Disclaimer: The characters, settings, etc. of the Harry Potter series are not mine. I just play with them.
Severus Snape pulled the cap lower down onto his head. He knew his eyes were almost completely hidden and that the poor lighting in the small shop made him impossible to identify, but he refused to take any chances. To imagine that the one muggle book shop he had wandered into on his quest for out of print potions books was run by a former student! And run by a former student who, as he was acutely aware, had somehow turned from a very awkward and insecure girl into a very attractive and graceful woman.
He watched as she crossed the store, walking towards him. Behind her trailed an elderly couple, talking loudly about their granddaughter and the types of books she enjoyed reading. It was her birthday soon, they added. Did the shop owner know of anything that might interest the girl?
"I think I know just the thing," the attractive shop owner said in an enthusiastic tone that caused Severus to think of her as a child. He pictured her sitting in a classroom, his classroom, on her first day of school. He could see her, quite clearly, waving her hand wildly at him so that he'd call on her to answer his questions. He watched as the couple walked past him and followed her into the children's section where they marveled at the wide selection of fiction. "Here we are!" He heard her say, succeeded by gasps of delight from the couple.
"This is perfect," the old woman said. "Absolutely perfect."
"Well, I am very glad. If you'd just head over to the counter, I would be more than happy to ring it up for you." He watched as the old couple walked over to the counter, following the owner's instructions. He did not notice her coming to stand beside him.
"So," she said softly. He tried not to notice that she smelled like vanilla. He tried to ignore that her hair was no longer frizzy and puffy, but now formed long brown ringlets that rested easily on her shoulders, as if they had been there all of her life. He tried to deceive himself into thinking that her curvaceous form was not really there and that she was still eleven years old, looking at him with wide eyed fear in the Potions classroom. He tried, he really tried. But he failed miserably.
"So," he croaked. It was a feeble response, but he felt feeble. He felt like a lecherous old man. Finding himself attracted to a former student was by no means professional and was certainly not something that would be expected of Professor Severus Snape.
"Interested in magic, I see," she replied, moving to reach across him to the bookshelf. He hated himself when he attempted to step forward so that her arm would accidentally brush against him. Luckily, she was too quick for him. "This is a good title," she continued, pointing at a thin volume on the shelf, "if you are interested in Wicca and the like."
"I am not sure what I am interested in, really," he said softly, hoping that she would not recognize his voice, hoping that she had not already recognized him and was playing dumb, hoping that he would be able to escape from this shop without proposing marriage or buying all of her stock.
"Oh well then!" she exclaimed, smiling. "I'll just leave you to browse while I ring up some customers. I will be at my desk if you need any help."
Inwardly groaning, Severus stared hard at the shelves as she left his side. What was his next move? Purchasing a book he didn't want and using it as a reason to leave immediately and never come back? Standing here and staring at the shelves until she came back to him and politely told him it was closing time so he'd have to bugger off? Confess his identity and the sudden and overwhelming sense of ardor he was feeling towards her?
Snape decided instead to try and remember the last time he had seen her. It had to have been five years before at the Potter wedding. He remembered how terrible she had looked then, hiding in the shadows and socializing with practically no one. She had left a few days afterwards, simply disappearing one August evening. Whispers around the castle had claimed that she had been in love with Harry for quite some time and the wedding was simply her undoing. They had said that Hermione Granger had fled the Wizarding World to find a quiet and painless life among muggles. They said she wanted to mend her broken heart and find her true calling.
Severus supposed she had found it. She looked more beautiful and happy than he had ever remembered her being. He had to smile at the thought of books being the source of Hermione's true happiness. It was always books and the pursuit of knowledge that had brought the girl joy; the mischievous escapades with her friends had merely been filler. He should of known, of course, that her love of books would have led her to such a career.
Turning slightly as if he wanted to examine a title on his left, Severus quickly glanced over his shoulder at the front counter. There Hermione sat, staring down at the pages of a large volume. She seemed engrossed in the text, so Severus risked watching her a bit longer than was absolutely necessary. She was still as beautiful as she had been a few moments ago, and he still felt perverse and extraordinarily old.
By wizarding standards, forty-five was nothing. Severus was not yet to the middle of his life, but nonetheless, he was suddenly quite aware of the fact that he was in fact a full forty-five years old. And if his calculations were accurate, Miss Granger was, therefore, only in her mid-twenties.
The pure and simple truth of the matter was that he was old enough to be her father, and probably too old to be thinking about fathering children with her.
Sighing with defeat and resignation, Severus pulled the volume she had suggested earlier from the shelf and walked over to the counter. She didn't notice him walking, and he took advantage of the situation, studying her beauty more closely. It was incredible to him that she could undergo such a change in countenance, becoming such a beauty when none of her features had altered at all.
Frowning, he realized that he didn't really want to purchase this book. He'd have no reason to come back again if he did. But he was certain of one thing: he could not risk her recognizing him on a repeat trip. He could practically hear her giggling over her encounter with Professor Snape as she wrote a letter to one of her friends, recounting every detail. "You wouldn't believe what happened today," the letter would probably begin. "A man came in to the store, but it wasn't just any man, oh no! It was Professor Severus Snape himself! And what's more, he was practically drooling over me! Can you imagine the Potions Master being affected so strongly by my girlish charms!? What a fine joke it was."
Severus shuddered at the thought and slammed the book down onto the counter with a little more fervor than he had intended. Hermione looked up at him quickly. She was angry, at first, he could see it in her eyes, but the anger was quickly replaced with happiness.
"So you've found something then?" she said as she rang up his purchase.
"Er, yes." Snape nodded, reaching into his pockets to find the pound notes. "Yes, thank you."
She cast him a quick smile before turning her attentions to the book he had picked out. "Are you interested in Wicca?"
"Well," Snape began, trying desperately to come up with a suitable lie. "I am fairly interested in witchcraft as a whole."
"Ah." She nodded. "Any particular branch?"
"Umm…" he tried desperately to think of magic as a muggle would. It was damn near impossible. "Astrology?"
"Astrology is a very interesting field of magic," Hermione replied gravely, but smiling at the same time.
"Are you, er, familiar with it?" Severus asked.
Hermione looked up at him and continued to smile. "No, not particularly. Five pounds please."
Severus nodded and looked down at the bills in his hand. The five pound note was easy enough to pick out; he handed it to her.
"Thank you," she said as she took the money from him. She placed it in the register, and she handed him his receipt and the book in a plastic bag. "I hope you'll come back, soon. I'll see if I can't manage to get a hold of some good books on astrology."
Snape nodded, taking the receipt and bag from her. He stepped away from the counter and walked to the door, knowing he'd probably be back in just a few days time. It would take nothing short of a natural disaster to keep him from coming back to see Hermione.