Chapter 11
Mountains of Fountains
Disclaimer: Not mine, but thine, Lady Rowling.
Hermione~~
Hermione went to breakfast in the lobby the next morning to find Severus dressed for good weather and drinking hot coffee.
"Good morning, Severus." Hermione greeted him with a smile.
"Good morning, Hermione," he put down the paper he was reading, "what is on the schedule for today?"
"So you still want to tag along with me then?" She was surprised he had not tired of her sightseeing activities already.
"It's not as if I have made any significant plans. It seems I may as well make use of your research, which no doubt is excessive as ever." He smirked at her with amusement, daring her to take on the possible insult. She almost fell for it but laughed it off instead.
"I am always thorough if nothing else," she countered.
"Indeed, 36 inches of parchment was your average I would say." He chuckled lightly.
"Oh please do not remember those horrid first year essays. At least I began to edit after that."
"Edit? So that is what you are calling 12 extra inches, is it?"
The pleasant feeling of sharing an old joke faded quickly as they realized just who they had been to one another before the war. She was sad to let the feeling go. Severus cleared his throat to damage the silence and asked,
"Where to then?"
"To Peterhof, the summer palace of Peter the Great."
Severus~~
It was a gorgeous day outside, the first one yet of his time in Russia. The sun and blue sky were a welcome respite from the endless wind and clouds.
"Beautiful grounds, aren't they, Severus?"
"Hmm," he replied, thinking more about her smile than his surroundings.
"I mean, just look at those fountains and all the gold!" This time he really did look. She was right, the grounds were quite exquisite. Everywhere he looked he saw glorious fountains of every size and statue, shooting up powerful sprays of water. Golden statue fountains on chessboard tiles cascaded down to the main fountain which began a long canal reaching out to the sea.
"Look here, it says that not one of these many fountains use any sort of pumping system. They are all functional by the genius engineering of Peter the Great himself!"
"Or at least the genius engineering of many Aguamenti Permanente spells."
"No! You don't mean—"
"Come, you must have read that Peter the Great was a wizard? Hogwarts does not hold many references for Russian literature, but it is well known by most who care to look into foreign wizarding culture."
"I have never come across any reference to his magical abilities. I wonder why not." She looked truly upset by the revelation that she had missed a major piece of academic information, and he felt the strangest desire to placate her worries.
"Durmstrang keeps a strict hold on their magical literature, I'm afraid. I am lucky enough to have perused their library in my past." This seemed to alleviate her stronger concerns of being uninformed, but he pitied whatever studious Hungarian who would someday try to keep her out of Durmstrang's collection.
Hermione~~
"Oh look, what a lovely garden down that way! Let's go have a look." It was strange that the other tourists were only standing around the circle of benches and flowers. One would think they would rather sit down. Then she remembered her guide book said Peter the Great fashioned many of his fountains to be pranks to play on his guests. Oh, this would be fun.
"Severus!"
"What?"
"Let's go sit on that bench!"
"If we are taking a rest, then why are you so bloody excited?"
"I just—it's the weather. It's got me in such a good mood." She must be smiling too much. Keep it cool, Hermione.
"What's going on with you? Is there something wrong with that bench?"
"No, look at those people, they are sitting on the other benches. I just wanted to catch that one while it's unoccupied." There, that made better sense. There were people on the other benches now, just looking and waiting for someone to sit on the bench beneath the trick fountain.
"Very well, but it looks as if there is going to be some sort of show. Everyone is waiting for something. I despise impromptu performance." Severus strode over to the spot to sit, and instantly a wide fan of water spouted over him to shower everyone within a five foot radius of the bench. Snape's incredulous face as he turned to look back at her was one of the most priceless images in all her memory. The crowd cheered, and Hermione could not help laughing loudly, pleased with the fun of it all. Severus, however, did not look pleased, and she began to regret her actions. She hoped she had not alienated him from her company with something so innocent as this. He stormed away from the crowd and Hermione.
"Oh dear," she exclaimed quietly as she followed after him.
She found him sitting on a bench (without a trick fountain over it) near the bath house.
"Severus, there you are." She stopped to catch her breath a moment. "I'm sorry. I guess I didn't think that through. I just thought it would be funny and.." Hermione had to stop her apology because the memory came back and the smile was sneaking back onto her face at that image of him drenched and appalled.
"Perfectly alright. It's not as if I am not competent with drying charms." He sounded fine, but his face held another story. One of revenge.
"Is there any way you can forgive me? It wasn't very kind, I know."
"How about this, do you see those boys playing on that pile of rocks there?"
"Yes." The boys seemed to be stepping carefully, looking for something.
"It is legend here at Peterhof that one of the stones in each pile of rocks is 'magic'. If you can find the magic stone that triggers the trick fountain without using your own magic, then I will forgive and forget." He was smiling suspiciously, but Hermione did not notice.
"But won't I get wet as well?"
"Not if you find the trick stone before they do." He looked over at the boys. She took off her shoes, determination on her face, and stepped onto the stones.
A small splurge of water hit her leg.
"Hey, what was that?" She heard giggles from the boys.
"The boys must have hit the stone that triggers your fountain. You must find theirs." The water hit her a few more times, bigger each time, before she huffed at the giggling boys and began hopping ridiculously on every stone to find the right one. It seemed the harder she tried, the wetter she became until finally she was drenched, and the boys were completely dry and laughing outright.
"Where is this stone?" She shouted. The giggling sounded closer. She looked up through the water to see that the boys stood around Severus as he joined in the laughter.
"Lady, it is him who soaks you," one of the boys said in broken English as he pointed at Snape. The water stopped. The boys saw Hermione's furious expression and ran for it. Severus continued to sit on the bench and smile.
"You didn't use magic did you? That's not fair."
"Nothing but a simple foot pedal, Granger." She looked to see that a tap of his foot coincided with the rush of water through the rocks. He looked at her face then crossed arms and closed his eyes as if he were savoring the moment.
She went over to him and shook her wet hair so that the water hit his face. He looked up at her.
"Feel better now?" she asked.
"Oh, the best."
"Great," she muttered and walked off towards the bath house. He cast a drying charm on her before she was a few steps away and joined her.
Severus~~
They stood in the bath house, called a banya (he was not sure of the spelling in Russian), and listened to the explanation of this particular regime the Russians treasured. Many Russians still participated in their weekly banya. The whole thing sounded ridiculous to him, and he was about to say as much to Hermione when she leaned over to him to whisper,
"So let me get this straight, you're supposed to get naked, lay down in a room full of oiled smoke, and let someone else hit you repeatedly with a bunch of branches."
"Seems that way."
"Sounds ridiculous to me." She seemed to take his own thoughts out of his mind and speak them far too often for his own comfort. And yet he was so captivated by the idea that they could possibly be compatible. Even if friendship was all he could gain from this encounter, he was going to make sure he did not screw it up this time.
"I'm hungry. Would you like to go get some lunch with me, Severus?"
"Oh, uh—I'm sorry, no. I have some correspondence to attend to back at the hotel. I shall have to leave you on your own for the remainder of the afternoon. Perhaps dinner?"
He had an important errand to run if he wanted to make an impression. Following her around was not enough to show her who he was. He did not want to always be the follower in this...whatever you would call their situation. He would surprise her, and he knew just the thing.
Hermione~~
Severus walked away with his excuses, leaving Hermione alone and greatly disappointed. She thought they were finally getting along nicely. Such good conversation and intelligent banter were hard to come by, though his could be rather snide at times. Once she understood the lack of vitriol behind his words, even his elegantly veiled insults were no longer a pain, but worthy of appreciation. Perhaps she had gone too far with the fountain trick. She thought maybe it would loosen him up a bit. Oh well, she had been hesistant to tell him she was leaving the next day anyhow. Not that he would care. And now she had to go to dinner with him on what was likely a "pity date" for her. He must think of her as so weak and fragile after that disastrous breakdown she had the other night.
Hermione felt very down on herself that afternoon. When she started back to the hotel to freshen up for dinner, she decided that no Gryffindor woman was going down that easily. She laid out the contents of her suitcase and tried out some transfiguration charms on her unexciting wardrobe. After some serious editing, she found just the right outfit.
If this doesn't get his attention, I don't know what will.
Wait, when did I decide I wanted that kind of attention from him? Am I just that depressed that I am vying for the attention of any man? Or worse, that I am vying for the attention of Severus Snape?
Her thoughts battled for indifference, but the flutterings in her stomach told her that the masculine attention of Severus Snape was exactly what she wanted. At least an attention other than pity, which was the only one she had been deserving of so far. Of all things, she never thought a date with Snape would be the thing to hit her in the head and convince her to get herself together. The revelation was all too clear. She wanted to be the strong, independent woman everyone told her she would become. After the war, Hermione was tired of what everyone else "knew" about her, but now she saw it for herself. She would find herself again, and she would become the Hermione Granger she knew she could be. And if Snape or any other man did not appreciate her then, well she would just forge ahead on her own.
Severus~~
This was by far the most nerve-racking situation he had gotten himself into since the trip began. Or even since the fall of the Dark Lord! Having Hermione yell at him in public, her seeing him nearly weep, calming her devastating sobs, and even accidentally waking up next to her did not compare to this new anxiety.
Severus had gone to the box office of the famous Mariinsky Theater and bought two tickets to that night's folk-tale ballet entitled "The Little Humpbacked Horse". It was supposed to be very authentic and well-performed. But it was not the ballet that made him nervous; it was the thought of offering his plan to Hermione and what she would think of it. Would she see it as a date? Dinner and a show certainly would seem like one to a female, he supposed. He was not sure he would be entirely opposed to such a venture if she did consider it to be a date. In fact, he was feeling quite in favor of it despite his better judgment. Very well then, he would leave it up to her perception, and he would carry on politely with whatever the outcome.
