Glaring conspicuously up from his plate was an extra biscuit. He picked it up, inspecting it like he had just come across it at the scene of a crime. Remus glanced up from his plate of only two biscuits and raised an eyebrow.
"Someone in the kitchen is favoring you, Severus." His mustache quivered with badly concealed amusement. "Do you have a secret sweetheart we don't know about?"
The potions master shot him a poisonous glare before slamming the offending the baked good back down on his plate, causing it to crumble into small pieces.
He had just shoved his chair back when Hermione stepped into the dining room. A hesitant smile played on her lips when she saw him, but it did not reach her eyes.
He hissed something inaudible to the room at large, stood gracefully and swept past her, leaving little Miss Granger with a plate of warm chocolate biscuits and a disappointed expression on her face that not even a reassuring hug from Tonks could vanquish.
Hermione tapped her fingers against the wooden tabletop, her eyes filled with an aching uncertainty.
"Sirius, it's not working," she whispered, ashamed that she had yet to succeed in the task assigned to her. "I've tried and I've tried, but he simply will not talk to me. He barely even spares me a glance."
The notorious criminal dropped a disturbingly large amount of sugar in his tea before speaking.
"Hermione, when I was in school, do you want to know how many best friends that man had?" She nodded, and he smirked. "Only one and he scared even her away. Snape is about as easy to befriend as the animal his house is so very fond of. But I know you can do it, Hermione. For the good of the Order."
"For the good of the Order," Hermione echoed softly.
A heavy silence came over them and Sirius sipped the tea to hide his discomfort.
The uncomfortable quiet was very suddenly broken by footsteps, and the very person they were discussing entered the room and opened a cabinet. Severus ignored them completely in favor of his search for nourishment but Hermione shot up nonetheless.
"Is here anything would like, sir?" She asked, trying to keep the eagerness from her voice. "I think there's still tea left. If you fancy some, I could warm it up."
His eyes did not stray from the bag of crisps resting on the middle shelve.
"Very well."
Snape's voice held little of anything, but he had spoken to her and by Merlin, that was enough.
A/N: Keep trying, Hermione. Hope you like the story so far, dear readers.