Chapter 10: Adventures in Ferret Sitting

"You ready for this, Draco?" Hermione asked with a grin.

"Born ready," Draco gave her a knowing grin, showing a fine line of his pearly white teeth.

"Minerva says you have permission to rummage through anything you can smell this nasty piece of work on. We'll start with Gryffindor Tower, tonight, and expand to the others if Minerva likes the results," Hermione reminded Draco as she tapped the packet sample she had borrowed off of Preston Reese. "I can count on you to be discreet, yes?"

Draco leaned in closer. "Hermione," he purred. "I'm Slytherin. You of all people know what that means."

Hermione's eyes glittered. "I have no idea what you mean, Malfoy."

"Mmm," Draco huffed. "I beg to differ, Granger."

Hermione snickered, passed her once blatant bane of existence a shortbread cookie. He ate the cookie while keeping eye contact. "I'll drop you off at the top of the tower. All the students should be at meals, but as you know, that doesn't mean they are."

Draco gave Hermione a knowing look. "I'm ready, Hermione."

Hermione pulled out her wand. "I'm sure you are. How are you meditations going?"

"Stellar, actually," Draco said with a sniff. "Until Astoria tripped and spilled cream on my lap."

Hermione made a face. "Errr?"

Draco rolled his eyes. "She's on a baking kick. I think she's been spending too much time with Molly Weasley."

Hermione snickered. "At least she isn't like Rose. The oven blows up when she looks at it."

Draco scratched his head with his hand, ruffling his own hair. "I hear she's taken a more tenacious shine to Herbology with Neville."

"I think it is a mutually therapeutic relationship, to be honest," Hermione chuckled.

"How so?" Draco asked with a sniff.

"Ever tried to appear impressive under two Potion Masters who also happen to be your parents?" Hermione snickered. "Neville is more than happy to teach the one Snape who doesn't dress like a Dark Wizard or Witch, and Rose is perfectly happy cooing over Neville's fanged geraniums and mandrakes. I think she needs to be a bit apart from the greatly overly imagined shadow of her parents."

Draco lifted both of his brows into his hair. "I don't imagine that being easy. Even though Julius seems to be doing well with potions and his wand making apprenticeship from what my Godfather was saying."

Hermione nodded. "Julius absorbs information like bezoars to poison."

Draco drummed his fingers on the table. "I wonder who he could have inherited that trait from."

Hermione eyed Draco with a quirk of her mouth.

"I think he's doubly damned," Draco smiled, showing his pristine white teeth. "Both sides of the family inflicted a powerful footprint upon his gene pool."

"Pfft," Hermione scoffed. "You say that like it's a bad thing."

Draco's face turned serious. "Julius could not have asked for better parents, Hermione," he said softly. "I realize that is something profoundly out of character for someone of my family to say."

Hermione lifted her chin and regarded her unlikely friend. "We've all changed since we were running around as students in these halls, Draco." She looked upward, staring at the parapets of Hogwarts. "Part of me is glad our children do not have to know what we went through to get to this point."

Draco's eyes flickered with emotion. "Sometimes I see my old self in Scorpius. Entitled. Arrogant. Judges people because they aren't Slytherin."

Hermione tilted her head.

Draco wore a fanciful expression. "Then Rose comes up beside him and slaps him upside the head with a book and practically drags him by the ear to go hang out with both her and James."

Hermione smiled in approval. "That's my daughter. Subtle… like a rampaging centaur. And you're still arrogant, Draco."

"And you're still a bloody know-it-all," Malfoy accused, pursing his lips together to glare at her.

The pair glared at each other for a few heavy seconds before bursting into laughter.

"I'm glad too," Draco said softly as he ran his hand through his blond hair. "That the worst thing Scorpius has to deal with is bruises from Quidditch and getting caught chasing Bast down the hallways after curfew with Rose and getting points docked."

"Kneazle cats… are so much trouble, sometimes," Hermione chuckled. "I loved Crookshanks, but I'm convinced that birds are far better behaved when it comes to mischief after curfews."

"I always thought you just blamed Crookshanks for being out," Draco admitted. "He really did lead you on merry chases through Hogwarts?"

"Did he ever," Hermione said, rubbing the bridge of her nose much like her husband was prone to do. "I'm sure it was all helpful, in his mind at least, but it usually ended with Harry, myself, and Ron desperately trying to not be caught by Filch and Mrs. Norris or worse… Severus."

Draco smiled wryly. "I hear the two of you and Wayne are now the reigning champions of finding wayward curfew breakers."

"I think it's penance for all the trouble we got into as children," Hermione said with a sniff. "Now I have to be the one to sent errant rule breakers fleeing back to their House dorms."

Draco gave a smile. "I'm sure my Godfather has not let you live down the irony."

Hermione licked her teeth, making a slight sucking sound. "Never."

Malfoy grunted in amusement.

Hermione stood and took out her wand. "Ready?"

"Quite," Draco replied as he stood. "I'll find my way to the meeting place, do not worry."

Hermione waved her wand and tapped Draco on the head, turning the corner of her mouth as he took on the form of plump, white ferret. She took a small piece of cord out of her robe and knelt down. "In case you get in trouble, Draco, this port-key will take you to the hearth in our office. Just bite the bead if you get in a fix and think the word 'sulfur,' okay?"

Draco lifted his head and squeaked, allowing Hermione to tie the cord around his body in a manner that wouldn't hinder his movement but still allow him access to the port-key if things went badly.

Hermione pulled the cord tight and checked it to make sure it didn't pinch. She tucked her wand away and shed her human form, taking the shape of her harpy eagle self. She carefully talon-walked closer to Draco and extended her foot, gently curving her wicked talons around his body.

Draco relaxed limply as Hermione took to the air, her great wings beating a few times to guide herself to a thermal and used the draft to push herself upward over Hogwarts, gliding towards Gryffindor Tower.

Hermione's talons tightened around Draco's elongated body as the wind kicked up harder as she rose up sharply, but Draco knew better than to move unexpectedly in return. She glided almost lazily, banking towards the tower and landed on the rim of an open window with one foot, carefully easing Draco down on the windowsill. Her talons slowly retracted, allowing the wizard-gone-ferret to shake himself off and scramble down the window curtains into the tower room. The mission was on, and the Draco-ferret would stop at nothing but success.

Hermione launched off the windowsill, catching a draft to carry her away from the tower and towards the lake. She let out a clarion call as she passed near the East Tower, and a small parliament of owls fluttered out the owlery to join her in her flight. Small ones buzzed by her large wings, while the larger owls glided on the warm thermals with her.

Pyre trilled melodiously as she whooshed by her harpy eagle mom, her long tail brushed against Hermione's outstretched wings as if to tease her. Price warbled and took a place in the air beside her, his brightly colored feathers blew in the wind in an attractive pattern. He gave off a cheerful warble and a soft string of baby peeps, begging Hermione to give chase as he banked sharply off towards the lake.

Hermione gave a call, banking after Prince with a flip of her tail and a sharp wing beat. The phoenix tore off across the lake, Hermione giving chase. Pyre, not wishing to be left out, let out a string of indignant trills and chased her mate and her eagle-mom across the sky. The owls changed course to follow as though it were the natural thing for an owl to do in the world.

After about a half hour of chasing and being chased across the lake, Hermione caught sight of a dark figure standing on the ramparts of Hogwarts and she banked towards the castle with a low series of cries. She drifted over the ramparts and shed her eagle shape, landing on her two human feet. She strode fluidly across the flagstones and wrapped her arms around her husband as the two adult phoenixes and the parliament of owls settled around them.

Severus folded his arms around Hermione without a word, tucking her against himself as his outer robe cascaded over her. Ignis and Sparks peeped contentedly from his shoulders, giving their approval.

Hermione pulled back so she could look Severus in the eyes, smiling as the dark of his eyes deepened in response to her scrutiny. "Hello," she said softly, placing a kiss upon the tip of his nose.

Severus placed his palm against her cheek with a gentle touch. "Good evening," he rumbled a reply. "Is the ferret in the rabbit warren?"

Hermione looked to the side with a smile. "Indeed he is."

"I remember when he was so angry that Moody transfigured him into a ferret and bounced him up and down in front of witnesses," Severus gazed over to Black Lake with an impassive expression. "To see him enjoying himself so thoroughly is more than ironic."

Hermione smiled. "More ironic than standing here with the bane of your Potion Mastership?" Hermione grinned at him as she plucked the phoenix chicks off Severus' shoulders and held them out with her palms up.

The chicks flapped their wings excitedly, anticipating the familiar game. Prince and Pyre took to the air and hovered over her hands and very gently curled their talons around their chicks and carried them off over black lake. The chicks peeped excitedly as their parents warbled their amusement at the game. The owls took off after them, leaving the two professors alone on the ramparts.

Severus brushed the line of her chin with his thumb. "Perhaps. Some say she lives out her life being punished for her impudence."

"Is that so?" Hermione commented, pursing her lips together as she ran her index finger down the Potion Master's nose. "How is that?"

"She married me," Severus said without a change in expression, his dark eyes meeting Hermione's without hesitation.

Hermione bounced onto her tip toes and pressed her lips to his. "The horror," she murmured.

"Unquestionably torturous," Severus replied with a deep rumble.

"For her or for him?" Hermione asked, running the tip of her tongue across the edge of her teeth.

"Yes," Severus said, pulling her close and placing his hand against the back of her neck.

Hermione wilted into him with a sigh. "You know," she mumbled into his robe. "I think the day we argued over teaching methods and that cauldron exploded all over me was the first time you ever let me see past that well crafted wall of yours."

Severus lifted his head, casting his gaze upward. "And you wiggled your way behind it every day since." The corner of his lip twitched and he placed his hand against the back of her head, stroking her hair absently.

"Do I hear complaints?" Hermione asked, snuggling into his robes.

"Never," Severus said as he closed his eyes and remembered the event that quite possibly sealed their fate together.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"Miss Granger, I do not care if you wrote the book on Advanced Potions," Snape snapped at Hermione after she attempted to justify being a little less heavy handed with the potions instruction. "In my class, you will teach the method as I have instructed."

"Not every student in your class is a complete idiot, Professor," Hermione protested. "Sometimes they just need a little push in the right direction."

Snape pinched the bridge of his nose with his fingers and dropped his hand after a few moments. He turned his black eyes to her, his teeth clenched slightly as he attempted to speak while being irritated at the same time. "There is not one person in this next class that will not take a mile for every inch you give them. They will smile at you, pretend to listen, and then throw in something half chopped and create something in the manner of Neville Longbottom. If their hair doesn't burn itself off, they will give themselves bright orange and pink dreadlocks and somehow turn some innocent bystander into a salamander that will require weeks of therapy from Pomfrey to cure. You may not believe this, Miss Granger, but some students cannot be trusted with kindness, and this next class is one of them."

Hermione glared back at Snape, her jaw was set as she attempted to wrestle with her opinions versus the truth that she was to be his apprentice. Accepting that meant accepting that it was his job to teach her the proper method and means to become a master of potions. It was her job to accept his judgment with far more grace than some blithering second year who could not learn due to having their delicate feelings hurt. If she was going to be Severus Snape's real apprentice after graduation, she would need to act the part instead of worrying what the other students thought of her. He was the best, and it was far time she acted on that respect in a manner befitting his apprentice.

Suddenly, like a switch had been flipped, the emotion drained from Hermione's face and was replaced by a stillness of purpose gained from the harshness of war. "Yes, Professor Snape." She lifted her chin in Gryffindor fashion, but her eyes were clear and her expression calm.

Severus stared at his soon to be apprentice. His dark eyes scanned her face as he attempted to ascertain her true feelings on the matter without resorting to Legilimency. He broke the stare after a while, leading the way into the classroom where the next class waited. Hermione followed behind without a further word, setting the first norm for their professional relationship: she would never question her Master in front of a class. Questions and arguments would happen once all the students left and when the potions were completed to the letter of what he demanded.

The class was, much as Snape had predicted, willful and stubborn in a manner Hermione found herself accepting that kindness would not break through the utter refusal to do more than what was required for the class. If there had been a laziness potion, she was pretty sure the entire class had imbibed it before they walked through the classroom door. Still, she wanted to believe that there was a better way than simply scowling at each of the students to get better results.

Hermione, despite her official apprenticeship with both Minerva and Severus not starting until after her "official" graduation, was unofficially under Snape's wing as his Potions Apprentice since shortly after her return to Hogwarts. Minerva had insisted that she take her potions N.E.W.T. "early", overseen by Horace Slughorn to avoid any accusations of bias, allowing her to assist Snape without conflicts of interest.

Regardless of Minerva's foresight and planning, many of the students treated Hermione as the outcast who no longer belonged amongst them. She was old enough to be graduated. She was, at least in the opinion of the younger students, too experienced to be in their classes. She was too serious, too haunted, and too focused to fit in anymore. Others believed her to be a hero, and heroes had been given leave not to return to Hogwarts after the war. Either way she looked, Hermione was no longer a peer as a student, but neither was she a professor.

It was this awkward gray area that stared Hermione in the face when she attempted to correct Jeremy Thornberry's cauldron. Resentment flickered across his face as she quietly corrected his choice of ingredients.

"Stop acting like you know better," Jeremy hissed at her.

"You need to chop the root more finely," Hermione corrected. "The instructions are on the board."

"It is chopped finely," he growled.

Hermione felt the start of tension headache beginning behind her eyes. "Please, Jeremy, if you do not chop it more finely, it could affect your potion… badly," she suggested.

Jeremy glared at her, throwing down his knife. "Just because you tested out of potions doesn't mean you get to treat us like Snape."

Hermione flinched. Her attempt to be nice had gained her an insult, regardless.

"Mr. Thornberry," Snape's low voice droned acerbically. "Is there… a problem?" Snape's dark eyes bored into the young man with a scathing regard.

"No," Thornberry replied with gritted teeth. "Sir."

Snape narrowed his eyes. "Then I suggest you continue chopping your root finely instead of… whatever that is."

Snape turned and walked down the aisle, leaving Hermione and Jeremy alone once more.

Jeremy had cast his gaze down to glare into his cauldron as Hermione began to move down the aisle.

Hermione paused at the next cauldron and assisted with clarifying the instructions. Halfway through her explanation, she saw a movement out of the corner of her eye and the hairs on the back of her neck rose. She looked up. Severus had his back to her as he was glaring down at another student whose potion was changing a disturbing color of puce.

Hermione made a decision, her body moving fast after her body caught up with her mind. She flung herself at Jeremy Thornberry, knocking him clear of the cauldron just as the cauldron exploded. She tucked her face under her own robe with instinctive defense, but scalding potion covered her exposed hand she used to pull her robe over her face.

Hermione hissed in pain, crumpling against the floor as the scalding potion dripped from her robes, and she frantically cast off her outer robe. A part of her mind suddenly wished she had a more substantial robe as she grit her teeth together as a wave of pain rippled from her hand up her arm where the potion had soaked through her robe and onto her skin. She refused to give anyone in the classroom the satisfaction of hearing her suffering anymore than they already had and clenched her jaw to stifle her own pain response.

"Mr. Thornberry!" Hermione heard Severus' voice cut through the air with a deadly softness. "That will be fifty points from Gryffindor for wounding another person in Hogwarts with your despicable inability to follow directions as well as your extraordinary lack of judgment. You will take a detention with Professor McGonagall for the rest of the week. Everyone else, decant your potions the moment they are done and put them on my desk in silence. And you, Thornberry, will clean up this mess without the use of magic. The bucket is over there."

"Y..yes, Sir," Jeremy's meek reply came a little breathless.

Hermione closed her eyes, tears running down her cheeks from the pain as she heard Jeremy scrambling to get up from where she had thrown him. She wanted to look to see if he was uninjured, but her own injury was taking up her thoughts. She felt an arm go around her and she struggled to move.

"Be still," Severus' voice said softly, demanding obedience.

Hermione winced, but did as she was bade.

His arms wrapped around her, and he picked her up, cradling her against his robes as he carried her towards the back of the classroom laboratory. He wordlessly lay her on the chaise longue that had blended so thoroughly into the back of the laboratory that Hermione had never realized it was there.

Snape lifted his hand and a tin slammed into his palm, called by both wandless and silent magic. He opened the tin and sniffed it experimentally before dipping his hand into the contents and began to methodically rub the ointment over her affected skin.

Hermione expected the touch to hurt like a burn was wont to do, but the ointment was cool to the touch. Snape carefully massaged the ointment over her affected hand and down her arm where her skin had already turned red from the scalding temperature. Part of her wondered why he was fussing over her instead of just dumping her onto Madam Pomfrey as was his normal modus operandi.

The pain disappeared almost the instant Severus smoothed the ointment on her skin. Hermione took in a deep breath in relief and let it out slowly.

"Are you in pain anywhere else, Ms. Granger?" Severus' voice was soft and free of the growl that typically indicated his annoyance.

Hermione met his eyes and saw genuine concern on his normally stoic face. "Just my side, Professor," she admitted.

"With your permission," Snape asked quietly.

Hermione nodded, strangely comforted by his out of character and strangely gentle question.

Severus moved her shirt just enough to expose a large red welt going down her side. He spread more ointment down her side with a soft brush of his fingers. Somehow, while she had been too busy paying attention to the ointment, Snape had acquired cloth dressings. He bound her side lightly to protect her skin before pulling her shirt back over it to protect her modesty, though no one of the students dared to look away from their cauldrons after the explosion.

He wrapped her burnt arm lightly with the cloth bandage and covered the ointment tin, sending it flying back to wherever it had launched itself from. He moved her arm to place it at her side and stood up to his full height. "Rest here, my Apprentice. That will be enough heroics for you, today."

Hermione met his gaze and saw something flicker across his eyes. His face, normally chiseled into a hard expression, was softer. Hermione realized that something significant had changed between them. There was an unspoken promise hidden within his eyes. For some reason, she could sense it clearly. There was respect there and a silent promise to acknowledge his role as her Master instead of begrudgingly humoring Minerva. "Yes, Master," she replied formally, accepting his promise with true deference to his knowledge.

Hermione saw the corner of Snape's mouth quirk upward ever so slightly just before his face regained the icy and impassive expression that normally adorned it. He turned and glided back towards the front of the class laboratory, glaring over the remaining students who had not yet decanted their finished potions.

She allowed her eyes to drift closed at last.

She woke to an empty classroom as Snape vanished the last of the potions he was grading on his desk. He looked up at her as she slowly came up to a sitting position.

"Dinner just started, if you are up to it," Snape rumbled as he stood from his desk. He picked up a folded bundle of cloth from his desk and carried it over. "I cleaned your robe while you were resting."

"Thank you, Professor Snape," Hermione thanked him. "I appreciate it."

The Potion Master tilted his head to the side slightly. "You are… welcome." The normal scowl on his face was missing, and Hermione found she liked that very much.

They walked together out of the classroom silently with a slight pause as Snape locked the door to the laboratory and threw a series of wards over it that never ceased to amaze Hermione of their complexity.

As they made their way into the Great Hall, Hermione took a deep breath as she moved towards the Gryffindor tables. She had become used to sitting alone, no longer having peers that welcomed her into their social circles. She didn't really blame them, but she was starting to feel like even more of a social outcast than she was years previously.

"Ms. Granger," Snape called to her, his voice rumbling.

"Yes, Professor?" Hermione replied, turning to meet his gaze.

"You will sit with me at the High Table," he said with no change in expression. "An Apprentice sits with their Master."

Hermione's face flickered with a multitude of emotions as she inclined her head in formal respect. "Yes, Master," she replied formally, moving to catch up to him.

Severus turned and continued to storm up the aisle in his typical fashion, sending students flying back to their tables and casting their faces down towards their food in customary terror. So great was their ingrained response that none of the students seemed to notice that Hermione was still at his side.

Hermione kept pace to his side and slightly behind him. As he sat down at his customary place at the High Table, Hermione self-consciously sat down in the empty chair beside him.

Severus took up a place and filled it with seemingly random food and placed it in front of her.

Hermione stared at the plate of food, unsure as what protocol she was going to mess up the moment she moved.

"It's food, Ms. Granger," Snape rumbled as he filled his own plate. "You can either throw your face down into it or use the utensils. I'd recommend the fork."

Hermione blushed and tentatively grabbed the nearby fork and stabbed a piece of honeydew and ate it.

"Ah, Severus," Minerva purred from her chair. "It's about time your apprentice made it up to the table."

Snape glared at the Headmistress with half scorn and half boredom. "Really, Minerva, it's not like you didn't know she was my apprentice, as she will be yours as well come graduation."

Minerva grinned, catlike. "Yes," she purred. "But now everyone knows she is."

Snape glared at Minerva as he very deliberately took a large bite out of the dinner roll he was holding.

Rolanda Hooch leaned over the table and smiled at Hermione. "Welcome," she said with a wink of her hawkish yellow eyes. She ribbed Pomona Sprout with her elbow, causing the flustered older woman to sputter.

"Welcome," Pomona muttered, eating a forkful of salad.

Hermione smiled at the flying instructor with a shy smile as welcomes rang down from the High Table. She smiled to each of her professors, realizing that while she would still treat them all as she was a student in their classes until formal graduation, at least here, she was being welcomed as a peer.

Hermione startled as Severus plunked down a glass of juice in front of her. "Thank you," she said softly.

Severus eyed her, his dark eyes unreadable. "You are welcome," he said with a nod, going back to working on his salad.

Hermione took a deep breath and went about taking on the task of eating, her wounds from hours earlier already forgotten.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Severus brushed Hermione's hair back from her face as they both recalled the first time he had officially accepted her as his apprentice. She looked back at him with a smile.

"Fly with me," he purred, his voice low with the feel of velvet. He launched himself into the air, his great wings spread to catch the thermals and carry him abruptly upwards over Hogwarts.

Hermione leapt into the air after him, giving a call to her mate as she chased him on the thermals across Black Lake.

Minerva looked out her office window to see the two harpy eagles glided over the lake and scattering the waterfowl. She smiled smugly. Everything was as it should be.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

The sound of quiet sniffles caught the attention of both Hermione Snape and Wayne Mitchell at the same time. Both professors stopped walking towards their destination and turned on their heels, staring down the connecting corridor.

A young student sat on the stone floor, surrounded in scattered books and quills. A spilled ink pot had a river of black ink trickling down the cracks of the stone floor.

Silently, and without a word between them, Hermione and Wayne closed the distance between themselves and the young student, kneeling down to help gather the scattered books, quills, and ink. Wayne mended the broken quill shafts with his wand. Hermione guided the river of ink backwards into the ink pot and stoppered it.

The girl's eyes, still red with tears, widened as the two professors gathered her things for her. She sniffed, rubbing her eyes in an attempt to compose herself.

"There now, what happened to scatter all your things down the corridor?" Hermione asked softly.

"They made fun of my owl's cage, M…ma'am," the girl sniffed, clutching her books to her chest. "I tried to take the cage back, but I dropped my books."

Wayne knelt down and picked up a slightly battered owl cage from the floor an noticed that it was close to falling apart even without being dropped on the floor. He met the eyes of his Mistress wordlessly, flicking his eyes to the abused cage.

Hermione inclined her head to Wayne in wordless communication. She went through faces and names in her memory, trying to place this particular student's name. "You are the new transfer student from Birmingham, yes? You've been abroad for a few years travelling?"

"I'm Violet Kincaid, Mrs…" she trailed off, realising that she had no idea what to call either of her rescuers.

"I am Professor Snape," Hermione said with a soft smile. "This is Professor Mitchell."

Wayne handed Hermione the battered cage. Hermione took it with a lifted eyebrow, tapped it with her wand, and transfigured it into something more befitting a dignified owl. She handed the cage to the wide-eyed student with an amused grin. "At Hogwarts you do not have to keep your owl in a travelling cage, and the owls appreciate being able to come and go more freely. There is an owlery in the West Tower where all the school owls and the student owls roost when they are not being worked or travelling with you directly."

Violet's eyes went wide. "You don't have to keep your owl in a cage?"

Wayne and Hermione exchanged somewhat horrified glances. "No, Miss Kincaid. You do not," Hermione said with an placating smile. "And where is your owl now?"

"His name is Archimedes," Violet said with an excited shake of her head. "He flew off when the cage dropped. He's a short-eared owl."

"Archimedes, eh?" Wayne commented. "Are you a fan of muggle cartoons?"

Violet blushed. "One of my favourite movies was The Sword and the Stone."

"I thought so," Wayne said with a smile. Wayne silently reminded himself to thank Preston Reese for having Muggle Movie Nights back when he was a young student at Hogwarts. The muggle movies had always been a favourite in the Muggle Studies class.

"You can call back Archimedes now, if you like, Miss Kincaid," Hermione encouraged the girl. "We can show you to the West Tower so you can introduce him to the other owls in the Owlery."

Violet cast her eyes downward. "I do not know how, Mrs. Er… Professor Snape."

Hermione furrowed her brows. "How long have you been with Archimedes?"

"Only since I've started at Hogwarts," Violet confessed.

"Well let's head to the West Tower, Miss Kincaid," Hermione replied. "Perhaps we will run into Archimedes there." Hermione held out her hand in a gesture to usher Violet down the hall.

The walk was silent, save the rustling of Violet's books against her chest as she attempted to hold onto the cage and the books at the same time.

As they approached the West Tower, a familiar pair of trills and warbles came from the adjoining courtyard. Prince and Pyre chirruped sweetly in greeting. Ignis flapped his wings and warbled a greeting to his family. A somewhat larger parliament of owls perched around the courtyard, hooting softly, giving off the appearance of a council being in session.

"Archimedes!" Violet exclaimed as she rushed up into the courtyard.

A medium-sized brown and white owl with a tan and white facial disc made a barking call that slid from low to high in greeting, flapping his wings as the girl approached.

The other owls gathered in the courtyard hooted curiously. Archimedes turned his head back and forth and opened his wings slightly, making a short chain of soft, rumbling hoots. The other owls looked at him as if evaluating something he might have said. Pyre warbled. Prince chirped, and the rest of the owls seemed to lapse back into idle discussion on some topic known only to them.

Wayne and Hermione exchanged resigned glances. Keegan peeped pleasantly to Ignis from Wayne's shoulder and Ignis burbled a response, apparently deciding that conversation amongst themselves was far more interesting than the "adult" conversations going on.

Hermione inclined her head as a thought occurred to her. "Would you like to learn how to call Archimedes to you?"

Violet looked up at her disbelievingly. "You wouldn't mind?"

Hermione squelched the part of herself that questioned Violet Kincaid's educational background where she believed a teacher would be opposed to… teaching. "Of course not, Miss Kincaid. Please," Hermione beckoned the girl to her. "Stand here."

Violet stood where she was told.

"You may wish to put your arm out since Archimedes is so close to you," Wayne guided softly.

Violet put her arm up, yet it seemed as as though she was not used to the action.

Wayne exchanged glances with his Mistress, and Hermione nodded with a small quirk of her lips. He pulled a small piece of leather out from his robe and tapped it with his wand, enlarging it into a protective glove. He eyed the glove and Violet's smaller hand and tapped it again, shrinking it slightly. Tucking his wand away, he opened the end of the glove and slid it over Violet's hand. "There you go. This will help. Your owl may be friendly, but his talons are not made to be friendly. Remember to keep this glove with you and have it on when you call him."

Violet's eyes grew wide and she nodded to the tall professor with a look that echoed a squirrel sizing up a tree before climbing it.

"Hold your hand out like this," Hermione motioned.

Violet imitated Hermione, holding her hand out and away from her chest.

"It may help to close your eyes at first," Wayne guided softly, watching the girl close her eyes.

"Try to clear you mind and think of Archimedes," Hermione began.

"Imagine his face, his feathers, and the sound of his call," Wayne guided, remembering the first time he and his very first owl, Hermes, had connected.

"Think of yourself reaching out towards him," Hermione guided softly. "Call him in your mind as you think only on having him come to you."

"Say his name in your mind," Wayne said.

Hermione smiled at Wayne as they both idly rubbed the phoenix chicks under the beak. It had been a long time since the only mental connection Hermione had was with Crookshanks, and that old half-Kneazle was not always one for coming when called. A couple phoenixes later and over a decade being tightly bound to one of the most guarded minds in the Wizarding world had given her an entirely new level of skill with recognising and working with mental bonds.

Wayne fussed with Keegan, scratching the young bird under his itchy wings, easing the growing itch caused by his growing feathers. The young phoenix peeped with gratitude and took his finger into his beak, mouthing it affectionately. Wayne slipped his charge a piece of apple and smiled as the bird worried it in his mouth and made it disappear.

As if to break the chain of thoughts of the two professors, Archimedes landed with a whoosh of wing flaps onto Violet's arm, his talons clasping the heavy glove with an audible scraping sound.

Violet squealed with delight, her eyes bright with excitement. "You came!"

The short-eared owl gave a barking call and turned his head to peer at Violet curiously. If owls could say "duh," Archimedes was definitely giving her the owlish equivalent.

A movement of dark fabric signalled Severus' walk past the courtyard moments before Prince and Pyre warbled a happy greeting to the Potion Master. Sparks peeped a return greeting to her parents from atop Severus' shoulder as he paused in his walk to gaze into the courtyard. Prince and Pyre launched themselves off their perches and glided towards Hermione and Severus. Prince landed onto Hermione's empty shoulder as Pyre landed on the same shoulder as Sparks and proceeded to preen the young chick mercilessly. Sparks peeped in protest, but eventually gave in, hanging her head slightly as her mother put her daughter's feathers and down back into order.

Violet's eyes widened as Archimedes launched himself off her hand, flying up towards the owlery. She took off the glove Wayne had given her and tried to give it back.

Wayne shook his head. "That is for you, Miss Kincaid," he admonished softly. "Be sure to keep it with you for Archimedes."

Violet shook her head up and down.

"What House are you sorted to, Miss Kincaid?" Wayne asked quietly. Severus was approaching from the walkway and Wayne could tell how close he was by the widening of Violet's eyes.

"Hufflepuff, Mr… er… Sir," Violet attempted to correct herself from her previous habit of calling her teachers by different prefixes.

Wayne inclined his head. "Dinner will be soon, Miss. Kincaid. You should go put your things up so you can meet your House-mates for dinner."

Violet nodded in agreement and picked up her belongings. "Thank you, Professor Mitchell. Professor Snape," she thanked in a gush before scurrying out of the courtyard and down the corridor, giving Severus a wide berth as she fled the area. She bowed her head respectfully to Severus as she passed, but kept her eyes averted.

Severus lifted an eyebrow as he joined his wife and apprentice. "Private lessons?"

Hermione smiled. "Just a little help given to a Hogwarts' student in need," she answered. Prince leapt off her shoulder and landed on Wayne's shoulder and proceeded to preen Keegan mercilessly. Keegan, unlike his sister, submitted to the attention happily and peeped his appreciation.

Wayne grinned at the phoenix version of musical shoulders that was going on. He cast his gaze upward as if to ask for patience.

Severus stifled a yawn. "Our evening seems to be free this evening. Flitwick wishes to do patrols this evening with his House Heads and Prefects to catch someone sneaking around the Charm's Classrooms."

Hermione lifted a brow. "There isn't anything in the Charm's Classrooms that is worth sneaking around them for."

Severus gave a gallant shrug. "Who are we to guess the inner workings of the adolescent mind, my witch? Perhaps they grew tired of trying to break into our heavily warded potion ingredient cabinets."

Hermione closed her eyes and leaned her head against Severus' chest, pressing her face against the smooth fabric of his waistcoat. She rolled her forehead against his chest in exasperation.

Severus gently placed one pale hand over her head and patted her hair tenderly. "Alas, before we can spend our evening grading parchments, we must feed our apprentice before he expires due to hunger."

Hermione pulled back and smiled dreamily into Severus' face. Pyre turned her head and pecked Severus on the side of the head with her beak.

Severus' face was impassive as he gazed down at his wife. "Minerva seemed to think I starved you as well, back in the day."

Hermione smiled back at him. "Molly thinks none of us eat enough."

Severus rolled his eyes. "By Weasley standards, we are positively anorexic. Her opinion is hardly unbiased. We still have an entire jar full of shortbread cookies we have yet to scrape the surface of."

Hermione gave him a happy smile, running her finger down the top of Severus' nose, smiling broadly as her touch sent shivers down the chords of their bond. "What do you think, Wayne," she asked idly. "Do we starve you?"

"Unquestionably," Wayne replied immediately, looking skyward. Both Severus and Hermione twitched the corner of their mouth.

Hermione turned to gaze at Wayne who was putting his best innocent expression into place. "To dinner then, you starving apprentice," she hissed, shooing Wayne in front of her with her hands. Keegan and Prince turned their heads and pecked Wayne upside the head with their beaks.

Wayne made a strangled cry of protest as he shuffled ahead of his Master and Mistress towards the Great Hall.

Severus and Hermione walked side by side behind Wayne as he forged the way down the corridor, each with their lips curved slightly upward in a calculated light-lipped smile.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

A/N: And back to class with me.