Chapter 9
Well, it had certainly been an event for Hermione to get to Hogwarts on this occasion. Obviously, Ron hadn’t wanted her to go. She had insisted. She couldn’t believe that she’d even been arguing with him about it, because there was truly nothing to argue about. It was a headache, to say the very least. This was something she had to do. She owed Severus this, and was thoroughly invested in how his research was starting to progress.
That and, admittedly, she did want to see him.
Perhaps, deep down, there was a little truth to what had been said. She couldn’t help but think back to that first night, when she’d assumed that he’d been propositioning her. She had felt bizarrely hopeful. Why? She couldn’t explain it. Other than, well, he definitely wasn’t an unattractive bloke. She was only human after all. That and it wasn’t as if the spark between herself and Ron was particularly magnetising at the moment.
However, this was strictly professional.
And if Severus wanted to be friendly with her, that was most definitely a bonus, regardless of what anyone said.
//
“Hello again. Long time no see,” Hermione laughed as she approached Minerva, whilst hauling her bag over to her other arm.
She had decided to stay for a couple of days again. It was just easier than apparating there every day, plus Ron was away on a mission. The more time he spent with George, the more he went on about quitting being an Auror and helping take over the shop. She had once encouraged him to follow his dreams, but now couldn’t blood care less. She wasn’t surprised in the slightest that he’d decided he’d had enough of being an Auror. She hadn’t, quite frankly, expected him to stick for it to quite as long as he had done. She had never really envisioned Ron as an Auror. Harry, yes. Ron, not quite so much. He’d done a job, she had to give him that. However, the downside of this career change was that he was going to be around more. It pained her to think of him that way, given how close they once were, both during and before their marriage, but he hadn’t made things easy as of late. Severus debacle aside.
She had somewhat of a welcoming party again, including her new friend.
She didn’t quite know what to say. Did she acknowledge The Daily Prophet article? She didn’t want to. But…
“Up for a little more canoodling, Professor Snape?” she teased in a quiet tone just for him to hear. The look that spread across her former teacher’s face was one that would spread fear into any normal person. But she did catch his blush, despite it all. Hermione laughed nervously. “Where did they get idea from? That’s what I’d like to know.” She rolled her eyes, before tucking her hair back behind her ear. All of a sudden she was incredibly flustered. That wasn’t a brilliant start. However, she had to make somewhat of a joke of it, or else it would be hanging over them like a cloud of doom.
Severus cleared his throat and shook his head. “That poor excuse for a newspaper has never had very high journalistic standards,” he answered evenly. “Usually, I’m more than happy to give them a scandal to write about, but in this case, I would have preferred to fly under the radar,” he admitted.
Severus did feel bad that his presence had caused such a rift in her life. It hadn’t affected him much. Honestly, it was a compliment that they’d assumed they were ‘canoodling.’ The Minister for Magic and Brightest Witch of Her Age were certainly far out of his reach for a romantic partner.
“We can walk down to the dungeons so I can show you the lab, if you’d like,” he suggested. Might as well get it out of the way. He knew she was staying for a few days, but he didn’t want to take up any more time of hers than he had to. She was already going to far too much effort on his behalf.
“Yes, let me just…” Hermione started to turn toward the staff tower to put her bag away, but Minerva waved her hand and suddenly she was bagless. “Ah. Thank you. Okay,” Hermione said, clasping her hands together as she and Severus fell into step next to each other, leaving everyone else behind.
As they walked, he looked down at her. “I feel as though inspecting the progress of lab construction is rather beneath the duties of the highest witch in the land,” he said. He was teasing a bit, but it was true. Why had she come, of all people? Didn’t she have a secretary to do that or something? Or perhaps someone from the board?
As she explained her earlier conversation with her coworker, he nodded. “Ah,” he said. “So when this crashes and burns, like they predict, it’ll be an ‘I told you so’ moment. Well, I’m happy to prove them wrong to keep your name in good standing,” he smirked. It wouldn’t be the first time someone underestimated, and he highly doubted it would be the last. It didn’t bother him much. As he’d said all his life, he just needed to be given a chance. Lily had given him one. Dumbledore had given him one. Now, Hermione had given him one.
They got to the lab and he opened the door for her, letting her walk around. “It’s obviously not quite finished, but it’s getting there,” he said. He hadn’t hired anyone, purely because he didn’t trust them to do the job right. It was taking up a fair chunk of his time, but he enjoyed the work. He didn’t spend much time sleeping anyway, and he was excited about it, so he happily worked well into the night most nights to make progress.
“I didn’t bother reading past the front page’s drivel of a tease into their libel, but Minerva said that she read Mister Weasley’s interview. Surely he can’t be that jealous of… well, me? I would think he’d be secure enough in your marriage to trust that you would not run off into the sunset with me,” he said. It was laughable, even. They didn’t go together, nor would they ever. She was married and those thoughts had never once crossed his mind, not when she was a student and not now. She wasn’t even remotely attainable anyway. Even if she was, what the fuck would she see in the likes of him?
Hermione hesitated for a moment, before speaking. “It’s not you. It’s me. We’re going through a rough patch.” It was the first time that she’d vocalised that, because she couldn’t speak about it with anyone else. They gave her knowing looks, questioning glances… but no one had actually asked her if she was happy in her marriage. She knew that she probably shouldn’t be telling him this, nor would he actually want to hear it from her. He hadn’t asked for her life story, he’d asked why Ron would be jealous of him. “I think that he doesn’t particularly like how invested I am in all of this. Why can’t I expend all of the energy that I expend in my job, in my marriage?” She shrugged, shaking her head, knowing that it wouldn’t be fair for her to go much further there.
“I really am invested in all of this. I want to see you succeed, Severus.” She smiled reassuringly, “If I could tell you the reason, I would, but I’m not entirely sure that I know it myself.” She started to look around, listening to him as he explained his current plan of action. The man was undeniably organised and prepared. He knew exactly what he was doing and when he was going to do it. She wasn’t at all concerned, and hadn’t been prior to the visit. However, they’d wanted her to come, and she had. She certainly wasn’t going to have turned this little visit down.
“It’s lovely and quiet in here,” she pondered out loud. The place was practically a bunker. It had to be, really. The Ministry required a certain level of discretion when it came to where their research was being carried out. “You could get up to all sorts of mischief.” She then looked up into his eyes knowingly, smiling before breaking her gaze away from him and walking over to his storage shelves. They were so impeccably kept. She glanced over the labels, seeing things that hadn’t been in his original supply cupboard; not that she’d know much about that or anything. It was all particularly fascinating.
Severus blushed again at her words and knowing look. He had never felt this flustered around a woman before. Well, that wasn’t necessarily true, but it had been a very long time.
He decided it might be best if he didn’t say the remark that immediately popped up in his head. Especially after she confided in him that her husband was not happy about this visit in the first place.
“I know that you probably think that I’m wasting my time here, but I like it. I trust you. I know that you’ve got this. But, the chance to come here… I’m always going to take, no matter what my husband thinks.” She sighed and rolled her eyes, “It’s a lovely break for me. You know, from that place.” She leaned back against his large work table, staring up at him. “And Ron.” She felt that she could be honest with him, because who the hell was he going to tell? “I hate to say it, but it’s true.” It did make her feel a little shitty, which made it hard, but she had to be honest with herself.
Severus turned his attention to her, away from the rather intrusive thoughts flying through his head. It didn’t help that she was leaned up against his desk like that.
“So, would you like to show me your paperwork?” Hermione asked, putting on her firm Minister voice, while still smiling reassuringly.
Severus – curse his damn complexion – blushed again and nodded. He was all out of sorts.
“I want to be able to tick the box I need to tick before we… I don’t know, sneak a drink together or something.” She knew that this was risky. What was she doing? She knew that she wanted to make a friend out of him, but there was also the fact that she was… well, attracted to him. Her thoughts were guarded at all times, and so she wasn’t particularly concerned about that. She knew he wouldn’t snoop without her permission. She was concerned about the way that she was feeling, about how excited she’d been to get here and see him.
“Minerva will have our skins if she catches us drinking on the job. Speaking from experience,” Severus teased. “But I’ve gotten rather good at keeping things hidden from her. Believe me, first-year essays require a lot of self-medication. I just graded a batch and seriously considered getting into crystal meth,” he said. When she laughed wholeheartedly, he felt a distantly familiar warmth spread through his whole body. He gave a small, small smile and glanced down for a moment. It had been a very long time since he’d made a pretty girl laugh.
What was he thinking? About Hermione fucking Granger?! What sort of alternate universe had he entered into? Two bloody months ago, he hadn’t given her a second thought, and now he was in this lab thinking of entirely wicked things he wanted to do with her on that work table. Merlin’s pants. He really had been alone for too long.
“My paperwork is in my quarters. We can go through it together if you’d like. Over that secret drink. It might be easier for me to explain some things to you as you read them.” He thought about taking her back to the garden she’d liked so much the last time she visited. They would certainly be alone there, and it was very serene. It was a nice place just to exist for a moment.
“Sounds perfect,” Hermione agreed, pushing off the desk to follow him.
They walked out of the lab and he locked it up, before going the short distance to his quarters. He took down the wards and opened the door for her, then followed in behind her. It was amusing to think about how he never let anyone in his quarters, and she’d been in there twice in the last few months.
“Here you are,” he said, handing her a very organised folder of papers.
“Thank you,” Hermione murmured as she immediately opened it up to look over.
Severus hated that she was feeling unhappy and unfulfilled. She had been through so much at such a young age, she deserved to live the rest of her years as happy as possible. He understood burying herself in work, because he’d done something similar. He was still doing that. He wasn’t sure he’d be working so hard at all this if he had a family to spend time with.
“What do you like to drink then, Minister Granger?” he asked with a smirk.
“What did you call me, Severus?”
He sighed deeply. “Okay. Hermione,” he intoned deeply, ensuring to enunciate every syllable. “Aren’t you technically my boss now, Hermione?”
“Yes,” Hermione giggled, shrugging playfully, “I am. Technically.”
She took the glass from him, taking a swig before glancing down again at the folder in her hand. Slowly, she moved to sit down nearby, setting both the glass and folder down on the table. She opened it up, continuing to take swigs from her drink as she looked through his notes. It was all so well-kept. He had covered all bases, she was fairly certain of it.
Severus tried not to hover, but he wanted to be nearby in case she had any questions or concerns. He had looked over it so many times his vision started to blur, but this research was his baby. He wouldn’t have something with his name on it be anything less than perfect.
“I do have to say, I’m particularly impressed,” Hermione complimented. Severus knew she meant it, too. “This is all solid work, not that I’m surprised. You always give your all in anything you do.”
“Careful, you’re sounding dangerously like someone who has gotten to know me,” Severus drawled teasingly, perching on the edge of the armchair adjacent to the sofa she was on.
“Pardon me,” Hermione laughed as she shook her head. “Can’t have that, now can we, Professor?”
Severus harrumphed and took a large sip of his drink.
//
It wasn’t long before Hermione sat alongside him at dinner; a lot of the kids immediately noticed this, and were eyeing the high table with complete interest. To be honest, a lot of them had most likely seen that damned newspaper. It was so ridiculous, completely unfounded nonsense. It was unfounded in that, they certainly hadn’t been canoodling with one another. As much as, well, she’d perhaps like to do so with him. Who wouldn’t?
Merlin, she knew that it was deeply wrong to be thinking this way about him.
About Severus Snape.
Of all the men that she could have gone for, that she could have actively wanted to stray outside of her marriage for, how could it be him? Yet, at the same time, she had never expected to feel this attraction toward him. It was just compounded by the way that she felt about the lack of affection that she was currently on the receiving end of from her husband. He was far more concerned with what she was up to outside of their bed, sadly enough for him.
Hesitantly, she reached out under the table, gently squeezing Severus’s knee. She didn’t say anything, but merely looked into his eyes. “I’d like to observe some of your lessons tomorrow. I’ve asked to drop in on a couple of others but… I’ll have the whole afternoon free.” She smiled, knowing fine well that it was solely an excuse for her to spend time around him.
Severus hadn’t meant to freeze when she touched him, but he had. He felt his heart rate quicken, but he didn’t pull away. She didn’t pull away either. Her hand was still there on his leg. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
“Yes,” he rasped, then cleared his throat. “Yes. Sure. You can,” he said. His brain was not working. Bloody hell. He needed to get it together. He wanted to do something in return, but what? Would it be strange or lame if he reached over and touched her knee? Would it be too much if he rested his hand over hers on his leg? However, he didn’t have much more time to think about it before her hand slowly trailed off his leg and went back to her side. He looked down at his food and couldn’t even focus on eating. His thoughts were completely consumed.
“I have patrols tonight,” he admitted quietly. “In case you can’t sleep, I mean.”
Hermione flicked her gaze back to his, her cheeks reddening beneath all those freckles. “Okay.”
Their dynamic had completely shifted, the power balance between them had shifted, too. Hermione had known fine well that he was a different man to how he’d been whilst they’d been at Hogwarts, but she hadn’t realised until now the man that he truly was beneath his really rather gruff exterior on occasion There was so much more depth to him than she could have realised as a child. Now? She wanted to get to know him. She wanted to talk to him, to vent to him, to actively confide in him. She didn’t know what it was that was compelling her into feeling like this, but she certainly couldn’t help herself nor would she want to.
Severus was the same. Until recently, he had never viewed Hermione Granger as a woman. She had just been… Hermione Granger. The know-it-all, one-third of the Golden Trio, the brains behind the Dream Team. The Minister. The Golden Girl. Everything he despised in life.
But she wasn’t any of that. She really was just a normal woman, as he was a normal man, and they could pursue a very normal friendship together.
Couldn’t they?