When Hermione arrived at Severus' home, she found the door left ajar for her, and Severus brewing in the kitchen. The steamy room was a sensory assault. Potion making had given Hermione the habit of compulsively identifying scents. The air was thick with the combined aromas of stewed herbs and tinctures. Sharp and sweet yarrow, the mustiness of dried dandelion flowers, the mineral bitterness of ground roots, and burn and grittiness of ashwinder eggshells she could almost taste in the air. The tang of Magic was effused through the scents, clinging to her skin and hair.
“Something new?” she inquired after watching him huddle over the cauldron for several minutes.
“Clearly,” he replied in a snide tone as he added a drop of Acromantula venom.
The potion burped a cloud of sour yellow vapour, and Severus stepped back to avoid it with a faint hiss of irritation.
Hermione glanced at the ingredients laid out.
“Is there a new curse?”
“Indeed. Dolohov has outdone himself this time. Effortless to cast and highly effective. Countering it is simple but the damage is immediate. They'll start using it in the field soon.”
“What type?”
“Contagious acid boils.”
Hermione pressed her lips together, and drew a sharp breath. She'd have a lot of research to do in preparation. Acid spells had rarely appeared during battles in the past, but the effects of them were often devastating and difficult to heal.
Severus added four drops of moondew, and then turned to stare at her.
“You have twenty minutes,” he said, sweeping ahead of her into the sitting room. She dawdled a moment longer to study the slowly simmering potion before turning to follow him.
“I hear you're sacrificing yourself for the cause,” he drawled from an armchair before she'd seated herself.
“Moody said you thought it was a legitimate offer,” she said evenly.
“True,” he said.
He didn't offer tea.
“Why?” she asked. There was no point in being coy. She wanted straight answers. After so many years of war, she had found Severus answered short direct questions better than any other.
“Draco Malfoy does not serve anyone,” he answered.
Hermione waited.
“Of course, technically he serves the Dark Lord,” he said, making a dismissive gesture with his hand, “But that is out of necessity, not loyalty. His motivation is personal in nature. Whatever that motive is, he has decided that the Order can enable him to achieve it better than the Dark Lord can.”
Severus paused and then added “He will not be loyal to the Order but he'll be as excellent a spy as he is a Death Eater.”
“Is it worth it if we can't trust him?” Hermione asked.
“At this point I don't think the Order has any other option. Do you?”
Hermione shook her head and gripped the arms of the chair.
“And — I think he miscalculated somewhat when he made his offer,” Severus added.
“How?”
“Asking for you. I think it was a mistake on his part,” Severus said staring at her speculatively.
Hermione blinked. “Why?”
“As I mentioned to Moody, I observed Draco had a sort of fascination with you in school. Do not misunderstand; I am not claiming it to have been anything meaningful, much less serious. However, you were someone he noticed. You may be able to use that fact to your advantage. I don't believe he realises it.”
“He demanded to own me. I think he realises it,” Hermione pointed out.
“If he merely wanted a body to own or fuck, he could get practically any one he wanted with little effort. You're hardly Helen of Troy, and even it you were, he hasn't laid eyes on you in almost six years. And you certainly weren't then. I doubt he even knows what you currently look like. On the list of grudges he likely carries now, I doubt your academic rivalry still qualifies,” Snape retorted. “You are not the motive for his switch of allegiance.”
Severus' words plunged Hermione into a state of simultaneous relief and despair. She did not want the attention of Draco Malfoy — but she needed it. She felt suddenly tempted to cry over the sheer impossibility of the mission she had.
“Therefore,” continued Snape, “his decision to add you into his demands is an opening. If you choose to take it. You — could make him loyal.”
“By what? Seducing him?” Hermione asked skeptically.
“By holding his interest,” Snape said, rolling his eyes as though she were dense. “You are an intelligent enough witch. Be interesting to him. Find your way into his mind so that he starts to want what he cannot simply demand from you. You're most assuredly not going to hold him with your feminine wiles.”
Snape snorted as he said it.
“Men like Draco Malfoy are ambitious, which makes them quickly bored by anything that is easy for them to obtain. Sex is possibly one of the easiest things for him to get; even sex with you now — given the terms he set. You will have to be more than that, and you will have to make him see it.”