Spoilers: Order of the Phoenix
Thank you for the reviews and sorry for the delay, I got caught up in Salazar's Heir!
Jan McNeville: finally, the name of the kitten is revealed! :)
The tall, lanky silhouette retreated in shadows as the Head Girl passed on her patrol. The annoying half-Kneazle wasn't there anymore; it had taken some advanced spells to confuse him and convince him that there was nothing wrong around his mistress. The smirk on the face veiled by darkness was hateful. Hermione had caused too much damage. It was past time for her to pay and so the very soft, light steps followed her in every corridor her feet led her.
An Invisibility Cloak wouldn't have been any useful to Hermione's persistent pursuer. The feet were silent on the floor, the slight noise made when the sole connected with the slabs being drowned in Hermione's own footsteps and breathing. The knowledge of the corridors topography was perfect, each dark corner made good use of, each shadow cast by a random armour hiding the suspicious silhouette that shouldn't have been there, and still Hermione was unaware of the danger.
All the patterns of her patrols were known and the fact that Justin was still at the Hospital Wing wasn't a secret either. So Hermione was alone in the sleeping Hogwarts, walking with confidence now that she had overcome her unreasonable fear of being watched. Some half-asleep portraits greeted her and she replied politely, but none of them noticed that her shadow was singularly longer than it should have been. The only thing that could have given Hermione's strange shadow away was the slight glint of silver… but then, it could have been the reflect of a moonbeam.
Draco had decided to revenge. In his sixth year, he had dated Marietta Edgecombe for two months – the time for him to extract from her the story of why she had had an attack of pimples spelling 'SNEAK' on her face – and he had no doubt as for the provenance of the curse that had affected him for three weeks. He had tried to get rid of it by himself, only to manage to turn the blue into Slytherin green, to the great delight of Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws without distinction – and even some Slytherins, though they were more discreet about it. There was no doubt in Draco's mind that 'Mudblood Granger' was responsible for his three-weeks-long humiliation and it irked him to no end that a Slytherin pure-blood – even though he had turned out to be a Squib and no good was to be expected from a Squib in Draco's opinion – had taken lessons from her on hexes. It was simply inadmissible.
So he waited for his time to come. He had learnt patience the hard way. He was so concentrated on Hermione that he never saw the four-legged shadow following her in the darkness. They were now on the fifth floor and had just passed the statue of Boris the Bewildered. He was hidden behind the statue and aimed his wand at Hermione. He was about to utter a curse when Hermione's shadow grew bigger and a lanky woman clad in red stood in front of him, a feral smile on her lips.
"Stupefy," she said softly.
Hermione turned the head when hearing the woman's voice and retraced her steps.
"Elena? What is Draco doing here?"
"He was planning on attacking you, in the back as the coward he is."
In the darkness of the corridors, her yellow eyes looked even stranger than Rolanda Hooch's and Hermione shivered slightly.
"He's a clever one. Rotten, but clever. He didn't plan his attack near the dungeons, knowing Severus would catch him and make him pay."
"But what were you doing here? I mean, not that I'm ungrateful, but I'm hardly lucky–"
"That from the girl who succeeded in attracting Severus!" said Elena, with a soft chuckle. "You are an innocent, Hermione, do you know that? You should ask Severus for additional lessons; he would get you rid of your trust worthy of a Hufflepuff. I'm following you, naturally. I have been since Argus cast that hex on Draco, as you call him. I'm sure you heard the gossip about my ghost haunting the corridors. If you had paid a bit more attention to it, you would have noticed that I've always been spotted in your vicinity. And it's not because of Crookshanks!"
Hermione laughed.
"Let's bring Draco back to his dormitory," she proposed. "And would you care to finish my patrol with me?"
"You try to get rid of me, girl," Elena growled good-naturally.
As Head Girl, Hermione had advantages and she was trusted for not abusing them. She levitated Draco to the Slytherin dormitory and used a special password to open to door. She dropped the blonde student on one of the couches and left without a second glance, not even caring to end the stunning spell. Elena slid his silver ring from his right hand and pocketed it, smirking at Hermione; it would make a good token for blackmail.
They walked in silence for a moment, Elena often glancing at Hermione from the corner of her eye. She was feeling lost. For ten years, she had kept the pretence of being a cat to stay alive and away from Voldemort. Afterwards, she had met Severus and the young Potions Master, bitter and lonely, but immensely powerful, had appealed to her. She had observed him a long time before finally daring to come to him under her true form. He had rejected her and she had not understood then. She hadn't understood that he couldn't be close with someone with the Dark Mark, that he was risking his life everyday, that he already knew of Argus's interest in her and wouldn't wrong his friend. After several rejections, she had gone back to her disguise, waiting for her moment to come. She had thought it was time after Voldemort's demise, when seeing that his eyes didn't seem as haunted as before. She had thought also that maybe, he could help her with removing the mark on her left forearm. She thought wryly that kidnapping him was probably not the right way to catch his attention.
Hermione felt Elena's heavy gaze on her and, fiddling with her robes, she asked:
"You wonder what he sees in me, don't you?"
"No. I understand. You're kind, caring, clever, with a temper to match his own, and you're powerful. I think you're exactly what he needed. Challenging for his intellect and power, genuinely caring without being all over him – you know Poppy and Albus often make a fuss when he comes back after having been under Cruciatus – and you accept him the way he is even though you know what he is."
"You mean even though I'm a goody-goody Gryffindor?"
"You're a good person, Hermione, and you accept him, even love him! That's what he needed to believe again in himself. He has always been a lonely person, even as a boy. At first, he believed in power, like me, because that was all he had. But the Marauders, you know… Somehow, he envied them. I mean, he hated James and Sirius, that was hatred at first sight on both sides, but he envied them for their friendship, for being popular. He despised himself for being so weak and willed himself to be strong, always. He thought nobody would ever like him, so he made himself even more hateful. But you changed that."
"How do you know so much about him?"
Elena smiled slightly.
"Nobody pays attention to a cat and it's amazing what one can hear when the others think they're alone."
Hermione grinned back but sobered for her next question.
"Why did you follow me?"
For a long moment, Elena was silent.
"You're too trusting," she began, "and I've wandered around enough to know that not everybody likes you."
"Understatement of the year," said Hermione with a snort.
"After that prank on Draco, some were bound to take vengeance. I… Argus has been lonely for a long time, except for the company of his cat, lonely and scorned. I didn't want him to lose the only true friend he ever had. And Severus would have been devastated too. But they can't follow you everywhere. I can; it has been part of my job for almost thirty years now, to follow students."
Hermione looked at her with an air that Elena couldn't fathom.
"Do you care for Argus?"
Elena sighed and passed a weary hand on her face. She hadn't expected the conversation to turn so personal. In fact, she hadn't expected to be caught at all.
"Of course, I care for Argus."
"Because of the powers of his wand?"
"No. But I don't expect you to trust me. After all, I've hardly given you reasons to trust me, except stopping Draco, but you know Slytherins, they could do such a thing to use you later."
"Elena," Hermione said sternly, putting her hand on the thin left arm of the older witch. "Elena, stop babbling. I trust you. You… you could have stolen Prof… Severus from me any time now but you didn't. You could have hurt Argus since you have your wand back, but you didn't. You could have hurt me badly when I freed you from your Animagus form, but you didn't. You helped me with the hex to cast on Draco. And you just saved my life."
Elena grinned and shook her head.
"You should have been in Hufflepuff," she said with a chuckle.
"Much too foolhardy for that," Hermione replied lightly. "After all, I'm Harry Potter's sidekick. Anyway, back to Argus."
"Yes, I care for him, but I don't want him to have the same reaction that you just had. It's not the power. It's listening to you three, seeing you interact with each other, watching how far you would go for each other. You did lots of researches for Argus and never asked anything in return. You went to ask Severus's help, though you thought he would refuse your request. You brewed the potion with him when you thought he was using you to win me… or am I mistaken?"
"No. But I still don't understand why he played such a game."
"He led me on. He let me think that he preferred me to you, even though he was praising you all along, explaining how good you were for Argus; he even mentioned he was interested in you, but I overlooked it at that time. I was irked that Argus, whose devotion I knew, could be swayed away by you. He had been mine for twenty-seven years and I didn't want a seventeen-year-old girl to steal him from me. Argus was right when he gave me the potion. I needed to think. I was confused. Well, the first two days, I couldn't think. I was far too angry for that. But after I did and I realised several things. One, that even if I had whom I thought I wanted – Severus – I wouldn't be happy because I would miss Argus too much. And two, that Severus would never be with me the way he was with you. He wanted you, had always wanted you. Anyway. It hurt, because I had fixed myself on him for so long and my hopes flared when he led me on. By the way, he didn't know you cared for him; he didn't think he was hurting you at the same time."
"And Argus?" insisted Hermione. "I don't want you to hurt him, Elena. I cast the spell to set you free, but between him and you, I choose to defend him."
"I know. I know! Jealousy forced me to open my eyes. I saw how you are with him. Severus and you treat him like any wizard, you don't care that he's a Squib. Not that's his fault. But after all the talks about power…"
"Yes, I know. That's why I looked for the spell. That's why there are so many Squibs living among Muggles, because they're accepted there."
"Severus told me about power and pure blood. He described Death Eaters' meetings to me. It's… It's so wrong."
"Don't tell me," said Hermione darkly. "I was – and probably still am – one of their privileged targets. Muggle-born and friend of Harry Potter."
"Yet you managed to catch the attention of an ex-Death Eater loathing Gryffindors and especially everyone related to the Potter family."
"I think that when Harry will prove that he's not his father, Severus might stop loathing him so much."
Elena looked at her quizzically and she smiled ruefully.
"One can still hope," she added with a shrug. "Now, back to Argus."
"Do you have an idea how I can show him I care for him, not for his newfound powers?" asked Elena, biting her lower lip.
Hermione grinned.
"I don't. But we may ask Severus. Slytherin minds are always full of ideas."
Slowly Elena grinned back.
Severus had a most devious idea. That is, once he recovered from the shock. He glared at Hermione.
"I can't believe you suggested that."
"Oh, Severus, it's only because I have the most entire trust in the brilliance of your mind," she replied with a smile she knew he couldn't resist.
"Devious woman," he muttered. "Where are the Death Eaters when you need them?"
She gasped.
"You don't mean that!"
He smirked at her and turned to Elena.
"I think I know. Longbottom. You could tutor him in Potions. He's an utter disaster."
Elena's eyes widened.
"Why don't you tutor him?"
"I already have enough difficulties standing his presence in class – though he had the kindness of removing himself at the end of fifth year. And before you ask, no, Hermione isn't going to teach him either. She spent said five years helping him and thus staying beneath her natural capacities."
Hermione wrapped her arms around his waist from behind and laid her head between his shoulder blades.
"I knew you would have an idea! Thank you, Severus, you're amazing!"
She pushed his hair on the side and put a kiss on the nape of his neck.
"Hermione, I really do hate when you do that and we're not alone, because I can't retaliate properly."
Elena giggled.
"You're cute together. But back to Longbottom–"
"Cute? Cute? I can't believe I heard that and applied to me! Severus Snape, Potions Master, evil, brooding and sarcastic ex-Death Eater, qualified of cute! It's the end of my carrier!" he exclaimed dramatically.
"Alright, overgrown bat, you're not cute. You're dark and very, very evil," said Hermione, soothing him. "Mean too. And bitter."
"Don't forget prejudiced," added Elena.
"True. Hateful, always scowling, cruel. Ugly also," Hermione said after thinking a moment.
"Greasy. Ugh. Crooked, yellow teeth. Bad breath, maybe? Hermione?"
"Hmm. I don't know," she admitted sheepishly. "Let's say I'm quite side-tracked when I have the occasion of verifying this fact… But maddening and irritating, yes, definitely."
"I get the point, thank you, ladies. Don't get me started on your qualities, Hermione. I had seven years to yell them at you, I have good practice. As Elena said earlier, back to Longbottom."
It didn't take them long to devise all the points of the plan – the two dark points being getting Neville to cooperate and Argus to notice. Somehow, Hermione seemed to think the first one was easier than the second. Severus was of the other opinion.
"Argus isn't blind! He will notice and ask questions!"
"Neville wants to be an Auror and he needs Potions. He would have taken Potions in sixth and seventh years if not for you."
"Hermione, he didn't receive 'Outstanding' on his Potions OWL."
She sighed.
"I know. But he received 'Exceeds Expectations'. It was not that bad, was it?"
"Of course not, but I accept only 'Outstanding' graded people. I have enough work with the dunderheads in the first five years without coping with them for the two remaining years."
"Anyway, I'm sure Neville will be only too happy to work on Potions with Elena. Even with the NEWTs coming. He's a good student when he's motivated, Severus. You should have seen him in the DA meetings. And against the Death Eaters."
"He still needs to grow a backbone."
"Well, maybe Elena should teach him Skele-Gro as his first potion, then."
"Stop fighting, you two. You don't even mean it. Thank you for the idea, Severus; Hermione, do you think you can arrange for Mr. Longbottom to meet me tomorrow?"
"Of course, Elena. I will let you know."
As it was late, they decided to call it a night. Elena left quickly, heading for Argus's quarters – where she was still living, no matter what – but Hermione lingered a bit. As she was regretfully going to leave the room, Severus stopped her.
"I think you forgot something," he murmured. "I somehow got the idea that you needed to soothe my bruised ego after all the insults you hurled at me."
She smirked good-naturally.
"Of course, handsome devil."
Severus chuckled and pulled her to him for a kiss. Or several.
Elena entered Argus's quarters. She looked at the door of her own room – which had been added when her real identity had been revealed – and then glanced longingly at Argus's door. Taking her decision, she transformed into her Animagus form and entered Argus's room using the cat flap. The black kitten was curled up in the basket at the foot of Argus's bed. She wrinkled her nose in distaste. She had always hated the basket. She contemplated the kitten for a moment. There had been a time when she had been jealous of the attention he received from Argus but now it was over. She remembered when Argus had told her the name of his kitten.
"I'll call him Orestes."
"Why so?"
"Because he's a gift from Hermione and in Greek mythology, Orestes married Hermione. I can't very well call him Mr. Granger, now can I?" he added with a laugh.
She also still remembered Hermione's reaction when Argus had told her of the name he had chosen.
"Orestes? Argus, Orestes killed Neoptolemus to have Hermione back!"
"Well, love, you are worth killing for," he replied extravagantly, bending down to kiss her hand.
She chuckled, noticing the scowl on Elena's face.
"Be serious, Argus. You should better call him Mr. Norris, so that no student would be surprised."
Elena's breath caught and, despite herself, she smiled at Hermione.
She sighed and looked again at Orestes in his basket. In twenty-seven years, she had slept only one night in this basket. There was only one place for her to sleep. She jumped lightly on the bed and curled up on Argus's chest, purring softly. She ached to transform back into her human form and take him in her arms, telling him how much she loved him. But it was too early. Instead, she only murmured:
"I love you, Argus."
It came out as a soft mew. Argus sighed and shifted in his sleep. Automatically, his hand came to her, pressing her against him as he turned to his side, keeping her snugly in his arms. She nested her head against his neck and purred a bit more loudly, knowing it would reassure him. He smiled slightly.
"Good night, my sweet," he murmured in a sleepy voice.
She answered with another mew and she rubbed her head against his chin, before closing her eyes and falling asleep herself. There, in the nest of Argus's arms, she felt safe and content.
To say Argus was surprised when he awoke was an understatement. He almost bolted from his bed.
"Elena!" he nearly shrieked.
The dust-coloured cat blinked sleepily and yawned before sitting on the bed and beginning her toilet.
"Elena!" he repeated, clutching the blanket to him. "I could have been… well, not decent!"
She jumped on the floor and transformed back.
"What is it, Argus? I've lived with you for twenty-seven years; am I supposed to stutter like a teenager if I see you naked?"
"It's different! I didn't know then!"
"If I had wanted to take advantage of you, I would have transformed back last night," she pointed out.
He didn't say a word, but the blush covering his cheeks was speaking loud enough for her. She sighed.
"I see," she said dejectedly. "I suppose I won't have the right anymore to sleep in your arms like I did tonight? Don't answer, please, I already know what you are going to say. Well, have a… a good day, Argus."
Draping her hurt dignity around her, she left his room and hurried in hers, leaning against the door and closing her eyes against the rejection.
Hermione was surprised when she saw Argus the following morning. He looked like he had just seen a ghost. The caretaker whispered something to Severus, who glanced at Hermione; she shrugged in ignorance. As she had Advanced Potions that very morning, she quickly learnt what it was all about.
"Elena in his bed this morning. As Mrs. Norris. He totally panicked," Severus whispered in her ear just before entering the classroom.
As to make fun of her comments of the previous night, Severus began to teach them about Skele-Gro and Hermione frowned. He was changing his lessons plan and she didn't read this chapter before. She hated being taken by surprise.
To Harry and Ron's surprise, both Hermione and Neville bolted down their lunch and ran from the Great Hall before the two others could ask questions.
"Ron is going to kill me," said Neville with a wry smile.
Since the end of fifth year, Neville had grown quite a backbone, contrary to Severus's belief. He was more assured, had admitted the truth about his parents without flinching – almost baiting Draco in saying anything – and had developed a smile that made most girls look twice at him. He was also a good friend of Hermione – which hadn't added to her popularity, since said girls were jealous of her – and was head over heels in love with Ginny. She had been with Dean Thomas during most of his sixth year, but then he had gracefully let her go when he had discovered that her heart wasn't really in it. She had waited two months before accepting Neville's attentions and since then, they had been together, though not many people outside Gryffindor knew the fact.
"As if Ron could believe you would betray Ginny for being with me," she retorted crossly. "Grow up, Neville, Ron still has to remember that I'm a girl."
Neville sniggered. They stopped in front of Argus's office.
"Wait for me here, alright?"
She slid inside. Argus was there, polishing the manacles hanging from his ceiling, while recriminating against students to a patient Orestes.
"Hello, Argus. Is Elena here?"
"In her room, I guess," he replied without looking at her.
She sighed.
"What did I do?"
He frowned, confused.
"What? You didn't do anything!"
"Then why are you not looking at me? And why are you talking to me as if you want me to hang in those manacles?"
"It's Elena. She… she's driving me crazy. She slept the night in my arms, as Mrs. Norris. Like before. And she seemed… disappointed when I told her she had to stop."
Inwardly, Hermione groaned. Severus and she had their work cut out for them.
"Oh, Argus. She slept in your arms for twenty-seven years. How can you think of depriving her of this?" she chided gently.
"There's a difference between having one's cat in one's bed and having an Animagus woman," he replied stiffly.
Hermione came to him and put her hand on his lips.
"She came to you of her own will. Doesn't it say something to you? Don't answer, just think about it."
Leaving him behind her, she went to Elena's room.
Elena's room was Spartan. Severus hadn't taken much time when he had created it and she had never added anything else to it. The walls were grey, without any decoration or hanging; the floor was bare of rugs. The only furniture was a bed and a chair. Elena was sitting cross-legged on her bed, her back leaning against the headboard, a book open on her knees. She wore clothes too big for her that suspiciously looked like belonging to Argus. Her red robes were neatly folded on the chair. She looked up when Hermione entered and offered her a small smile.
"Hello, Hermione. Is it already evening?"
"It's lunchtime, Elena. What are you reading?"
"Hogwarts: A History. Quite interesting. Boring to death as for the writing style, but the content is interesting. Too bad they didn't include the map of the grounds," she added with a cheeky grin.
"You can suggest the idea to the Headmaster, I believe he wrote parts of this."
She looked around and pursed her lips.
"Did you tell Argus it was quite lacking?"
"Not really. I'm afraid he doesn't realise what I need. I more or less stole those from him," she said with a wave toward the clothes she was wearing. "I'm using his bathroom when he leaves for his rounds; he probably thinks I clean myself under my cat form. I have spent too long as a cat, so my needs aren't that much."
"And for your robes?"
"I clean them myself. You know I can't ask the house elves to do that. They would report me to Albus immediately."
Hermione shook her head.
"You should come with me to Hogsmeade. You need new robes and new clothes. A glamour would easily do the trick."
Elena smiled.
"I'm afraid it would shock Argus too greatly."
"Speaking of shock," muttered Hermione, "what about what you did last night? Anyway. Are you up to talk to Neville? He's outside, waiting for you."
"He is? Why didn't you tell me?"
They both rushed out of Argus's quarters and into the corridor. Neville turned toward them and gave them his lopsided smile that made the girls sigh.
"I'm sorry!" gasped Elena. "I forgot time!"
Neville's smile widened.
"It's alright. I forgot things all the time."
"I am Elena," she said, extending her hand.
"Neville Longbottom," he replied politely, shaking her hand.
"Let's talk about Potions, Mr. Longbottom."
Hermione smiled and discreetly scurried away, straight to the dungeons.
Even if the NEWTs were near – the examinations were in two weeks – Argus could notice that Neville spent some of his time doing something else than revising. He almost couldn't believe it when he saw the Gryffindor meet with Elena in the Potions classroom. He noticed the familiarity between the two of them – it had taken only one day for Elena to convince Neville to call her Elena instead of Miss Elena and she had agreed readily to call him Neville – and sighed in frustration. He went immediately to Severus.
"Elena is in your classroom," he said tonelessly.
Severus didn't even look up from the seventh year essays he was grading.
"I know," he replied absent-mindedly.
"With Mr. Longbottom."
"Indeed. Elena tells me he's getting more and more confident."
"You knew! You knew and you didn't tell me!"
Severus looked up and cocked his eyebrow.
"Told you what? That the woman you rejected is trying to find a way to keep her mind busy?"
"I didn't reject her!" he protested hotly. "I–"
Severus snorted.
"That boy… Longbottom. He does have quite a lot of success with girls, doesn't he? I can understand why Elena would do that… After all, you are taken with Hermione. Why should I be surprised of her being taken with him?"
Severus buried his head in his hands and groaned in despair.
"Argus. Out. Now."
As soon as Argus had left, Severus went to the Head Girl's quarters and knocked at the door of her bedroom. Hermione opened the door with magic, still reading and not looking up.
"What a way to welcome me," he said ironically.
She started.
"Severus! You… you're not supposed to be there!"
He sat down in front of her.
"Hermione, you won the bet. Longbottom accepted to be tutored in Potions and now Argus is persuaded that Elena is in love with Longbottom."
Hermione had a nervous laugh.
"You're not serious, are you? Oh Gods, how blind can he be?"
"I don't know," he said glumly. "But you won. What do you want me to do? Dance the tango at lunchtime in the middle of the Great Hall? Give one hundred points to Gryffindor?"
"Oh no, Severus. I reserve my right to gather my winnings later. When the right moment comes, then I will tell you what to do."
"Not fair. I'd like to know what to expect."
"Don't worry. It's nothing humiliating. That is, I don't think."
Suddenly, she looked worried. He leaned forward and took her hand in his.
"Is it about us?"
She nodded.
"You… you are not going to ask me to let you go, are you?" he asked, swallowing hard.
"Of course not!" she exclaimed immediately. "I would never let you go, you know that. You know that, don't you?" she added more softly.
"Never hurt to make sure. But alright, I will wait. What are we going to do for Argus?"
"Wait until the NEWTs are over. Then Elena won't have any reason to be with Neville, so maybe he will realise."
Severus sighed and pulled her on his lap, wrapping his arms around her. She rested her head against his shoulder and continued to read, content in his embrace.
Neville managed to meet with Elena one evening on two – the evening while Justin was on duty. When Hermione was on patrol duty, Elena was by her side, ready to protect her from Draco if necessary. They had found him on their way more than once, but he seemed to have learnt his lesson, for he didn't do more than glare at them. Of course, the fact that his own ring was hanging at Hermione's neck on a silver chain might have been one of the reasons why he didn't say anything, the other being the lamp-like eyes staring straight at him.
Hermione had also respected her promise to Elena and had taken her out to Hogsmeade to buy her robes. Elena had protested all the way, but Hermione could be surprisingly deaf when she wanted to. It was no help that Severus had secretly approved her initiative. Elena had reluctantly chosen red robes, which fitted better her lanky frame than the ones she currently had, and Hermione had even managed to convince her to buy dress robes. Red also, but darker than those she usually wore. The young Gryffindor hadn't missed the occasion of teasing her about her taste in colours: a Slytherin wearing red was something she found extremely funny.
On her free time – which she hadn't much – Hermione began her researches on a subject that she had in mind for quite a while now. She was intrigued by the Marauder's Map. It had always shown Elena's name – even if only her name as a cat – but Hermione couldn't remember ever seeing Hedwig's or Crookshanks's. But then maybe there hadn't been any reason for them to show up. She borrowing Harry's Invisibility Cloak without telling him so she could almost literally locked herself in the Restricted Section, though she knew Severus would have signed her a pass without any hesitation, but she was reluctant to ask for privileges. She borrowed the Marauder's Map also and made several tests.
She had her hypotheses and wanted to verify them. She activated the map and concentrated on Crookshanks, willing to know where he was. His dot appeared suddenly, showing him sleeping in her room. Then she concentrated on Hedwig but, no matter how much she thought of the snowy owl, no dot appeared. She tried with different familiars but the result was always the same; except for Crookshanks and a few others, the familiars didn't appear on the map. Satisfied with that, she buried herself again in books and finally found the definite answer to her question: the Marauder's Map was built to show only magical people or animals. Crookshanks was half Kneazle, which was the reason why he appeared on the map. Hermione breathed slowly and thought that Elena had been lucky. The map could easily have blown up her cover. She hoped that no Death Eater – who Elena was afraid would find her – had such a map.
Neville was brewing Polyjuice potion with Elena while chatting amiably, feeling relaxed. Elena had a small smile. Obviously he is more at ease with a lanky woman in red than with a tall man in black, she thought with amusement.
"I'm done, Elena," he said finally, already beginning to clean his workbench.
She saw a movement behind him and her eyes narrowed.
"Then I will test it," said the silky voice of Severus.
Neville paled and almost lost his grip on the vial he was holding.
"Pro-professor Snape…"
"What is it, Longbottom? You still haven't grown a backbone?"
He didn't answer and continued to tidy around, shaking violently.
"Polyjuice potion? You're going fast, Elena."
"Believe me or not," she said lazily, her voice almost sounding like her purr when she was in her Animagus form, "but Neville studied the theory of the sixth and seventh year syllabi on his own. I just have to make him brew the potions for real."
"He's not supposed to be able to study Polyjuice potion."
Elena laughed gently.
"Severus," she chided, "you might remember that Hermione received Moste Potente Potions on her birthday. Since she probably knew it by heart on Christmas, she graciously let Neville have a peek at it."
"Disgraceful," he replied, smirking. "Well, Mr. Longbottom, shall you prove to me that your tutoring sessions were actually of some use to you?"
Quivering, Neville dropped a hair in the goblet containing the potion and drank it, his face screwing at the horrible taste. Severus and Elena didn't wait too long before Harry stood before them.
"Congratulations, Neville!" exclaimed Elena. "I think you might want to ask the Headmaster if you can have a go at the Potions NEWT. You did a terrific work on your own."
Severus couldn't hide his grin when seeing Harry shaking in front of him.
"Good, Longbottom," he said, his voice like velvet. "I will be there for your next session. I know you're not an horrible brewer; now I want to know if you can work under pressure."
Harry's green eyes widened in surprise and Severus smirked again.
"Yes, Longbottom, the greasy git has actually some reasons to be as detestable as he is. If you can work under my directions, you can work in any condition, no matter how hard."
The young wizard nodded silently. Severus turned around to leave and whispered at Elena's ear:
"Does he know not to reveal your identity?"
"Of course, he does, Severus. After all, I never gave him any last name. Nobody is that thick not to understand what it means."
"You would be surprised," replied Severus with a small grin.
The following evening, Severus was reading in his office when the door opened and Hermione threw herself at his neck.
"I heard what you did for Neville! I'm so proud of you, Severus!" she exclaimed gleefully, proceeding to kiss him thoroughly.
He eagerly answered until he caught a gleam of silver around her neck. He slightly pulled back, saw the silver ring and immediately recognised the Malfoy crest on it. He froze. Hermione looked up at him, confused.
"Severus?"
"Malfoy? How could you, Hermione? No, don't answer my stupid question: if you forgave me after all the miseries I brought on to you, why not forgive him as well? At least, contrary to me, he's good-looking, huh?"
Her eyes widened at his bitter tone and the hurt in his voice.
"When did you intend to tell? Were you even intending to tell me? How long has it been going on?" he continued.
"Severus, no, it's not what you think!"
"You don't know what I think!" he growled. "I thought you loved me, Hermione, how could you do this to me? Didn't I even deserve a goodbye?"
Her eyes narrowed to slits and she slammed him against the wall with a newfound strength, her hand covering his mouth as he attempted to protest.
"Hear me before condemning me!" she hissed. "It is not what you think! I have this ring on the evenings I patrol but I forgot to take it off tonight because I was too much in a hurry to see you. I put it on only because it keeps Draco in check."
She looked down, sadly, and let her hand slip from his mouth. He didn't say a word and stared at her.
"I didn't want to tell you," she continued softly. "I was afraid you would be angry. One week and half ago, Draco tried to attack me, but Elena stopped him in time; she stunned him and left him in the Slytherin common room. She took his ring so that he would remember that he had lost against her. That's all, Severus, I swear! I don't care for Draco, I've never had. There's only you," she said, looking up at him pleadingly.
He believed her immediately. He knew that she wasn't lying, he could see the love in her eyes. He closed his arms around her and buried his face in her neck.
"I'm sorry," he murmured. "I'm a jealous fool. Malfoy has a lot of success with the feminine population of Hogwarts and I guess… I thought you could prefer him to me."
She tangled her fingers in his hair, rubbing her cheek against his temple.
"Never!" she said fiercely. "He cannot hold a candle to you. There's only you. Only you," she whispered as she began to kiss his ear and his neck.
He gasped quietly and tightened his embrace on her.
"You, my love," he growled in her ear, "don't play fair."
"Slytherins don't know the meaning of fairness," she replied, quite breathlessly as he proceeded to attack her throat with kisses.
"Gryffindors are too predictable."
"Neville," she gasped, trying to recover her wits. "I wanted to talk about Neville."
Reluctantly, Severus pulled back.
"Always reasonable," he chided her good-humouredly.
She smiled and kissed him gently before stepping back.
Severus passed his hand in his hair and sighed.
"Longbottom. He made the Polyjuice potion and finished it yesterday, thanks to your book."
"Is it my fault if I have a passion for Potions and everything related to the subject?"
"Everything or everyone?" he purred suggestively before continuing. "Well, his potion was correct, so I guess that Elena's tutoring is actually a success. I told him I would supervise him tomorrow."
"You'll reduce him to a puddle of fear."
"He needs to vanquish his fears. If he had had to face the Dark Lord, what good would it have been for him to be quivering and stuttering? And you never know, maybe the examiner for the Potions NEWT looks like me."
"You are really going to let him sit the NEWT?"
"Elena says he'll be able. I have to trust her judgement, don't I? Or else I shouldn't have let her begin the tutoring sessions at first."
"You are wonderful, Severus!"
"That's not what you said for six years," he observed mockingly.
She shrugged at him and said regretfully:
"I have to go. The NEWTs begin in two days. I need my rest if I want to be awake for them!"
"Sleep well, my love, and I'm truly sorry for doubting you."
"You weren't doubting me; you were doubting yourself," she said, frowning. "I'll have to work on that after the NEWTs. Be prepared, Severus…"
She grinned mischievously and escaped before he could answer. Severus shivered slightly in anticipation.