Chapter 4

Authors Notes: In which our heroes find themselves talking about and thinking of each other. Neither is particularly happy about it.

Another chapter without any interaction between Hermione and Severus, but I promise their next encounter will be worth the wait.

In the months following her divorce, Hermione purchased a townhouse in central London. While she knew that apparition and floo powder allowed her the luxury of living anywhere in the country, she had grown attached to London during her time at the Ministry. Besides, a cottage in the country seemed a rather depressing place to begin her life as a divorcé. She wanted the children to be close to their father, and to their school friends (Hermione had insisted on muggle primary school, much to Ron's chagrin) when they were with her. She had spotted the "For Sale" notice in Hampstead the day her divorce papers had been finalized and had taken it as a sign.

The townhouse was big enough for three, but cozy enough that she didn't feel terribly alone when her children were away. Unlike the house they had shared in Kensington, the townhouse had no sign of the Weasley clutter that Molly Weasley had managed to bring. She kept the design sparse and elegant, a metaphor for the class and dignity she hoped to bring into her new single life. Rose's room was blue and yellow, with an enchanted ceiling and bookshelves covering the walls. Hugo's was red and gold, charmed train sets climbing the walls and covering the floor. She had almost broken her neck several times while picking up after her youngest.

But it was the living room that Hermione cherished most. In Kensington, their living room had been a flurry of floo powder, Quidditch magazines and Ron's shoes. The carpet had been perpetually in need of a good cleaning charm and the volume on their enchanted television (a wedding gift from Arthur) had always been far too high. Her new living room had polished wood floors and cream couches, drapes and walls. Molly had vetoed her desire to paint the old living room cream, telling her it was a ridiculous color to have in a family room; that the children would ruin it within a month. Having lived with Hugo and Rose in the townhouse for five years, Hermione knew it was Ron who would have posed the problem for the cream walls. She loved him dearly, but tidiness and even cleanliness was not his strong point. Living alone had allowed her, finally, to decorate her home to her specifications and she loved the freedom her cream walls epitomized. Her living room had also become her favorite place for entertaining Ginny whenever she could visit.

Three months after the incident at Hogwarts with the Centaurs, Ginny sat on Hermione's spotlessly clean, cream couch, eyebrow's raised, waiting for Hermione to deny her claim.

"I do have male friends!" Hermione protested. Ginny's assertion that she didn't even make an effort to spend time around men struck her as ridiculous. "There's Harry..."

"Married. To me." Ginny finished her glass of wine and immediately reached for the bottle to pour herself another, all the while subtly topping up Hermione's glass.

"... And Ron..."

"Your ex-husband. And married."

"George."

"Your ex-husband's brother. Doesn't count."

"Draco."

Ginny shuddered. "Married. Thank God." Hermione laughed and shook her head. Ginny was almost as bad as Harry when it came to long-standing grudges.

"Oh! Neville!" Hermione grinned in triumph at finally naming a single, non-relative, male friend. Ginny wiggled her eyebrows suggestively and Hermione groaned. "Oh, no. No Ginny. We're not talking about this again, are we?"

"I'm just saying, Hermione..."

"I know, I know. I'm pathetic, middle-aged and alone. Even my nine year old doesn't want to hang out with me on a Saturday night." It was supposed to be her weekend with Hugo but Gwendolyn had scored tickets to the Chudley Canons match for the three of them and when Hugo had told her about the event she knew she couldn't say no. She and Ron had agreed that Hermione would take him on Sunday - usually Ron's day - and she had pretended not to mind that she would be spending her Saturday evening without her baby. Thankfully, Ron had floo'd Ginny to boast of going to the match and she had immediately realized that Hermione would be alone. She had left Harry to mind Lily and immediately set off for Hermione's with two bottles of wine and a whole box of Chocolate Frogs that were left over from Christmas.

"Come on, that's not what I meant!" Ginny backpedalled quickly, remembering that Hermione tended towards melancholy when she had been drinking wine. "I'm just saying... why not go out with Neville?"

"Neville?" Hermione was incredulous. "Neville Longbottom?"

"What's wrong with Neville? I went to the Yule Ball with him, so you'd better watch what you're saying!" The two women laughed.

"I don't know... It's just... I've never thought of Neville that way," Hermione admitted. "I've always thought of him as a big brother or something."

"Well maybe you need to look at him a little differently," Ginny suggested. "He's looking pretty good these days."

Hermione had to agree. She hadn't seen him since that morning at Hogwarts in October, but he had certainly looked well. Like Harry and Ron, Neville had really grown into his looks. It was always the way, she thought somberly to herself. The men got better looking just as she started to notice crows feet around her eyes. Still, he wasn't her type and if she wasn't attracted to him now there was no point in hurting them both by trying to make herself attracted to him over time.

Ginny noticed Hermione's distracted look and felt it best to change the subject. She reached into the box of Chocolate Frogs and handed one to Hermione before taking one for herself. Opening the wrapper she grinned and flashed the card at her friend.

"I got you!" Hermione's face was smiling and waving from the card, looking both immensely proud and somewhat embarrassed. She was only twenty in the photograph, and a diamond engagement ring glittered on her left hand. "Hermione Jane Granger, Order of Merlin, First Class, Brightest Witch of Her Age," Ginny read.

Hermione shook her head with a nostalgic smile. It had been such a strange honor, being placed on a Chocolate Frog Card. Ron had gone wild when they had asked him, and his photograph was living proof. He was practically jumping up and down with excitement in the photograph, no trace of nervousness in his grin. Harry's photograph was more like hers, shy but friendly. Sales of her card had lagged somewhat in recent years because of her divorce, according to Rita Skeeter. Ron's card was still going strong.

"Who'd you get?" Ginny asked, with a mouth full of chocolate. Hermione unwrapped hers quickly, momentarily transported back to her first train ride to Hogwarts; Chocolate Frogs had seemed so exotic then.

She groaned when she saw the card and almost threw it away.

"Of course," she sighed. "I would get Professor Snape." His sullen face glowered at her from the card and after a few moments he stalked to very back of the card and stood with his back to her. "Typical."

"Severus Snape, Order of Merlin, Second Class. First Class Git," Ginny joked and poured Hermione another glass of wine, turning the conversation back to Hermione's dating prospects. The two women passed the next few hours in easy banter and happy memories until Ginny reluctantly floo'd home well after midnight.

Later, as Hermione cleaned her living room and vanished the empty Chocolate Frog wrappers, her eyes fell on the two Chocolate Frog Cards sitting on the table. Her "photograph self" seemed to have moved closer to that of Professor Snape, staring curiously at his turned back, with a soft blush creeping up her cheeks. Hermione could see Snape's shoulder's shift uncomfortably under her image's gaze, although he refused to turn around. She shook her head at the fascination her twenty-year-old self seemed to have for the Potions Master. Frowning, she tried to remember why she would have paid such close attention to him then, when she would do anything to avoid ever seeing him again now.

If she was honest with herself, of course, she would like to see him again. She would love to - finally - confront him about his continued refusal to respect her, or take her seriously, or treat her daughter courteously, or admit, finally, that he had been wrong about her all this time. The alcohol in her blood stream hummed at the thought of barging into his office in the dungeons and tell him, once and for all, exactly where he could shove his sarcastic, arrogant, smug attitude. Thankfully, she had already begun to sober up and thoughts of confronting a man who probably didn't give her a second thought were quickly eradicated. Severus Snape could be a total git if he wanted to be. As long as he gave Rose the marks she deserved in class, and as long as Hermione managed to avoid him as much as possible, it really didn't matter to her what he thought of her.

And, as that familiar train of thought came to a close, Hermione switched off the lights and went to bed, lingering briefly outside Rose and Hugo's empty rooms. She did not pause to consider how often she told herself Professor Snape's opinion didn't matter, or how regularly she found herself thinking up clever ways to show him that he continued to underestimate her. She simply chalked her thoughts up to the wine and the bad luck of picking his Chocolate Frog Card out of the box.

Many miles away in Scotland, Severus Snape sat nursing a whiskey while his godson explained the complexity of his current high-profile case. His client had killed a man while under the Unbreakable Vow, and while the precedent set by Severus' own trial suggested leniency, there was some question as to whether the accused had known exactly what he was signing up to do when he took the vow.

"Anyway, Granger suggested we pursue the binder, to at least cast some doubt on the client's guilt - she really is brilliant sometimes - and of course, the Wizengamot couldn't convict with the binder still out and about so we bought some time."

"Draco, am I correct in assuming that you actually enjoy working with Miss Granger?" Severus asked, taken aback. He knew Draco tolerated the girl - woman - but he hadn't imagined that they enjoyed each other's company.

"Er... yes. She's alright, most of the time. She's helped me out more than once when she didn't have to. And she's a laugh." Draco found his usual pride at getting along with Granger suddenly turned to embarrassment. With his father gone, he found himself looking to Snape more and more for approval, and he knew his godfather wasn't exactly Hermione Granger's number one fan.

"You've gone soft," Severus said, staring at his whiskey and wondering why Hermione Granger insisted on inserting herself into every conversation he had.

"Probably," Draco admitted with a wry grin. He had relaxed considerably since Lucius' death. "You haven't, from what she tells me."

"And what does that mean?" He knocked back the remnants of his tumbler, enjoying the warm flow of the alcohol down his parched throat.

"A couple months back she came into work in a snit because of some comment you'd made about her daughter's hair. I tried to convince her that was just your usual behavior, but she is convinced you hate her." A part of Draco knew he shouldn't be betraying Granger's confidence to Snape, but loyalty had never been his strong point.

"Well, perhaps I have underestimated her. It seems on this, at least, she is correct." Severus smirked and poured himself another glass.

"Do you really hate her? I mean, I thought I did for a long time, but I found she's actually quite hard to dislike for long." It was mostly the whiskey talking, he knew. Hermione Granger was more trouble than she was worth, frankly. Astoria thought he was having an affair with her (although at the moment, Astoria was convinced he was having an affair with every woman in the greater London area, so he supposed Granger wasn't a particular problem). Lucius had been livid at the very idea of him working with her. Ron Weasley had attempted to have him fired once they had been placed in the same office. And now Severus was giving him a look that suggested that whatever respect he might have had for him was diminishing rapidly.

"On the contrary, I find hating the girl to be remarkably easy."

"She's hardly a girl any more," Draco commented. If he could feel his own age catching up with him, then he imagined she could too. "I know she's still friends with those two idiots, but she's not nearly as annoying as she was in school."

"I will take your word for it." Snape didn't care to discuss Hermione Granger any further. It seemed that every last person in his life adored her. She must be the most sought after divorcé in the wizarding world.

"You should give her a chance. From what I can tell, I think she might have a thing for you." The comment slipped out before Draco realized what he was saying. He wasn't even sure where the thought had come from, just some dormant intuition for gossip (probably Narcissa's genes) that chose that particular moment to flare to life. He noticed Snape's eyes narrowing at his comment and he immediately regretted his sixth glass of whiskey. He should have known better than to try to out-drink Snape.

"You know Draco, I invite you to the castle for intelligent conversation, not mindless gossip and idle thoughts," Severus warned. He had enough conversations about his lack of a love life from Longbottom, and he certainly didn't need Draco getting in on the act with ridiculous notions about former students. "I'm sure Miss Granger just can't handle my refusal to worship her in the same manner everyone else seems to."

Draco nodded sheepishly and held his tongue. It wouldn't be wise to continue down that maze of muddled thoughts that he wasn't sure he even understood. Instead he conjured himself a glass of water and began the long process of sobering up. It would do no good to head home drunk again, and he certainly wasn't going to drink any more in front of Snape.

"How is Scorpius performing in Potions?" Draco asked.

"Adequately. You should give him a tour of your herbal garden when he is next home. He could do with some help recognizing plant leaves, and with your estate there really can be no excuse for his ignorance."

Draco nodded. The boy had his mother's natural talent for Charms and Transfiguration, but if his relationship with Snape during the war had taught him anything, it was that Potions abilities should never be underestimated. "I'll see to it."

The rest of their evening passed in quiet conversation until Draco realized Astoria would be waiting for him. They parted without any mention of Hermione Granger and Severus did not allow himself to consider Draco's impulsive speculation any further. The last thing he needed was to have to add "adoring fan" to the list of reasons he hated Miss Granger.