Severus knocked loudly on the door to a rather stately looking house, waiting impatiently for someone to answer his angry pounding. He had much better things to be doing today, and he didn't much appreciate having to start his day by paying an impromptu visit to a muggle family whose daughter he didn't particularly care for. Had he nothing to gain in return for this inconvenience, he sure as hell would not be standing on the stoop belonging to one-third of the Golden Trio at nine in the morning.
He knocked louder when five minutes had gone by without so much as a single sound coming from the picture-perfect house. He scowled, crossing his arms and tapping his foot impatiently. What the hell was taking so long? Certainly the occupants weren't still sleeping at this time of day, and while the house was large it certainly wasn't so expansive that his angry knocking couldn't be heard.
In a last-ditch effort to gain the attention of those within the house he angrily slammed the doorbell, scowling as it chimed some horrid rendition of Beethoven's Sympathy Nine. Glaring at the doorbell, he considered blasting it off its perch beside the door for its abuse of such a great composition but decided against the brash action as it was broad daylight and Muggles were sure to be out and about.
He was contemplating simply letting himself in, as the heat really was beginning to become unpleasant, when the thick door was finally opened.
"Professor Snape?!" Granger squeaked, her voice rising several octaves despite the fact she was whispering. "Professor, what are you doing here?"
Severus stared down at the thirteen-year old, wondering why her face was so heavily painted up and questioning why she seemed so fearful of him. Granted he was rather intimidating at the best of times, but he had never evoked such raw terror in any of his students save a handful or so.
"I'd rather not have a conversation of a magical nature out on the doorstep, Ms. Granger." Severus said dryly, wondering why she seemed so anxious to hide the left half of her face with her hair.
"How rude of me!" She scolded herself angrily, opening the door wider and gesturing for him to make his way inside. "Please, come in."
Severus nodded graciously and stepped foot into a very clean foyer, feeling relief as cold air washed over him and took away the unpleasantness of outside.
"If you follow me, Sir, I can get you something to drink." Granger offered quietly, seeming fearful to make any sound whatsoever.
"Very well, lead the way." Severus drawled, impatient to get this whole ordeal over with.
She nodded, still hiding her face by looking at the ground, and quietly stalked off. With great disapproval Severus realized she was still in her pajamas; a very distasteful pink gown that rested several inches above her knees. With disgust, he realized it was a sleeping gown meant for a much younger child. Wasn't the girl smart enough to dress herself without such disastrous results?
She lead him into a kitchen, and gestured for him to take a seat at a small table with four chairs. He obliged, settling into the breakfast nook, as the smell of bacon filled his nose and the music of Bach filled the large kitchen.
"Would you like anything to drink, Professor?" Granger asked softly, turning the radio on the counter off.
Severus frowned slightly as the music was stopped but nodded. "Coffee." It was likely the only thing that would keep him from committing a felony should he encounter any more irritations.
He nodded gratefully when she placed a cup of steaming, black coffee in front of him, unable to help but notice the light bruising on one of her wrists. He scowled, sipping the hot drink as he tried to come up with a good reason for those types of marks on her body. Perhaps she had been pulled from the way of an oncoming bus? But that didn't seem like the insufferable know-it-all to Severus, nor did the unanswered letter. Something was not right and Severus's curiosity demanded he figure out just what was wrong with this situation.
"Ms. Granger, if you'd kindly awaken your parents so we can discuss your attendance at school?" Snape asked, raising a brow.
"My attendance?!" Granger's face blanched. "Have I been expelled?"
"Ms. Granger- did you not receive the letter I sent you?" He demanded, knowing full well his Eagle-Owl Rephaim never failed to deliver post as he was resourceful and would do anything to assure a message was received.
"A letter?" Granger was clearly genuinely confused and scared. "Sir, I'm not being expelled am I?"
Severus sighed heavily. "No, you're not expelled from Hogwarts." He clarified. "I sent you a letter requesting your presence at an advanced level of school I teach during the summer-"
Severus was cut off a rather brawny man stumbled into the kitchen, the scent of hard liquor wafting after him as he clumsily wrapped beefy arms around Granger who had stiffened considerably at his approach. With unease, Severus noticed that the hands were starting to drift lower and lower to the point where the hug had become greatly inappropriate. He felt like a pervert such watching.
"I love when you wear that dress I got you." The drunk man slurred, his lips very close to Granger's ears.
"Mr. Granger." Severus's drawl was laced with venom as he fingered the wand sticking out of the pocket of his muggle trousers. "What are you doing?"
The large man quickly jerked away from Granger as if she had suddenly been engulfed in flames, and backed up several feet until he slammed into the counter. He was clearly bewildered and terrified, and he crossed his legs in a futile attempt to hide his inappropriate arousal.
"I was just saying hello to my niece is all." The man insisted quickly, fidgeting nervously under Severus's glare. "We're very close."
"That was a very friendly hello." Severus narrowed his eyes, fixing the semi-drunk man with a glare that had him shivering.
The man gaped like a fish, searching for answers, before looking at his niece for assistance. "Hermione- who'd you say this was?"
"This is Professor Snape, he teaches potions at Hogwarts, Tom." She explained, her voice monotone and weary-sounding at the same time.
"Oh?" Tom looked extremely nervous now, and cast a glance at a window nervously as if he expected he'd have to make a quick exit. "Any reason in particular you've come?"
"I've come to speak to the girl's parents." Severus drawled. "If you'd be so kind as to fetch them, I can-"
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
Severus cringed as the fire detector was set off by the now-charred food that had been left unattended for too long. His eye helplessly twitched as it wailed, there were truly very few sounds as grating as that of those damn machines, and he ruefully thought banshees could take lessons on ear-puncturing from the damnable objects.
As Granger rushed over to salvage what she could of the burnt food, Tom glared angrily and raised a hand in her generally direction before stopping himself at the last moment. With one last sneer at his niece he opted, instead, to do something productive by climbing up on a counter and silencing the shrieking by jabbing a button on the fire detector.
"Stupid girl, can't hold a conversation and cook at the same time!" Tom muttered darkly under his breath as he climbed off the counter, looking as if Granger had just committed some unforgivable crime against his person.
"Perhaps she'd have been able to watch over your precious food had you not been busy groping her." Severus suggested, trying hard to ignore the girl as she started to sniffle. It wasn't like she had been struck or hexed, had she?
"I don't know where you come from, but where I come from, a woman knows how to cook." Tom growled, flopping down into a chair in the breakfast nook right as a man and woman hurried into the kitchen.
"I told you not to wake us up!" Mr. Granger scolded sharply. "That isn't a hard order to follow, is it?!"
"And look at this," Mrs. Granger wrinkled her nose up, "You've burned the food!"
"Mum, Dad- I'm sorry. I got distracted-" Granger started to speak up in her defense but stopped when her father grabbed her wrist.
"And what did we tell you about getting distracted!?" Mr. Granger growled, shaking his daughter. "We already know you're stupid, but even the spastic can pay attention to a simply task!"
"It's only a little burnt," Hermione interjected, trying to pull away, "I can fix it."
Severus stood up when Mr. Granger grabbed onto Hermione's other arms and cleared his throat loudly. Mr. Granger released Hermione almost as quickly as Tom had and, as a result, Hermione lost balance and toppled over backward with a heavy thud.
"Jean, Francis- this is Professor Snape, he came to have a chat with you." Tom clarified.
"A chat?" Jean Granger asked, sounding very worried. "Hermione- have you offered the man something to drink?!" She demanded, looking crossly at her daughter as she rose shakily to her feet.
"I gave him coffee." Hermione said quickly.
"Mr. Snape- what exactly are you here to discuss?" Francis asked, clearly trying to do damage-control by acting like a concerned parent.
"Hermione's doing well in school, isn't she?" Jean demanded, leveling her daughter with a sharp look.
"She'd better be." Francis muttered quietly, before awarding Severus with a fake smile. "Please, have a seat."
Severus glowered but lowered himself back in his chair, relieved when the two been seated themselves on the other side of the table. He could tolerate Jean sitting beside him, but he didn't think he'd be able to contain himself should the Granger brothers get that close.
"Hermione!" Tom barked. "Don't just stand there like an idiot, sit down." He ordered, patting his lap.
"That is hardly necessary, I'll conjure up another chair." Severus offered.
"She can sit on her uncle's lap!" Francis argued. "She's only thirteen, a little girl yet." He purred, making Severus's stomach turn yet again that morning.
Hermione sucked in a breath and stiffly lowered herself on her uncles lap, biting her lip when he wrapped his meaty arms around her waist. Severus almost hexed the pedophile right then and there, before reminding himself that would only get him sent to Azkaban.
"Now, what is this about?" Jean smiled, an impatient tone in her sickly sweet voice.
"Five days ago I had a letter delivered to this house, inviting your child to participate in a summer school program for advanced learning." Severus said icily. "I specifically requested a reply be sent no later than yesterday, regardless of the decision to allow you child to participate or not."
"You'd let me into your program?!" Granger's eyes filled with excitement and her face split into a wide grin. "I thought that was only for your favorite students?"
"While I don't like you, Granger, the Ministry has begun to insist I allow a muggle-born to participate lest they take away my authority to tutor during the summer. As irritating as you are, you are the cleverest of muggle-borns and will be allowed to attend." Severus iterated.
"Thank you! Thank you so much! You won't regret it!" Granger insisted, her joy almost palpable.
"He won't regret it," Francis said simply, "Because you're not going."
Granger's face fell. "Please-"
"I said no, didn't I!?" Francis barked harshly.
"You're never home as it is." Tom added, his hands tightening around Granger's waist possessively.
"This is a valuable opportunity to further your daughters education." Severus protested, actually willing to fight for Granger to attend the program if only to keep her away from her family for awhile. Not that he'd ever admit to possessing such compassion for a Gryffindor, much less part of the Golden-Trio.
"She needs to spend more time at home." Jean insisted. "Don't you think we miss her?!"
Severus wanted to reply that no, he didn't think they missed her when she was gone but decided that would only be detrimental to his plans.
"School only goes until 7 to 5." Severus clarified. "You'd still have plenty of time to spend with your daughter."
"Only 7 to 5?" Francis questioned, started to warm up to the idea.
"Monday through Thursday. Friday's and Saturday's are off, and on Sunday class is only until 9."
"That's not so bad." Jean nodded. "She'd still have plenty of time to do her chores."
"How much is all of this going to cost?" Francis demanded. "If it's allright with you, I'd rather pay you now."
"I can go?" Grangers face split into a grin again, a smile so large it almost looked painful.
"As long as you behave." Jean amended, acting as if Hermione were not one of the most anal students when it came to following rules.
"Tuition is 15,000 pounds for the entire summer and, of course, you are required to supply the materials on this list."
Severus handed Jean the list and rose from his seat. "School starts Monday Ms. Granger. Do not be late."