A/N: Still don't own anything you recognize. Many thanks to my Beta Sabrina-chan!
In this chapter, our two favourite adolescent wizards invade the Granger home.
Chapter Two—Play Date
For the past eight days (every day he had stayed at the Granger house) Severus had stayed in bed until at least eleven AM. Summer had its advantages. The disadvantages were greater still.
Ever since that first day of class six years ago Hermione Granger had irked him. He knew her intelligence would garner points for Gryffindor and he had disliked her because of it. If she had been sorted into Slytherin, that would be a different story altogether. Snape had strived for years to build up the Slytherins, pushed them to excel in academics as well as Quidditch. When Granger had proved her brilliance, nearly all of his Slytherin's stopped trying, knowing that little Miss Granger would outshine them. It was bloody frustrating.
Of course, he had been too smart for his own good when he was the same age as Granger. Miss Granger, however, had gained friends; he had not. He had gained a few acquaintances through his school years, fellow Slytherins who would pay him a few Sickles for doing their homework, but none he would ever care to call 'friend'.
Snape noticed the similarities between himself and Miss Granger. The only difference was that Miss Granger had happiness and he did not. The thought made him frown.
The professor yawned all the way down the stairs, rolling up the sleeves of his gray button-down shirt that he wore over his black, long sleeved shirt. It was much too cold for the tail-end of June!
A knock on the door stopped him dead in his tracks. Snape now stood at the foot of the stairs, directly across from the front door, hand poised over the wand in his back pocket. Granger peered from out of the kitchen, wand behind her back. She glanced at Snape who nodded in return.
Snape groaned as he saw who was waiting on the other side.
The rest of the Golden Trio had arrived. Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley stood side by side, grinning at Hermione.
"Ron! Harry!" she squealed as she threw her arms around them. She dragged them inside. "What are you doing here?" she asked.
"We're in a bit of pickle, Hermione," Arthur Weasley said as he walked in, followed by an exhausted looking Remus Lupin.
"Tonight is the full moon," Lupin explained wearily. "So Harry can't be anywhere near me for a while and Tonks can't watch him."
"So take him to the Burrow," Snape growled from his spot on the stairs.
"We can't leave Harry and Ron with only Molly and Ginny to guard them," Arthur said. "Fred will come by later to collect them but they'll have to stay here for the day."
"If that's alright with you two," Remus added, hoping to sound polite.
"That's just what I need—to babysit two more," Snape scoffed as he stepped into the living room.
Remus twitched a few times and furiously scratched his ear. "Alright Harry, don't do anything foolhardy."
"And don't you two cause any trouble for Professor Snape or for Mr. and Mrs. Granger," Arthur warned.
The boys turned eagerly to Hermione as the two men left. "Show us around!" Ron said excitedly. "How does everything work? Ell-eck-tricity?"
Hermione giggled, glad to see that Arthur's love of all things Muggle had rubbed off on at least one of his children.
"Yeah, we've never seen your house before," Harry added.
"I'll give you the grand tour!" Hermione beamed. "I'm so glad you two came to see me! I've missed you both so much!" she chirped as she draped an arm around each of their shoulders.
"What is this?" Ron asked, indicating the microwave. Harry and Hermione laughed and explained.
Severus Snape huffed. He longed for his normally quiet summers free of students. Now he had two of the most troublesome and one of the most aggravating students of all time to deal with. The three of them were cackling like hens. The recluse pinched the bridge of his long nose, hoping to curb the pounding of a headache before it began.
"And there's only one level up there?" Ron asked as he peered up the staircase.
"Yes, come take a look," Hermione said leading the way up.
Not even a minute later Severus heard the noises stop and he knew they must have entered Granger's bedroom. No doubt they were talking about him. He rolled his eyes. At least they had the courtesy to not discuss him within hearing range.
"How's he treating you, 'Mione?" Ron asked with concern.
"Is he being civil?" Harry asked.
"Generally speaking, yes," Hermione replied. "We haven't said more than ten words to each other this whole time."
Ron whistled, sitting on the bed. "That's rather lucky, don't you think?"
"I don't know, I'm going crazy in here!" She slumped against the side of her dresser. "I wish he would just talk to me. I can't practice any magic, or send any owls or even get the Daily Prophet! I'm going to go mad!"
"He hasn't bitten your head off, chewed it up, and spit it back out—I'd be counting my blessings if I were you," Ron advised, channeling a bit of his inner Molly Weasley.
Hermione waved her hand dismissively. "Tell me about your summers. What's going on in the Wizarding world?"
Ron mentioned numerous deaths and Harry explained that he had not yet been able to talk to anyone concerning their memories of Voldemort. He could only conduct interviews with Remus at his side. Auror Nymphadora Tonks had become quite busy with the recent increase in Death Eater activity, and Harry couldn't conduct interviews unless Tonks was able to patrol his perimeter.
They continued talking as they wandered back downstairs and into the living room. They each glanced at Snape in turn but he seemed to be unbothered by their noise. Severus continued to listen, silently, behind a book of Shakespeare that he had found in the Granger's den.
"So, how's Ginny?" Hermione asked no one in particular.
Ron rolled his eyes to Harry, head in his hand. Harry turned a light shade of pink. The Boy Who Lived stuttered out "She's fine. Been practicing Quidditch a lot. Strategizing with Ron, right mate?"
"Sure, sure," Ron waved. "He wants to ask Ginny out but 'doesn't think it's the right time'."
"Well it's not!" Harry responded hotly. "We're in the middle of a war! Neither of us need to be distracted! And she doesn't need to become a target for Voldemort!"
"Oh, life is too short to not go for it Harry," Hermione advised. "If she likes you—and I suspect she does—and you like her, then you're both going to distract each other during the fight anyway. So why not just ask her out and enjoy your last year of school?"
Snape felt like playing Devil's Advocate but held his tongue. What if you're both so distracted that neither of you train? So distracted that you are hexed while looking for your 'better half'?
Harry thought on Hermione's words and lapsed into silence. The girl looked pleased to have played match-maker. She stood up to retrieve four chunks of plastic attached to the TV by way of black cords. She handed one to each of her best friends.
"What's this?" Ron asked, twiddling all the buttons in succession.
"It's a game controller," Hermione explained as Harry moved to sit next to her on the couch. "We're going to play a video game." Harry told Ron what each button did as Hermione turned to look at Professor Snape. "Would you like to play, sir?" she asked tentatively.
Snape glared over the book, one long black eyebrow raised. "No," he said shortly.
He had heard his Muggle relatives talking about video games back in the seventies. He had never seen one before today. Of course he would never let Miss Granger know that he was interested. Should grown men play video games? He wasn't sure. The three Gryffindor's seemed to be enjoying it.
"How the bloody hell do you make this thing go faster?" Ron growled in frustration, vigorously shaking his controller, willing his car to move.
"I'm winning!" Harry said as his red car pulled into the lead.
"No you're not!" Hermione replied, furiously pushing the little buttons.
Snape looked supremely bored watching the animated cars on the TV screen race through a track of mud. On the inside, however, he was a twitter, his brain wondering how this video game thing worked.
"I give up!" Ron said throwing his hands up in the air.
"Constant vigilance, Ron!" Hermione said, laughing, eyes fixed on the screen.
"Oh come off it Hermione! You probably play this all day! There's no way I can win."
"I haven't played in months—you just need to keep practicing."
Ron observed his two best friends, piecing together what he should do to make the little TV car go faster. Snape was doing the same.
Hermione's car won the race. Snape shook his head and recast his attention to Shakespeare. He wanted desperately to take apart the black plastic box under the telly but thought that might get him in a spot of trouble. Curiosity kills more than cats, after all.
The four were so entranced by the video games that they forgot to eat until the elder Grangers came home late with pizzas. Mrs. Granger placed the box on the coffee table in the living room, opening the box. Ron stared at the pizza, dumbfounded.
"Harry, there is food in that box."
Harry laughed. "It's called take-away pizza, Ron."
Snape rolled his eyes. Sometimes he was glad to have been born of a Muggle father and a witch mother.
"Hello Harry, Ron," Mrs. Granger smiled. Mr. Granger nodded gruffly at the two boys.
Snape raised an eyebrow at that. It seems Mr. Granger had a problem with all of these Y chromosomes surrounding his precious daughter. Or maybe Mr. Granger just didn't like Harry 'Hunted-By-Voldemort' Potter. Completely understandable, Snape thought.
"Oh, Hermione, dear," Mrs. Granger started, "you'll have to go grocery shopping tomorrow."
Hermione looked fearfully at her mother, her eyes darting to Snape, who was once again hidden behind the Compiled Works of William Shakespeare. "I…I suppose I can, if Professor Snape doesn't mind," she said.
Mr. Granger glared at the book cover. Mrs. Granger looked surprised to see Professor Snape in their living room. Harry and Ron glanced at one another, continuing to eat in silence. Hermione looked down at her plate, heart beating erratically.
Snape slowly lowered the book, face emotionless. "I certainly have no qualms about it, Dr. Granger."
"Lovely!" the woman beamed.
"We'll go too," Ron mentioned. Snape threw a withering glare at the presumptuous red-head.
"The more the merrier!" Mrs. Granger gushed. "Three men taking care of my Hermione! Lovely."
Hermione gaped at her mother. The boys mirrored similar looks of shock on either side of her. Even Snape raised an eyebrow at that statement. He knew Hermione carried her equal share of weight in the Golden Trio. If anything, she contributed both brains and an equal amount of fighting power. He was starting to think that this woman was battier than Dumbledore, and that was a challenging accomplishment indeed.
A few hours later the boys thanked the Grangers, hugged Hermione, and gave Snape the cursory good-bye nod as Fred came to collect them. Fred winked at Hermione then waved happily at Snape. Snape responded with a scowl. Cheeky Weasley's, he thought.
"I'll see you tomorrow," Hermione smiled through the door before shutting it.