As head girl, Hermione Granger did not find it exceptionally worrisome that she had been asked by the headmaster to come to his office once she had finished her last lessons that day. Thus, at three o'clock, Hermione made her way to headmaster's office. She arrived quickly on the second floor and headed to the gargoyle statue. The door behind it sprung open as if it had expected her. Hermione made her way up the winding staircase to the headmaster's office, knocking on the door to it after a few minutes of climbing.
"Come in, Miss Granger," his voice said on the other side of the door. Hermione opened the door and stepped inside the office. "Please," Dumbledore said to her, smiling and gesturing to the chair that was placed before his desk. Looking around as she sat down, Hermione saw that many of the former headmasters seemed to away from their portraits on visits and that Fawkes, who had been looking quite lovely on her last visit, seemed to have deteriorated in health.
"Good afternoon, Professor," Hermione said as she settled herself into the seat he had indicated. "I see that Fawkes is approaching his rebirth."
"Yes," the headmaster nodded, looking over to his faithful companion. "He does look dreadful. I do wish he'd get on with the business."
Hermione smiled in response. "What did you want to see me about?" she asked. Hermione knew that she had been performing her head girl duties extremely well, and hoped that she had not let some indiscretion go unpunished. She found that she was having a particularly difficult time keeping up with the number of snogging couples hiding around the grounds of Hogwarts. This particular spring seemed to ignite the hormones of the students more than any before that Hermione could remember. She rather hoped she had not been called into his office to discuss this matter, though.
"Hermione," Dumbledore began, clasping his hands and resting them on the desk before him. "What is your opinion of Professor Snape?"
"Professor Snape?" Hermione frowned. "He's a brilliant man, Headmaster. A bit cold at times, but a very good teacher though he seems to be very..." she stopped suddenly, biting down on her bottom lip.
"Yes?" Dumbledore prodded, leaning forward.
"Well, lately he's seemed quite sad and lonely," Hermione finished, looking down at her lap when she was done.
"I am glad you said that, Hermione. I was thinking the exact same thing." Dumbledore paused to clear his throat, causing Hermione to look back to him. "Severus recently lost someone very dear to him, and..."
"Oh, that's awful. Who was it?" Hermione asked, not realizing she had interrupted the headmaster.
"His house elf. He had been in the Snape family for years, and was very dear to Professor Snape," Dumbledore said softly. "The attempts on behalf of the staff to console Professor Snape have been futile at best, Miss Granger. I believe this is mostly because he expects it from us, and has taken to avoiding us. Professor Snape is not one who will willfully display a weakness, you know, and is doing his best to not allow us to see how hurt he is from this loss."
"So you'd like me to try and console him," Hermione supplied.
"Yes. As conspicuously as possible, please." Dumbledore said, smiling at her.
"But why me, Professor?" Hermione asked, frowning at the elderly man.
"Ah! I was hoping you'd ask that!" Dumbledore replied, his grin growing. "You see, Miss Granger, you have the perfect pretense for going to see him. We all recognize that you are very eager to learn, and it would not seem exceptionally out of character for you to visit him and request some recommendations on potions literature. And, of course, as head girl, it would be your duty to make sure he was all right after telling him that you've noticed him to be a bit out of sorts in class."
"I see," Hermione replied. She had to admit that it did make sense. It would be just like her to ask for extra reading and to use her title as head girl as a reason to make sure everything was all right. However, Hermione did not think Professor Snape to be an idiot and supposed he might see straight through her act.
"Trust me, Hermione," Dumbledore said, breaking into her reverie. "Professor Snape will not suspect a thing."
Hermione reluctantly set off to the dungeons a little after breakfast on the first Saturday after her meeting with Dumbledore. She was missing a Hogsmeade weekend
in order to visit her bad-tempered Professor. The boys had protested emphatically about her staying behind, but Hermione had been firm in her excuse that she had too
much studying to catch up on. She had told them she had been neglecting it due to her head girl duties.
She had used this same lie the evening before, telling the boys she had to spend her night studying. She was actually in the kitchen, though, making chocolate chip cookies, and shooing the house elves away as they endeavored to assist her.
As she descended the staircase into the dungeons, Hermione decided she would check to see if the Professor was in his offices first. She had been given directions to Professor Snape's chambers and the Slytherin common room in the event that she was unable to find him in his office. Crossing through the dungeon entrance, Hermione walked purposefully towards the door to Snape's office, not noticing the death grip she had on the plate of cookies. She was not nervous, or so she told herself she wasn't every few seconds.
She lifted one hand and rapped sharply on the door to the Professor's office, and reminded herself once again that she was not nervous as she waited for a response from within. "Enter," the low, smooth voice of Professor Snape called after a few seconds.
"Not nervous," Hermione muttered to herself as she grabbed the door handle and opened the door to his office. Looking in she saw that he was seated as his desk, his eyes focused on the pieces of parchment before him. "Good morning, Professor," she said brightly as she stepped into the office and shut the door behind her.
She watched as his head shot up in surprise. He raised an eyebrow in surprise and frowned at her. "Miss Granger?"
"Er...yes," Hermione replied lamely. "How are you?" she asked, stepping forward into the room.
He continued to frown, and looked back down at his desk. "What do you want, Miss Granger?"
"Well," Hermione began, gulping in an effort to calm her nerves. "I was wondering if you would mind recommending some literature on potions for me, professor. With NEWTs coming up, I felt it would be good to do a bit of extra reading. One can never be too prepared..."
"And you plan on paying for my assistance with cookies, Miss Granger?" he said, interrupting her. Hermione found his unwillingness to look at her when he spoke rather disconcerting.
"No, Professor. These are just for you to have," Hermione replied. She was happy to see that this finally made him look up at her.
"Why?" he asked. The question was simple enough, and Hermione thought she could answer it without much difficulty.
"Well, I've noticed you seem to be a bit out of sorts in class, Professor," Hermione stated, borrowing the words of the headmaster. "And I thought that..."
"Cookies would rid me of my suffering?" he asked, sneering. "You are too kind, Miss Granger."
"Well, I didn't think they would make your problems disappear," she replied and realized too late her tone was rather huffy. "Honestly Professor," she continued hurriedly, hoping he did not notice the way she had spoken to him before. "I just want to help, and as head girl I thought..."
"You thought it was your job to pry into other people's private affairs." he finished for her, standing from his seat and glowering down at her.
Hermione frowned, but did not let him intimidate her. "I didn't like seeing you so upset, Professor. I thought you might need to talk about it, so I thought I would come and see if I couldn't help."
"Why exactly would I discuss personal matters with a student, Miss Granger?" he asked.
"Well, you don't seem to be knocking down any of your colleagues' doors to speak with them about it, Professor. I thought it might help if someone came and knocked on your door instead." she explained, shrugging.
He sneered at her, but Hermione thought he might look a bit amused. "Armed with cookies as your only defense?"
She raised her chin and looked up at him in a way she hoped was defiant. "Yes."
"Very well, Miss Granger," he replied and she watched as he sat back down before his desk. "Won't you have a seat?" he asked, gesturing to one of the chairs set on the opposite side of his desk.
Surprised at his sudden change in demeanor, Hermione walked forward, set the plate of cookies onto Snape's desk, and sat in one of the indicated chairs. Clasping her hands in her lap, she looked up at him expectantly.
"Do you plan on asking me what has been bothering me?" Snape asked, smirking at her.
"Actually, I was going to wait for you to pour your soul on your own accord," Hermione replied and grinned back at him. She wasn't quite as practiced as he was at being sarcastic, but she had gotten pretty damn good at it. Ron's continual muttering of "ouch" in response to her words had been proof of her success in this field. "So, what has been bothering you lately, Professor Snape?" Hermione continued after a moment.
"I recently lost someone very dear to me, Miss Granger," he said, looking down at his desk.
"I'm very sorry to hear that, Professor. Was he or she a very close relation?" Hermione replied.
"He was of no relation at all, Miss Granger," he hissed in response looking up and glaring at her. "He was my house elf," he finished and cast her a look that dared her to laugh.
"Oh. I'm sorry, Professor. You two were very close?" Hermione said, not even cracking a grin.
"Yes," he said and sighed. "Frank was my dearest childhood friend."
"Frank?" Hermione bit her lip in an effort to hide her smile.
"Yes. Frank." Snape barked, looking back down at his desk. "My parents were socialites, Miss Granger. They always had one engagement or another, and rarely had time for me. So, Frank took care of me. When I was very young, he was like the older brother I never had. As I grew older, he continued to be my faithful companion. We did everything together, and I never went anywhere without Frank by my side. Until, of course, I went to Hogwarts. But even during my schooling, I could come home on holidays and Frank was there." he paused here and Hermione was surprised to hear him sniffle. "Frank was the best friend I ever had," he finished before beginning to positively wail.
"Oh, Professor," Hermione cooed, pulling her handkerchief from her pocket. She left her seat and stepped quickly around Snape's desk. "There, there," she said as she rested her hand on his back and handed the handkerchief to him. She slowly rubbed circular patterns on his back as he sniffled and wept. Eventually, his crying subsided and she could detect that his breathing was deep, even, and controlled.
After giving his nose one final blow, Snape muttered, "Thank you, Miss Granger."
"Certainly, Professor," Hermione responded immediately, patting his back lightly. "I hope you feel a bit better, now. I find it always helps to have a good cry sometimes."
"Yes," he agreed, wiping his cheeks with a clean corner of the hanky. "I suppose I have been keeping my feelings bottled up."
"Well that is no good, Professor!" Hermione scolded gently. She patted his back again. "I do hope you'll refrain from doing that again."
"Yes," he replied, and turned to face her. Hermione frowned when she saw his face and how miserable he looked.
"Oh, Professor," she sighed, shaking her head. On instinct, Hermione wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pulled him into a hug. She felt him go rigid in her grasp, but he did not yell or shove her away as she expected he would. Instead, he gradually relaxed to her touch and after a bit, wrapped his arms loosely about her.
After a few moments, Hermione let her head fall onto his shoulder. "Miss Granger," he hissed, "this is entirely inappropriate."
Hermione squeezed his shoulders gently. "I am afraid you are in desperate need of a hug, Professor. Just a few more minutes and it will be all over. And I do think you'll feel much better afterwards."
He sighed in response and Hermione took this action for an agreement of sorts. She held onto him just seconds longer and after giving his shoulders one last squeeze she pulled away. Smiling at him, she reached out and patted his hands where they now rested in his laps. "Feel better, Professor. And enjoy your cookies."
She left
his office in a hurry, rebuking herself all the way back up to Gryffindor tower for being so rash and touching
him.
The following Monday, Hermione headed down to her advanced potions class with Harry and Ron on either side
of her. They were talking animatedly about the fight Ron
had nearly gotten into with Malfoy on Saturday afternoon. They had talked about it all day on Sunday and after the first time, Hermione had gotten the gist of the
event and had tuned them out for the remainder of the day. She did the same now, and entered the potions classroom with only half of an idea as to what the pair
was going on about.
Hermione took her usual seat in the front of the classroom, while Ron and Harry sat behind her. Neville Longbottom had given potions up as soon as he was able to do so, and Hermione now had the joy of working with Seamus Finnigan as a partner. Seamus was not much better suited to potions than Harry or Ron was, but Hermione was happy to discover he was far more skilled in the area than Neville had been.
"Your assignment is on the board; begin working," Professor Snape said as he suddenly entered the room. Hermione watched as he walked to the front of the room, and seated himself at his desk. Hermione thought it was unusual behavior for the professor who usually swept around the classroom, breathing down the students' necks as he watched them prepare the potions.
Hermione worked quietly with Seamus on the assigned potion. They ran into no problems and worked efficiently. They soon found they were finished with twenty minutes of class time to spare. After bottling the potion and cleaning up their work area, Hermione and Seamus sat down. Hermione saw that Seamus took up a Quidditch magazine, and following suit, she reached into her bag and pulled out a novel she had been reading.
After spending a few minutes reading, Hermione was overcome by the distinct feeling the she was being watched. She turned around and looked at Harry and Ron, but saw they were concentrating on finishing their potion. She glanced at Seamus and saw he was engrossed in his magazine. After looking at the rest of her classmates, she saw that they were all busy with what they were doing and none of them were looking at her.
Frowning, Hermione turned back around in her seat and looked forward. Snape looked back at her. She felt her eyes widen in surprise, but she offered him a small smile before directing her gaze back to her book. As she continued to read, she noticed the sensation of being watched did not diminish, but she did not dare look up at the Professor.
After some minutes, Hermione heard Snape clear his throat. "Miss Granger," he snapped, causing her to look up at him.
"Yes, Professor?" she asked, setting her book down on the table and giving him her full attention.
"You will stay after class, if you please." He paused and glanced at the clock. "The rest of you are dismissed."
Seamus cast her a sympathetic and confused look as he left their table. She gave him a weak smile in return, and watched as he and the rest of the class filed out of the room.
"Come here, please, Miss Granger," Professor Snape said once the last student had left the room.
"Yes sir," she replied as she left her seat and walked to the desk he had suddenly stooped behind. He reappeared a few seconds later with a stack of books in his hands.
"I have charmed them to make them lighter, Miss Granger. I wouldn't want you hurting yourself," he said as he held the books out to her.
"What are these?" she asked as she took the proffered books and noted that they were indeed quite lightweight.
"Potions literature. Did you not ask me for further reading to assist in your preparation for NEWTs?" he replied, smirking at her.
"Oh," she said, blushing. "Thank you, Professor. I had forgotten entirely. This is very kind of you."
He waved a dismissive hand at her thanks, but she noticed he continued to smirk at her. She stood and waited as he seemed to study her for a moment. After a second, his face slipped back into its expression of indifference. "Good day, Miss Granger," he said, but she noticed his tone of voice was warm, much warmer than she'd thought it capable of being.
She nodded and turned back to her table. She grabbed her back, threw the strap over her shoulder, and made her way to the classroom door. "Good day, Professor," she called as she made her way to the exit.
"Miss Granger," he said when she was nearly in the hallway.
"Yes?" she replied, turning back to look at him.
"Thank you," he said softly.
She smiled at him. "You're very welcome, Professor," she said and walked quickly out of the classroom.