Their lips parted slowly, and he stared down into her brown eyes for several seconds before stepping away from her. "I apologize, Miss Granger," he said quietly, his black eyes still holding her brown ones. "I was out of line."
"No," she breathed. "It's fine."
"No," he contradicted, "It's not. I am old enough to be your father. We are colleagues. Such an action is impermissible. I'm old enough to be your father."
"I'm an adult, Professor," she replied. "I'm plenty old enough to make my own decisions."
"No." He shook his head before repeating, "I apologize. Good evening, Miss Granger."
He turned and vanished down the hall. Hermione stared after him until his black robes had swished into the darkness and disappeared. After a moment, she whispered, "Goodnight, Professor," and entered her chambers without another sound.
Over the next few days, Professor McGonagall saw a change in both her Transfiguration teacher and her Potions master. But she could not account for it, as she could never see the two of them together. But the most dramatic change was evident in the whispers she heard in the hall.
She was finding the rumor that now seemed to be fact very difficult to believe, especially considering the students grew quiet whenever a teacher approached. But she had heard enough.
Professor Severus Snape, the least liked teacher in the school, was offering extra credit.
And it worried her that the students obviously didn't want any of the other teachers to know what it was.
Hermione was beginning to notice that many of the students were taking a keener interest in their professors' daily habits than could be considered normal. Several students had taken to tailing her every day, at just a far enough distance that she couldn't overhear their whispers. Finally she called some of them up after class, asking, "Would you care to tell me why you've been following me around lately?"
They shuffled their feet for several moments before a brave Gryffindor girl said, "Professor Snape, Professor Granger."
"What about Professor Snape, Miss Jamison?" she asked.
It was another young boy who finally answered her question, prompted by his growling stomach. "He's offered us all extra credit, Professor."
"To stalk me?" Hermione asked, hiding her surprise that Snape was offering any sort of extra credit.
"No, Professor," a third student objected. "Not you. His assignment was to select one teacher and answer a variety of questions about the teacher. The more questions we answer the more points we get."
Miss Jamison elbowed him. So he added, "But of all the teachers in the school, he's only giving extra credit for one teacher. And he didn't tell us which teacher. And we're only allowed to fill out the questions for one teacher."
Hermione closed her eyes and asked, "Why did you choose to follow me?"
"Some of the questions were very pointed," one of the students answered. "We thought it likely that the teacher he's giving extra credit for is a girl."
"And he speaks with you the most often, Professor," another student put in.
Miss Jamison hesitated a moment then added, "And you're avoiding each other."
Hermione's eyes flashed. "That's quite enough. Go. Don't waste your entire lunch break talking to me."
"But, Professor," one of them objected. "The extra credit is due next time we have Potions. We only have a few questions answered."
"It was a lot harder to get the answers about you than the other teachers," Miss Jamison complained. "But we had to tell Professor Snape who we were going to answer questions about when we took the assignment."
Hermione bit her lip, then thought about what had passed between the two of them several nights before. He had said he knew what extra credit was. And then he had… Hermione could feel her face coloring, but she just cleared her throat and said, "Very well. What are your questions?"
There was a flurry of movement as the students reached into their bags for parchment and quills. Then they read off, "What's your favorite textbook?"
She thought a moment then answered, "A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration."
"Seriously?" one of them asked.
Hermione nodded. "My first year, it was the most challenging subject. Which I enjoyed very much. Professor McGonagall was my teacher."
"Favorite color?"
"Purple."
"Favorite time of day?"
"Morning. Before the rest of the castle has really started moving," she answered.
"Favorite food?"
"Tell him… tell him that he's been sitting next to me for half a semester and if he really cared he'd have it figured out by now," she replied after several moments.
"Professor Granger, I don't think he'll appreciate that," one of the students objected.
She shook her head. "Probably not. But I don't appreciate him sending students to stalk me. Next question, or is that all?"
"No," one of the girls said. "What kind of shampoo do you use?"
She froze. Finally she said, "That is none of his concern. Although he would be wise to try it since—never mind. Next question."
"What form does your boggart take?"
She frowned. It had been a while since she had last tackled a boggart. Finally she said, "It's been a variety of things. When I was in school, it was Professor McGonagall telling me I'd failed all my exams." She laughed to herself. "Later, it was the fear of discovery during the war. By associating myself with Harry, I was committing treason in the eyes of Voldemort." All of her students flinched instinctively, but they said nothing. She ignored it and went on, "But now that I'm out of school and Voldemort is dead, I do not know what it is I fear most." She had a sneaking suspicion that, at the moment, what she feared most was also what part of her most desired.
They hesitated, unsure how to respond to that statement. Finally one of them asked, "First crush?"
"Excuse me?" Hermione asked, slightly horrified at the thought of answering such a question. Especially if the answer was going back to Professor Snape.
"First crush…?" the boy asked again, much more hesitantly.
"Boyfriend or crush?" she demanded.
"Actually… they're both on here."
"I'm going to kill him," she muttered, disregarding the fact that her students were present. "Boyfriend, Viktor Krum. Crush…" She couldn't give the real answer. The real answer was that Professor Snape was the first crush she remembered having. "Ron Weasley," she finally answered, unaware that Snape had heard her words in the hall outside the staff room.
The students nodded. "That's all, Professor. Thank you so much."
She nodded. "No problem." She followed them out of the classroom, but when they reached the entrance hall, she did not follow them to the Great Hall. Instead she turned her steps toward the dungeons and Professor Snape's office.
When she knocked on his door, he snapped, "Come in, if you must." He didn't look up when she entered, just saying, "Please hurry with whatever trifling question you have about your homework. I'm quite busy at the moment."
"Busy with what, Professor?" Hermione asked rather harshly. "Reading through the answers to the extra credit questions?"
He heard her voice and was immediately on his feet. "Miss Granger," he said. "I thought you were a student. Forgive me."
"Forgive you for what?" she asked, watching him carefully. "Forgive you for being so rude just now, or forgive you for having students stalk me?"
"Stalk you?" he asked. "I've done no such thing."
She walked toward him and stopped just in front of his desk, looking into the midnight eyes for both an answer to her question and the lightning she had seen before. "Then why have I just been interviewed by several students who are insisting it is extra credit for your class, Professor?"
"They are simply pulling a prank, Miss Granger," Snape answered calmly.
"Really," Hermione said. "Then explain to me why the students who have been following me are from all four houses and a variety of years. Do you expect me to believe that the entire school is conspiring just to pull a prank on me, Professor?"
Snape didn't respond for a long time. Finally he said, "There were questions for every teacher, Miss Granger."
"Your students claimed that only the answers about one teacher would be rewarded," she pointed out.
"Why do you assume you are that teacher, Miss Granger?" Snape countered.
Hermione looked at him and said, "We discussed extra credit, Professor. And then you…" She trailed off. Then she said, "And then you offered extra credit, something you have never done before."
Having heard the words she didn't say, he blinked slowly, watching her and saying nothing. She tried to find his thoughts in his eyes, but they were as foggy and unreadable as one of Trelawney's crystal balls. Then he claimed, "You have been avoiding me, Miss Granger. I thought this might bring you to me. And it worked."
"You have also been avoiding me, Professor," she answered. "As many times as I have entered the Great Hall, seen you and walked out, you have done the same."
Finally he said, "I apologize, Miss Granger. But I didn't think you would be willing to answer the questions if I asked them. You are far more likely to help a student get extra credit in an effort to help them improve their grade, even if the class in question is not yours."
She nodded. "Good afternoon, Professor." She turned and left, stopping outside the dungeon door to gain control of her breathing and her thoughts. She was suddenly hyperaware of how his lips had felt when he kissed her a little more than a week before.
Then she heard him muttering to himself, "Stupid girl. Makes it so difficult. Why must she make it so difficult to suppress these feelings?" Suddenly she could hear him moving toward the door, but she was frozen in place. He stepped out of his office and saw her. His face grew more pale than normal.
She stared at him a moment. She took a deep breath. She stepped forward. She put her hand behind his neck.
And she pulled his head down so their lips could meet once again.
She felt him tense in surprise. But then he was kissing her back, and the world seemed to disappear.
But it came rushing back all too soon, in the form of a sixth year student coming down from lunch to prepare for his Potions lesson.
A hahahaha. I obviously hate you guys, leaving you with that. I own no one significant. On to reviews. :)
A general shout out of thanks to... dadswell, Gringotts713, notwritten, and animegrlsteph.
mkdircks: of course you detect a beginning of romance between them. which just makes me laugh. :)
