Sweet Revenge
Returning to Hogwarts to complete her interrupted education was a joy for Hermione Granger. She was thrilled that she was invited back but knew her closest friends had dug their heels in and refused to return.
The arguments with Ron Weasley had left her exhausted, she had to stand up for what she wanted. Their romance had ended only three days after it had begun. His old fashioned as well as Pure Blood assumptions had left her speechless and when she found him snogging Lavender Brown that had been the last straw.
As she unpacked her trunk in her single dorm room in the castle, it dawned on her that she didn’t miss Ron at all. Remembering she had cried much more when she had discovered Ron and Lavender together after that fateful Quidditch Match a couple of years earlier.
“Come in.” Hermione invited when a knock came to her door.
A blonde head poked around the door and the young woman smiled . “I wondered who was next door to me.” Luna grinned as Hermione waved her inside.
“It is nice to get a room of your own, don’t you think?”
“Yes,” Luna nodded, “I hope that now none of my clothing or belongings will go astray.”
Hermione had hated how the bullies had gotten away with their awful treatment of Luna over the years. She had encountered her outdoors more than once barefooted. She had found her one winters day in the snow wearing a flimsy summer dress and no shoes on her feet. She had raided her own trunk that very day to ensure she had warm clothing and footwear until Luna found her own belongings.
“That will not happen this year to you Luna. She smiled at her and gave her a hug, “I promise.” She vowed.
She showed Luna how to protect her room and in turn Luna promised to make sure she did not have any raspacts or some other strange creature hanging onto her.
Luna was one of the few people who knew that Hermione had been tortured at Malfoy Manor. She in turn knew of Luna’s own secret and would protect it. They had grown closer as friends while Ginny had drawn further away since finally becoming fiance to Harry Potter. She had a new crowd of friends surrounding her this year.
Hermione kept a wary eye on her usual bullies as some were also Luna’s. They had been thwarted right, left and centre by the special wards. Luna and she had laughed at their obvious frustration. Working together made them stronger.
Then one day in their last term of the school year, as it neared graduation…
Hermione and Luna were on night patrol of the corridors when a Muggle trap crashed down over them. They could not use their wands to react as they were instantly rendered unconscious.
When they came to, they discovered that they were locked in a dark room without their wands.
“Are you alright Luna?” Asked Hermione as she groggily knelt up onto her feet. She had heard a groan beside her and had assumed it was her friend.
“What hit us?” Luna asked and coughed.
“It was a smoke potion that knocked us senseless.
“A form of Dreamless Sleep?”
“Yes, my head always feels a bit foggy that’s why I rarely use it.”
Hermione stood up and felt around her. She smiled as she touched a familiar glass jar. She knew exactly where she was located. She heard Luna let out a laugh, she too had recognised where they were imprisoned.
They each had spent hours of detention inside tidying up the shelves of herbs, ingredients in jars and stock taking for professor Severus Snape. They knew their way around, even in the dark. The main door to the potion storage room was locked as was the magical door that led into the professor’s own quarters.
“I know how to turn on a light.”
Luna was a bright witch. Often she was mistaken for an airhead with no common sense. But Hermione knew how brilliant she was and was not shocked when Luna spoke up.
“You know I do not like the dark and a couple of years ago I got locked inside here, just like today. I have just remembered I left an old lantern in here
Hermione listened as Luna headed into a far corner of the storage room. She heard a click of metal, a tinkle of glass and then a whoosh as a bubble of light illuminated the corner where Luna now stood holding up a lit lantern.
Hermione beamed at her friend and gave her a hug. “You are amazing, you know that?”
“Thanks and as I took Muggle Studies, I knew about how to light a lamp without magic. Mister Weasley gave me a lighter and this old lantern.”
The room was in a proper mess, Snape was still on sick leave since he was vindicated after the war and rendered a hero. He still had his job as headmaster as did Minerva McGonagall.
“Professor Snape would be in such a temper if he saw the state of this place.” Muttered Hermione, her fingers were thick with dust and she began to sneeze.
Together the witches worked, sharing past tales of times spent in this room, being told how and where to place the potions by Professor Snape. He was a stickler for cleanliness, order and his exacting placement of toxic materials. Each had learned from him and knew the order of every shelf.
The waste bins had soon filled up, containing cracked glass jars, spoiled ingredients as well as potions long past their dates. They managed to salvage some of the stores, but they felt many were borderline cases for tossing but as ingredients were expensive they dared not chuck out everything.
They were both hungry, thirsty and tired. They sat on two sealed buckets of rubbish. The lantern had gone out about five minutes after they sat down. Then they heard the door that led into the private rooms of Severus Snape begin to open, it let in bright daylight and both witches had to cover their eyes. They saw the dark silhouette with the light behind..
They both gasped out in unison.
“Professor Snape!”
He was back…
He invited them to follow him. They walked through a short corridor and entered his private domain.
“Thank you ladies for clearing up my storage area. It was in a ghastly state. I had not anticipated volunteers to tidy it up for me.” He gave them a courtly bow of thanks and then pointed his wand towards them offering to tidy them up.
“I was looking for two new apprentices this year to begin their mastery of potions. Would either of you be interested?”
He looked directly at Hermione. He raised an eyebrow at her and muttered under his breath.
“I suppose book learning is good for something - how to shield one’s thoughts, perhaps Miss Granger?”
Hermione smirked back at him and nodded.
He looked closely at Luna and then suggested.
“Being my apprentice means that you shall be under my protection Miss Lovegood. I will be responsible for each of your care as well as providing private accommodations.”
Luna’s eyes grew wide with delight. She had always dreamed of being an apprentice one day but knew no one would ever choose her. But Professor Snape had. She could see it in his aura colours of a bright hue not his usual dark grey.
Hermione jumped at the chance to become a potioneer. She knew how skilled Severus Snape was and how he had managed to teach even under such harsh circumstances for years.
She shared a look with Luna and they both nodded and then voiced their acceptance.
A short but very private ceremony took place, so secret the details cannot even be shared here.
“Apprentices please note, I have secrets that you may now discover but under the bonds that you each have just signed and I too have countersigned, we have agreed by that signing to keep each other’s council. We all have secrets,” he paused, “but together we have bound each other as master, as apprentice, to honour and trust each other.”
Luna was so excited that they had their own private entry to their rooms with secret ways to get around without disturbing their new master.
Luna and Hermione, now dressed in their own apprentice robes with their pins marking them as apprentice potioneer’s, followed Severus Snape out of his private rooms and into a secret passage and shortcut that led them down to the ground floor.
“While you were resting, I made enquiries and I discovered who the culprits are. You two will have your first order from me to supervise their detentions. But first…”
He reached into his robes and drew out two wands, then handed them back to their owner.
“Thank you, Sir.” Replied Hermione, checking her wand for curses.
“Thanks Professor…. Master Snape.” Luna amended.
“Each of your wands have already been checked, apprentice Granger, you were quite correct to double check, well done.”
Hermione was shocked at his compliment.
“He is not as bad as some people think.” Luna replied honestly.
“I thank you for your support, apprentice Lovegood.”
Luna and Hermione each knew that this post war Severus Snape was different and it looked like he was going to be a good master to them, but each was very much aware he would not suffer any form of nonsense.
“Now that all of our current business is cleared up, I am going to deduct lots of house points. Would my new apprentices care to watch?”
They watched the gemstones change in volume as both Gryffindor and Ravenclaw house points fell. They tinkled down until the jars were close to empty.
“Slytherin are in the lead now.” beamed Hermione, she did not care a jot who won the cup.
“Professor Flitwick is not going to be happy.” Luna cringed but then brightened up. “Who is my head of house now?”
“You do not have a head of house now apprentice Lovegood, I am your potions master, I am your House now.”
“No longer a Gryffindor?” Hermione’s eyes grew wide, then she began to laugh. She magically changed the inside of her new Apprentice robes from red to green. “That is much better. I never liked red. Green suits me better.”
“Come along apprentices, we will need to shop for new ingredients and you can both assist. We will need to do a stock take then we will travel to obtain new supplies.”
Hermione pulled a rather crumpled piece of paper from her robes pocket and held it out.
“Sorry Master Snape, it was the best I could do without magic, I found a pencil in my jeans pocket and we kept a tally this morning of all we found in the store including the damaged items.”
“Well done apprentice Granger and apprentice Lovegood. It is good that I have chosen well.”
“Thank you, Master Snape.” They replied in unison, happy to have pleased him.
He scrutinised the list and frowned.
“First I need a new stock of flobber worms as well as other similar creatures. It is of course much cheaper to buy them alive and save the laborious fillet work for those students during their detention, don’t you agree?
Luna and Hermione smiled wickedly and then nodded in agreement.
“Yes, Master Snape.”
“Hurry now, follow me to the main gates, we will travel to purchase the necessary supplies to replenish my potions storeroom.”
Then he dropped a stunner on them both.
“Tonight, You will recognise your culprits at dinner as you will sit with me at the high table. That will be when I announce your Apprenticeships to the whole school. As Apprentices you will be able to give detentions but I warn you never hand out detentions not warranted. He gave them a stern glare.”
Luna nudged Hermione as the students came in for dinner. She had noticed that a couple of her Ravenclaw house mates had discoloured faces.
Hermione reacted to Luna’s nudge and swiftly cast a Muffliato spell so no one would hear them speaking.
“What is it Luna?”
“Look at their faces, look at the Ravenclaw table and at Gryffindor, don’t you see?”
Hermione looked closely at the tables and gasped. Her eyes wide with shock as she saw familiar faces with green coloured tinges to their skin. The students who had drugged and locked them into the stores could be clearly identified. They each cast a swift glance towards their new Master and he gave them a wink, before turning to speak with the Headmistress.
“Did he just…” asked Hermione.
“Yes,” Luna said with a big smile, “he does that when no one is looking, you know. She leaned in to Hermione and said, “I am going to enjoy giving them detention and I have got that barrel of rather stinky Flobber worms and fish waiting to be gutted and sorted into individual ingredient parts.”
“Oh, that will be an awful task, I always hated extracting fish eyes, it was always foul smelling and made me feel nauseous. Don’t you think it will be more effective without gloves or masks?” Hermione suggested.
“Yes,” Luna added,” Master Snape did indicate that no magic was to be used on the new ingredients, did he not say that they were best fresh?”
“The fresher the better.”
“Mind you,” pondered Luna, “we were wearing protective masks when choosing the ingredients this afternoon with Master Snape.”
“Yes,” said Hermione with a very wicked smile and a glint in her eye. “but somehow the stench managed to permeate my mask.”
Their conversation was being listened to by Severus Snape, he had to turn his face away and hide behind the quibbler to stop his smile from being seen. His two new apprentices apparently were unaware that he had invented the Muffliato spell or that he knew how to listen in. He would have to reward both for their endeavours to make detentions much more interesting.
Luna and Hermione linked arms as they followed Severus Snape from the high table and stepped through the faculty door out into the corridor.
Severus turned to them both and gave them a slight bow, “Ladies, tomorrow you have a big day- prepare to hunt down and hand out detentions to all with green faces. I am sure I can count on you to have a full class of detainees for 7pm tomorrow evening?”
“Yes, Master Snape.” Hermione said with a smile.
“Yes, Master,” added Luna.”
They remained silent until they reached their own private quarters and together as soon as their doors were warded they screamed with utter delight.
They held hands as they jumped for joy at being not only apprentices to the best potion master in Europe but also to the fact they can give payback to their bullies with permission from him as well as headmistress McGonagall.
Hermione and Luna for the very first time were going to love detention time at Hogwarts. They both knew that the green faced students would never forget it either.