The next day, Hermione was set to go out to lunch with Ginny. They were meeting at their favorite café in Diagon Alley. It was a cozy place, full of comfortable armchairs, mahogany coffee tables, and a large fireplace. Often, Hermione would come here to read in her favorite chair in the corner while enjoying a cup of coffee. Today, however, would not be a day for a quiet cup in the corner. Today was a day for Hermione and Ginny to catch up with each other since they hadn't had a chance to see one another since the end of school two months ago. Hermione was eager to hear about Harry and Ginny's wedding plans; Ginny was equally eager to hear what had happened when Hermione contacted Professor Snape. As soon as Ginny walked in, Hermione was bombarded with questions.
"Hermione! I haven't seen you in ages, how have you been? Where have you been, why haven't you come over? Did you ever send that letter to Professor Snape? What did he say, what happened? Did-"
"Woah, Ginny, slow down! One at a time. I've been great. I've mostly been staying at home (which is a tiny flat in London) working on my notes for the possible Alzheimer's cure. Yes, I did send Professor Snape a letter, he was very willing to help, but he was in Versailles, so we worked via letter for a while and we just met yesterday to work on the potion in person. Did I miss anything?"
"No. But now I have even more questions. What was he like outside Hogwarts? He'd better have been nice."
Hermione laughed at the fierce expression on her friend's face and reassured her, "He was very nice. Still sarcastic as ever, but I wouldn't trust him at all if he wasn't. He made coffee for us in the morning and lunch. I made dinner-"
"Wait. This was at his house? Or yours?"
"His. He has a full lab in his basement."
"And you were there all day?"
"Um…yes? Why?"
"Oh my God! Hermione, you spent an entire day with Severus Snape! And neither of you ended up attacking the other?"
"Ginny, I told you. Severus was perf-"
" 'Severus'? When did that start?"
"Well, he isn't my professor anymore so it doesn't make sense for me to call him 'Professor Snape'."
"…I don't know what to say…"
Just then, Hermione saw Severus himself walk into the café. After getting his coffee, he turned and spotted Hermione. He raised an inquisitive eyebrow and she nodded to him. As he made his way over, Hermione turned to Ginny and told her, "Well, you'd better collect yourself real quick, because he's walking towards us right now."
With wide eyes, Ginny slowly took three deep breaths to calm herself; Hermione had to laugh silently at her friend's obvious panic.
As he sat down, Severus notice Ginny, the back of whose chair had been turned towards him before.
"I hope I'm not interrupting…" Severus said hesitantly.
"No, not at all," Hermione reassured him. She definitely did not want him to leave. Only because I want Ginny to meet him outside school. That's all. Really.
There was a short pause in the conversation; then Severus turned to Ginny and said, "Hermione told me you're engaged. Congratulations."
Ginny looked at him in utter shock, causing Severus to smirk at her and say, "Oh, I'm sorry. I suppose that's really not something the snarky Potions professor would ever say, is it?"
At that, Ginny found her voice. "No it isn't. But that was."
Severus smiled his crooked smile that Hermione had grown to like so much in their day of testing. He seemed to be holding in a laugh. Hermione didn't even try, she just laughed outright.
"So what brings you here today?" Hermione asked, hoping he wouldn't take offense at the blunt, personal question.
"Garrett's coming into town for the week. He's teaching a seminar at St. Mungo's," Severus replied with an excited half-smile.
"That's amazing. I bet he's pretty excited about that."
"Actually, I think he's more excited about finally being back in England," Severus told her with a small laugh. "The seminar only lasts three days, but he's staying for ten."
Ginny broke in to ask, "Who is Garrett?"
"He's…" Severus started as he looked up towards her, "…right there."
Hermione turned towards where Severus was looking to see a tall man with sandy brown hair enter the café. He spotted Severus and his face broke into a wide grin. As he drew closer, they could see he was good-looking and obviously took precise care in his health, but seemed to not put much thought into what people thought of him. Severus greeted him warmly then introduced him to Hermione and Ginny. As Garrett shook their hands enthusiastically, he told them, "Severus and I have been friends since our first year at Hogwarts."
"Were you both in Slytherin together?" Ginny asked, looking more than a little surprised.
"Yes, we were. Why do you ask?"
"Well…you just don't…seem like a Slytherin, I guess."
Both men turned towards her with an identical anger in their eyes. Ginny's eyes widened and she seemed to shrink back into her chair from the strength of the twin glares.
"Because all Slytherins are rich, stuck-up, nasty pureblood lovers," Severus stated sarcastically.
Ginny blushed and apologized to the men for assuming and slowly both Severus and Garrett calmed down.
"Well. That was quite informative," Hermione remarked. "Rest assured, neither of us will ever make such an assumption again."
Severus and Garrett looked rather embarrassed at their display of anger. They explained that they had both been trying to live down that same stereotype since the moment the Sorting Hat placed them in Slytherin. It had kept many people from listening to them or liking them at all and in some extreme cases, people had completely refused to remain in the room with them. Severus finished saying, "Although I may have had to fit myself into that role, it has always been one of my most hated. The other being the one I had to pretend to like most."
The four spent the rest of the afternoon in pleasant conversation, talking about Garrett's stay, what Versailles was like, and Ginny's wedding. Severus and Garrett left first so that Garrett could move his things into his hotel room from Severus' front lawn ("From where?" "Yeah, I just stuck it all on your front lawn. Check-in's not 'til 6."). Ginny and Hermione were still laughing as the two wizards left the café, bickering as only the best of friends can. As soon as the café door closed, Ginny turned on Hermione and said, "You really like him don't you?"
"Who?"
"Severus. Don't even try to deny it, it's so obvious you do."
Hermione paused. "It's really that obvious?" she nearly whispered.
"Yes, it most certainly is, silly," Ginny told her, amused.
Hermione groaned as she sank her head down onto the table.
"What am I going to do?"
Sorry for the massive amounts of dialogue, I hope it didn't get too boring. Let me know what you think.