It had been an incredibly long day in the dungeons of Hogwarts. An entire class of 2nd year potions students had blown themselves asunder after a fight had broken out between two Hufflepuff girls - the reason for it unknown - and Hermione had been tasked with the cleanup of all the shattered cauldrons and scattered ingredients. Unfortunately for her, due to the nature of the explosion, everything had to be cleaned slowly and methodically. By hand. She had not missed the little sparks of mirth hidden behind Snape’s cold exterior when he informed her of her afternoon’s tasks. He may have softened considerably since the war, undeniably due in part to her forced “rehabilitation” of him, but by Merlin he was still the great bully he always used to be.
She sighed to herself, breaking out of her thoughts to analyze the room. As usual, it was spotless - Snape would expect nothing less, neither would she give it - and with a final check of the nooks and crannies, Hermione left the room. She could feel the aching in her knees and wrists from being crouched over for so many consecutive hours.
The final class of the day was just being let out, and with it the great swoosh of Snape’s imposing bat-like figure flew from the classroom directly toward her as though forcibly ejected.
“Class go well?” Hermione asked, eyebrow raised.
Snape snorted. “Sometimes these children are so utterly incapable of critical thinking I’m not sure I try.”
Shaking her head, Hermione made a grand gesture to the classroom of her suffering. Looking in, Snape gave a curt nod of approval before moving further down the hall without a word. After a few paces, he noticed she wasn’t joining him, and turned back around to see her with her hands on her hips, expectant look on her face.
Looking anywhere but at her, he fumbled through his words, “Erm.. look, Ms. Granger- Hermione.” They both winced at the title change. “Granger. I’m sorry that I keep getting you to do my dirty work-”
Hermione squinted her eyes, almost comically. “Yeah, no, it doesn’t exactly feel great.”
“But I have so many classes to teach in a day, and you are well aware that I can’t just give you my upperclassmen.” Snape ran his hand through his hair, allowing her a brief look into his equivalent frustration. Neither of them were exactly happy to be at Hogwarts, but a job is a job at the end of the day. Even for War Heroes.
Hermione sighed and began to walk with him back to his office. “I understand.”
Steadying her breath in a desperate attempt to slow her heart rate, she cleared her mind and prepared her occlumency fields. “Snape, I’ve been thinking… maybe I should try and take a bit of time off? To… to go- research. I want to do some extra research. Independently.”
Snape’s head whipped to look at her, dumbfounded. “Really, Granger?” Though this topic wasn’t foreign to the two of them, he never thought that she’d actually stick to it.
Hermione gave a half-committal shrug, but her face was dead serious.
Snape’s strut slowed down. “Granger, with your brain and wit? The tenacity you bring? We can’t just let you go. Don’t be ridiculous. I’ll never let you go.”
Audibly taking a deep breath, Hermione stopped walking and turned to him. “Okay, so- wait. Alright. I have.. I have a thing. But I’ve grown a great deal of respect for you, so.. I’m.. reluctant to say…”
Snape studied her, wondering silently to himself if the potions fumes had gotten to her. “What?”
Hermione fidgeted like the schoolgirl she used to be, looking down the hall that they came from. “It’s just that I have some.. some leverage. And I’m just.. reluctant to use it- in case it sours things for us, I suppose.”
“What leverage, Miss Granger?” he asked, amused.
Finally looking Snape in the eye, she found only intrigue, with a hint of trepidation. Trying to keep herself looking as nonthreatening as possible, she did her best to jokingly sashay the two of them into the nearest alcove.
“Okay, um. I’m not- I’m not bringing this up as any sort of threat, but-”
Now it was Snape’s turn to raise a sarcastic eyebrow. It was evident that both their minds flew to her handling of the Reeta Skeeter case.
Hermione shook her head and checked the hallway again. “So, you recall that time you had me clean out your office and take care of any um.. Undesirable letters or objects from your past?”
Snape’s eyes suddenly became incredibly serious, his face stony.
“I uh- I kept.. A few letters. Just a handful. Just in case. To uh.. Prove certain things. How some objects were acquired and whatnot… I was afraid of hiding evidence!” Hermione took on a light blush.
They both took a brief pause while Snape slowly appraised her, nodding as a low chuckle began in his throat. “Did you, now?”
“So I just- you know, I don’t want to bring it up to you in a way that feels like blackmail, but would it be bad for me to.. erm.. mention? That?”
Snape’s eyes lit up as though he won the lottery, posture changing from tenseness to near joviality, leaning a shoulder against the alcove wall. “Miss Granger, are you asking if you can blackmail me?”
Hermione instantly began fumbling over her own words, checking furiously up and down the hall for wandering students, “No! No, I just- I could never- I hate that. I like you! We’re friends! It's just.. You know… context. I suppose. I think-”
“I will gladly accept your blackmail.”
“No! It’s not-”
Snape was genuinely laughing now. “You are though, you meddling little creature!”
Horrified, Hermione screeched in nearly full voice, “I am not!”
Clapping a hand over her mouth and another around her arm to pin her into their corner, Snape stared intensely into her eyes, thoughts flying through his head. “Granger. I am going to promote you. We’ll begin with more advanced potions tomorrow, you can take on higher level classes, and… I’ll write to a friend or two about possible content for remote research. From here. On anything you want.”
Hermione wriggled underneath his hands, wrenching her mouth free. Processing the offer, she began nodding absentmindedly to herself. “Okay, that- yes. Yeah. That would work.”
“You would like that?”
“Yes. I would like that.”
The two took to looking anywhere but at each other, Snape still mostly obscuring Hermione’s only exit. Neither knew exactly what to say.
“Merlin, Granger, I thought you were going to accuse me of another war crime!” Snape practically laughed out, checking down the hall again.
“Oh, no! Absolutely not!” Hermione began awkwardly chuckling to herself.
“So where are they, then?” Snape tried to ask casually, still giddy with the awkward sense of relief that washed over him.
Hermione clapped her hands together with a promise, “Oh, I’ll never tell!” she joked, though they both knew the joke was entirely serious.
“Okay!” Snape said far too happily even for his emotionally rehabilitated self. Suddenly realizing he was still boxing Hermione in and the two had become incredibly close, he awkwardly stepped back, smoothing out his robes. “Great.”
Checking for incoming students, they both left as discreetly as possible, choosing this time to go as separate and opposite of ways as possible. Had either one looked back they would have seen their mirror image of confusion and amusement, silently wondering what in the fuck had just happened.