their heads at her cheerfulness at such an early time in the morning, others returned her smile.

Pete Ellery had just stepped into the lift and held the doors for Hermione.

"Morning," she greeted him as she got inside and the gilded grille closed behind her.

"So," said Pete, a lanky brown-eyed wizard in his early thirties, "I heard they finally approved of that project of yours."

Hermione grinned proudly. "Yep. We're getting started today. You know, the Ministry finally has to take a more respectful attitude toward Muggles and..."

"Hermione," Pete interrupted, "we already talked about that."

They were separated by a group of particularly tired looking wizards hurrying past them to get to the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures.

"And you're really not disappointed that they didn't get... more... people to work with you?" Pete asked.

"They got me Snape; and who could do it if not him?" Hermione countered thrusting her nose in the air.

"Level Three," the lift spoke, "Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes, including the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad, Obliviator Headquarters and Muggle-Worthy Excuse Committee."

Pete stormed off ahead of Hermione but she just shrugged her shoulders and followed more slowly down the corridor to the Obliviator Headquarters. The room was separated into small cubicles like the Auror Headquarters but quite a bit smaller. Pete had apparently been among the first Obliviators to arrive for the day, as she saw only a few wizards moving about the room.

She wished them a good morning although Pete had most likely already announced her arrival shortly before and went over to an office shielded off by double glass-doors. Hermione kept the blinds secured at the top and left the doors open a good portion, always taking care to keep in close contact with her Obliviators.

She had been made Head of the Obliviators only half a year ago when Thomas Gwinnett, her predecessor, had retired. The Obliviators did respect her, she was sure of that. But sometimes she couldn't help thinking they regarded her as too young to do the job. And maybe her unusual enthusiasm didn't help things on that matter. But there was definitely room for improvement in the department and she was determined to do what - in her mind - had to be done.

And for one, that concerned the - again in her mind - somewhat disrespectful treatment of Muggles. Particularly by Obliviators. True, she had accomplished a traineeship as an Obliviator herself and thought their services much needed. But she didn't think rushing in with memory charms was the solution to everything. She had always been trying to use them as little as possible and now that she was I charge of the Obliviators that was the first thing needing a change she had set her mind to. The older Obliviators kept shaking their heads at her. They insisted on memory charms being the quickest and easiest method to keep Muggles unaware of the wizarding world. But Hermione had argued it was quite a shock to have one's memory modified and after several discussions with Marjory Earhart and the head of the Muggle-Worthy Excuse Committee they had finally let her set up a project group to find an alternative. A potion to make people's minds more pliable seemed the most reasonable solution to her. It would easily be possible to mix it into food or drinks. The Personnel Department had set up the group that would work with her but she had personally requested to have Snape on her team. She had been both disappointed and surprised when he had been the only one willing to join the group.

An inter-departmental memo swooshed in and landed on Hermione's desktop unfolding itself with a silent rustle of parchment. She scanned it briefly: Transfiguration witnessed by a group of three Muggles at a bus stop. Happened all the time, no big deal for a professional Obliviator. She spoke a charm over the memo that would make it fold back up and fly over to Pete's cubicle who would take care of the situation.

Hermione went over to her file cabinet and knelt down to open the bottom drawer. She rummaged through the files, sorting out those where Muggles had ended up in a medical condition of some kind after memory charms had been performed on them.

While the pile in her lap grew steadily larger her thoughts began to wander off. Would she find Snape as mean and resentful as she had during her school time? Probably, but that had been more than four years ago and while she didn't actually think he might have changed, she was pretty sure she herself had. Not extremely so, of course, but after all she wasn't a teenager any more. Hermione would make certain he understood that she was his superior on this, not vice versa. It didn't matter that he would be the only one working on the project with her but nevertheless, she was in charge.

A sharp knock on her door made the drawn up blinds rattle loudly and Hermione jumped to her feet, the files toppling to the floor. She turned around to see Snape standing on the threshold, looking his usual dark grim self, a crooked, not exactly friendly smile on his lips.

Chapter 2a

His smile faded as he realized who was standing in front of him but then returned, looking suddenly more like a genuine sneer to Hermione. Her gaze followed Snape's to the heap of parchment at her feet and she blushed slightly. She managed to smile in spite of her display of clumsiness and nervousness.

"Good morning, Professor. Have a seat," she said, gesturing to a chair opposite her desk and at a wave of her wand the files on the floor rearranged themselves and flew up into her arms.

"I have to admit I'm quite surprised to see you, Miss Granger," Snape said by ways of greeting. "That's quite a career, I guess."

Hermione blushed even more than before and pushed at the edges of the stack of parchment in front of her. She didn't remember Snape ever making compliments to anyone and didn't know how to reply.

"I... I guess," she began, finally daring to look at her former teacher. "Are you, uh... familiar with the project?"

"Well, I have a vague idea of what is expected of me but the Personnel Department didn't provide any details."

Hermione felt instantly comfortable to explain her project and managed to lose a lot of her earlier nervousness. She walked about her small office as she spoke, accentuating her little speech with her hands whenever she saw fit. Or when she didn't, but just felt the need to move some more.

"So what we need is not only a mind-sweeping potion, but one that allows us to modify the memory of a Muggle in the most exact way. It has to be tasteless and have absolutely no side effects," she finished and stopped pacing behind her desk, looking expectantly at Snape.

He nodded almost imperceptibly and asked, "Where are we supposed to work?"

"Right," Hermione said, as if she had just remembered something. "We're borrowing a lab from the Spirit Division on Level Four; they don't seem to need all of theirs at the moment. Don't know what they do with spirits in a lab, anyway..." she stopped herself before it would get any worse and added, "we can take a look right now if you want to."

Not waiting for an answer she led the way through the labyrinth of the Obliviators' cubicles and was constantly aware of the quick glances and obvious stares they received.

"Miss Granger!" someone called after Hermione and she turned, not nearly happy to see that it was Sybille Chase.

The small stocky witch had been hoping for Gwinnett's position when he retired and kept trying to show everyone who would look that Hermione had been the wrong choice for the job.

Steeling herself for the definitely coming onslaught Hermione waited for Chase to catch up with her.

"What is it, Sybille?" she asked, trying not to sound annoyed.

"About that case at the Muggle University last week... I just got Morton's report on their progress and they haven't even located half of the students involved! You should do something about it, Miss Granger."

Sybille flatly refused to call Hermione by her first name as was common among Obliviators but Hermione did her best to stubbornly ignore it.

"Look around you, there's exactly three people in here and everyone else is out, working on exactly that case. You know I can't send everyone out at once in case of emergency."

"It is an emergency! They're students, Muggle students! They could do severe damage to the wizarding world..."

"Sybille!" Hermione interrupted angrily. "I told you yesterday, I won't bother the Aurors with that case. We can deal with a few students on our own. And now you should finish that report on the Livingston case. I want it on my desk by this evening."

Sybille huffed indignantly and strode off, her robes billowing behind her. Hermione tried not to look at Snape and continued out onto the corridor.

~*~

Snape had watched the exchange between the two witches with great interest and then hurried after Hermione along the corridor. Apparently not the dream career he had suspected. He wondered if Hermione's relationship was that way with all her Obliviators. But he would find out sooner or later. She had quite a lot on her shoulders, he realized when the reached the lift. They waited for it to arrive in uncomfortable silence.

"Miss Granger," Snape started, "maybe we should postpone this until tomorrow if you have a lot of work to do."

"No," Hermione answered quickly, "events are taking their usual course. She's just being a jerk. - Uh, I didn't... I didn't mean to..."

Snape couldn't help but grin at her stammering. "I'm not your teacher anymore, Miss Granger. I won't take points from Gryffindor for inappropriate behavior."

Hermione smiled and relaxed a little. Anyway, she was more than thankful when a loud rattling noise announced the arrival of the lift.

~*~

They ducked something big, fluffy and obviously flying in the corridor as they entered the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. Hermione instinctively flattened herself against the wall and reached out toward Snape pulling him out of the way of four large sturdy wizards chasing after the creature.

They left a slightly flustered looking Snape in their wake, or at least Hermione thought so as she looked at him, her hand still flat on his chest. Blushing - again! - she hastily withdrew her hand opened her mouth to say something.

"Don't," Snape said, "don't apologize."

Great, she was acting so immature! Hermione closed her mouth and led Snape to the lab they were going to use.

~*~

Their first session mainly consisted of Snape telling her a helluva lot about memory control potions and a Quick Quotes Quill recording their work for Hermione's report. Actually, Hermione felt like she was back in school. Snape lecturing and her listening, déjà vu all over again.

When he finally finished she made a few suggestions on how to modify several of the potions he had mentioned. But at most of her ideas he just shook his head, tipping off the reasons why it wasn't possible on his fingers.

At some point Hermione eventually managed to forget, to an extend, who she was working with and they animatedly discussed various potion ingredients. It wasn't until she couldn't stop herself from yawning anymore that Snape suggested they should continue the next morning.

~*~

Hermione sat alone at the large wooden kitchen table in number twelve, Grimmauld Place and sipped a mug of hot coffee. All had gone quite well, she thought. But she had to admit she felt a bit awkward around Snape. She couldn't just forget the way he had treated her as a student. And she hadn't even been worst off; it still made her toes curl to think about poor Neville in potions class. Now she was supposed to treat Snape as an equal, as her subordinate even. It felt strange, no matter how often she thought about it.

"'Lo there," a voice called from the doorway.

"Hi, Harry," Hermione answered, looking up from her coffee.

Grimmauld Place had become Harry's and also Hermione's home after Hogwarts when the Order had added a storey with a small apartment for each of them.

"Want any company?" he asked, still holding on to the doorknob.

Hermione nodded and only then he came in and took the chair next to her. They sat in companionable silence for a while but then Harry just had to ask.

"So, how's it going with Snape?"

"Okay."

"Is he like..."

"Like he used to be in school?"

Harry nodded.

"Not really. No, he's... different. I don't know."

They were silent once more. Actually, they had become good at that. Not talking and enjoying the silence together. Sometimes Hermione wondered if too much had happened between them. That maybe they were afraid to ruin what they had now. That still fragile bond of reestablished friendship between them.

"Harry?" she asked.

"Huh?"

"Do you believe in people being able to change?"

"Well, Snape was a Death Eater and then he spied on them. Yeah, I guess people are capable of changing. Or some people, at least."

"But," Hermione continued, "would you say I'm different now?"

"From how you were back at school? I don't know, it's not like there has ever been a time I didn't see you for longer than a week. I really can't tell."

It was true. When they were doing their traineeships they had always met at Grimmauld Place for the weekends to see Lupin, Tonks and whoever of the Order happened to be there. But she really didn't want to think about those weekends in closer detail.

"I'll go to bed," she said with finality. "We're starting early tomorrow."

*~*

Her conversation with Harry was still ringing in her ears when she got up the next morning and all the way to work. She had been determined to be in the lab before Snape would show up but he was already there, looking intently at a cauldron containing a bubbling purplish liquid.

"Obliviatae Potion," he stated simply as he saw Hermione arriving.

Did he ever say 'Good morning'? Or even 'Hello', for that matter?

"Good morning, Professor," she said irritably. "Is that its original form?"

"I thought we should add the ingredients you suggested together," he said, gesturing over to a small wooden table.

Fluxweed had been laid out there, puffer-fish eyes, doxie eggs and some things that Hermione couldn't name at all. They both stood by the table and Snape reached for the doxie eggs and began to peel them. Hermione took a piece of parchment from her back and placed the Quick Quotes Quill on it. It started to scribble instantly recording what Snape had done before she had come in. Then she grabbed the fluxweed and took it over to a sink where she could wash it.

In her Potions N.E.W.T. Snape had taken points from her because she hadn't washed it to his liking. She took care that he didn't need to remind her again. Leaf after leaf she turned carefully in her hands and rubbed it softly clean of all dirt sticking to it. She became so engrossed in her task that she didn't notice Snape had walked up behind her and was watching over her shoulder.

"You might want to use a different technique with those. Let me show you," he said in a quiet voice, careful not to startle Hermione.

But he didn't quite succeed and she flinched just a tiny bit at the sound of his voice. And then his hands reached down to cover hers on the Fluxweed leaf she was holding. His skin was surprisingly soft and warm as he demonstrated how she should rub the leaf between her fingertips. Hermione inhaled sharply as he touched that spot on the back of her hand between her thumb and index finger. He couldn't possibly know, could he? And he surely wouldn't use any Legilimency on her, would he? However, the touch sent fiery sparks through Hermione's body and she had to force herself to breathe evenly as Snape began to guide her fingers on the leaf's slippery surface.

"You have to use a little circling motion, like this," explained the potions master. "It makes the leaf soft and you can clean between the pores. - Miss Granger?"

Hermione turned her head toward Snape and she realized how very close he was all of a sudden. His arms touched hers from shoulder to wrist and his face was mere inches apart form hers.

TBC...