Blackmail | Severus Snape x Hermione Granger | Snamione

1

"Scales out, everyone, and potion kits, and don't forget your copies of Advanced Potion-Making," Professor Slughorn bellowed out as Potions began.

As Hermione rummaged through her bag, she suddenly realized her new book was nowhere to be seen. She was sure she had bought it, so where could it have gone?

She raised a hand, a slight redness to her ears. "Professor Slughorn, sir, I seem to have misplaced my book, do you perhaps have one I could borrow?"

"Yes, Miss—," he stopped, unsure of her name.

"Granger, sir," she replied.

Harry cleared his throat, raising his hand as well, "I haven't got a book or scales or anything — I didn't realize I'd be able to do the N.E.W.T—"

"Of course m'boy, Professor McGonagall mentioned that to me, you can use ingredients from the store cupboard today," he walked over to a corner cabinet, grabbing two tattered books and a scale. He walked over to Harry and Hermione, handing a book to each of them and placing the scale in front of Harry.

"Thank you," Harry and Hermione said, practically in unison.

It felt odd without Ron in the class, but he had only earned an Acceptable on his O.W.L. for Potions, and couldn't take the N.E.W.T.

"Now then," Professor Slughorn said as he returned to the front of the classroom.

He proceeded to discuss the four potions that had been brewing since they walked into the room; Veritaserum, Polyjuice Potion, Amortentia, and Felix Felicis.

As usual, Hermione answered questions about all of them completely correctly. This certainly helped her feel less embarrassed about the lack of her book.

"As a prize today, I will give one tiny bottle of Felix Felicis — liquid luck, as Miss Granger expertly pointed out — enough to last 12 hours." Slughorn smiled as the class looked at him with wonder. "It will go to whoever can make the best Draught of Living Death, found on page 10 of Advanced Potion-Making."

Hermione opened her loaned book, immediately feeling irritated by the fact that this copy was already heavily annotated. The handwriting had a sense of familiarity to it, though she wasn't quite sure of who it belonged to. She internally debated asking for another copy, but didn't want to be an inconvenience.

The original text said to cut up the sopophorus bean, but the book's previous owner had made a note:
Crush with flat side of silver dagger, releases juice better than cutting.

Out if curiosity, Hermione abided by this instruction. To her amazement, plenty of juice came from the bean.

While she knew it was bordering on cheating to follow a previous student's findings, she couldn't help but continue to follow their instructions, curious as to how the resulting potion would turn out.

Professor Slughorn already thought highly of her, so if these annotations resulted in a horrendous brew, he probably wouldn't think too horribly of her.

She continued to follow the annotations. At the end of class, Professor Slughorn walked around the room, looking into everyone's cauldrons. As he passed Hermione's, his face filled with delight. "The clear winner!" he exclaimed. "Not only an exceptional mind, but an exceptional potion brewer as well! Terrifically done, Miss Granger," he smiled, handing the bottle of Felix Felicis to her.

She smiled widely, taking the bottle from him, "Thank you sir!"

—————

As the day progressed, Hermione couldn't help but feel guilty for using the book. But, surely, she thought, other students had borrowed that book and hadn't disclosed its secrets to Snape. Plus, she had plenty of N.E.W.Ts to worry about this year, lessening the workload for Potions couldn't be all that terrible of a decision. The book could help her learn too, albeit in a non-conventional way.