.

Thanks

England, Gryffindor-on-the-Grange near Keswick in Cumbria

I accepted the steaming teacup with a nod, "Minerva." I took a sip: ah yes, sweet enough to rot my yellowing teeth. I sighed in contentment.

"Now, Severus, to what do I owe this pleasure?" Minerva folded her hands on her tartan-covered chest and gave me a piercing look.

"Forthright as always. Can't a body just come to call on an old school friend?"

Minerva snorted. "I can count the number of times you've come to see me on one hand and you've always wanted something."

I could see that delicacy would be wasted. "I want to know about Hermione Granger." If that wasn't blunt enough for her, nothing would be.

I watched a faint blush cross her face. "What did you want to know?"

"She told me her subjects of choice. Transfiguration smacks of your influence, but she mentioned potions and my curiosity was peaked."

A frown wrinkled her forehead. "Severus, why are you not asking Hermione herself about her studies?"

I sighed, "I'm researching Minerva. I don't expect you to understand."

She rolled her eyes. "You always were a swot."

I fought the urge to stick my tongue out at her like a child. "Tactful as always Minerva; you always know just what to say."

Minerva crossed to the large desk that dominated her office and rang a small golden bell. A dark haired girl peeked around the archway. "You rang Headmistress?"

"Miss Spinnet, please go fetch copies of Miss Hermione Granger's coursework."

The girl nodded and disappeared.

Veritable mountains of parchments were laid out before me, sorted by class and year. I turned in astonishment to Minerva. "This is a primary school, correct?"

"You will find that Miss Granger is an exceptional student."

I started on the closest stack containing assignments that posed complex theoretical transfiguration questions pulling from a plethora of sources, all carefully footnoted. "Theories of Transubstantial Transfiguration? Transfiguration Myths and Substance? Elegant Transfigurations? Trasfiguración y Metamorfosis? Minerva, these are university textbooks she is citing." I scrambled for the stack of potions assignments. The title of the first one arrested my attention: A Response to Professor Snape's Theory of Alchemical Spagyrics and the Fermentation Process. Among her footnotes were no less than six of my books, two advanced potions texts, Principia Discordiæ, Al-Ghazali's Kimiya-yi Sa'ādat, and Paracelsus's definitive work, Liber Paragranum.

I had been reading her carefully crafted challenge to my work for a full twenty minutes before Minerva caught my attention. "You really had no idea?" She looked truly taken aback. "I would have thought she would have jumped at the chance to debate your field with you."

I rapidly tapped the stacks of classwork with my wand, copying and color coding the pages. "You have been most informative, Minerva. Thank you for your time."

"Thanks from you, Severus? I must have provided you with something worth more than gold." She watched me furiously gathering the papers. I rolled my eyes. "You always were over-dramatic in college; you haven't changed at all."

Why that's absurd! [S. Snape, A Very Potter Sequel]

Edited for grammar, capitalization & spelling on March 14th, 2013 [courtesy of renaid, who is laughing].

Edited for formatting and author's notes March 3rd, 2015.