Chapter 14: Rumors of the Ball

"A Ball… it's bloody horrible," Draco moaned, thunking his head against the desk. "I'd rather face Harry's dragon, I think, than have to take Pansy Parkinson to the bloody ball."

Severus lifted his head from his desk as his quill hand scrawled furiously over a pile of parchments. "As I understand it, Harry barely survived his dragon thanks to someone putting a weakened chain on the beast, so I highly recommend you not attempting to wrestle a dragon anytime soon."

"Why couldn't he just put a sleeping spell or paralyzation on it instead of flying around like a bloody lunatic and smashing it into an aqueduct?" Draco said with a shake of his head.

"We're not supposed to know those spells, yet, Draco," Hermione said with a sigh. "Krum and Delacour are both advanced students. It's expected that they know them by now. Harry was never supposed to be in the contest."

"We know them," Draco grunted. "They aren't that hard."

"You two," Severus said softly, "Are hardly normal examples of expectation for your age group, Draco."

"Master, you knew them at our age," she commented. "You were making your own spells at our age."

Severus gave her an amused look. "I was not exactly a normal example of my age group either. Not that it saved me from humiliating situations with the bloody Marauders."

Draco and Hermione sighed together, nodding their heads.

"I don't even know how to dance," Hermione confessed. "I can curse and counter-curse on the fly, silently, while taking out a target with a beak and claws with Draco on my back, but I can't dance."

"I would hardly connect those skills together, my Apprentice," Severus snorted. "A waltz will hardly save you from Cruciatus."

Hermione gave her Master a long-suffering look.

"Personally, I think a dancing gryphon would pretty glorious to see," Draco said, nudging Hermione with his elbow.

Hermione chuckled, ruffling Draco's hair with her hands. "I take it Pansy has already implied and suggested, if not begged, that you take her to the Yule Ball?"

Draco rolled his eyes. "Practically sneaked up into my dormitory and pounced on me this morning after Severus made the announcement for the ball."

Hermione made wide-eyes of sympathy. "Sorry."

Draco shrugged. "Wish I could just tell everyone to piss off and take you to the ball," he confessed. "At least we get along without having to talk about fashion and… society."

Hermione laughed, nudging her friend with her head into his shoulder. "Well at least, so far anyway, I'm pretty sure neither Ron or Harry… or anyone else in Gryffindor as far as I know, remember that I'm even a girl, so I might be able to hole myself up in the dorms and never have to expose my lack of dancing skill."

"Idiots," Draco fussed.

"Pssht," Severus made the dismissing sound with his lips pursed and stood up. He lifted his arm. "Come here, my Apprentice, you insufferable girl."

Hermione leapt up to his call without even paying attention to what came after his demand for her to go to his side.

Severus pointed his wand to his shelf, and a record flew to the hidden gramophone. The music started playing shortly after. "Hand here. Other hand here. Now, take my lead."

Draco grinned like a hyena as his godfather instructed Hermione in the basics of dancing over the course of the next hour, including some of the not so basic rules of interaction at social events that typically occurred in formal functions. At one point, once the basics were drilled in, he switched off with Draco, forcing the pair to dance together under his watchful eye.

Draco and Hermione drifted across his sitting room floor to the music as if guided by invisible strings. Draco had been drilled since he was young enough to walk how to dance, thanks to his family and their their multitude of "high society" functions. Hermione followed his lead, allowing him to guide her across the floor in a fluid and practiced grace.

When the music finally came to a close, Severus looked upon them with a tolerant expression of a man forced to endure something for the greater good. Hermione dropped into a formal curtsy to her Master with respect.

Severus placed his hand upon the back of her head, gently signaling his approval. He withdrew his hand after a moment, nodding to Draco.

Draco smirked. "Do you have formals for the Ball, Hermione?"

Hermione looked at him with embarrassment.

Draco looked at her with sympathy. "I wish I could introduce you to my mother properly. She may support my father in whatever he does, but she does have a keen sense of Wizarding fashion… at least more than you'd ever get from some of your House-mates."

Hermione laughed. "You should see Ron's formal robes. His mother sent them via owl. He says it looks like they stole them off his Great Aunt Tessie."

Draco had a look of horror on his face. "I can only imagine… what Molly Weasley would send him."

"I think," Severus said quietly, "that in this case, perhaps it would be wise to ask Minerva for assistance, Hermione. The obnoxious tabby has her quirks, but I'm sure she would adore being able to assist her favorite lion cub in… less embarrassing witch fashion."

Hermione smiled. "She's going to smell you both on me at close range, my Master. She would be a fool not to suspect, even though my scent won't give away my animagus status thanks to that potion."

Severus placed his fingers to his lips in contemplation. "I have a feeling she has suspected anyway. She roams the halls as a cat, after all, and her nose has probably been cluing her in, even if her head doesn't want to believe it."

"Perhaps…" the blond-hair Slytherin suggested, "you could turn this into a teaching opportunity."

Twin eyebrows arched at Draco from Severus and Hermione.

"Make it seem like Severus wants to bring McGonagall into his trust. Tell her enough that you are concerned about Hermione, but cannot reveal it to your House lest bad rumors pass through the school. Ask her, perhaps, to tutor her in more advanced Transfiguration. Hermione could, then, be curious about being an animagus. McGonagall could "teach" Hermione, and Hermione wouldn't have to use that stupid deodorant anymore. You know that McGonagall would adore taking someone under wing. She hasn't had an apprentice in… Merlin knows how long. She'd keep it secret even from Dumbledore."

Hermione seemed to be starting at Draco like he'd sprouted another head.

Severus' lip curved upward in a smirk. "Clever," he purred. "Minerva would be a powerful ally, and she already favors you in many ways."

Hermione gulped and nodded.

"I will… let it slip in conversation," Severus said with a soft rumble. "She will probably pounce on you in typical tabby fashion shortly after. She will not… be able to resist such an opportunity to take you under her wing… or paw as the case may be."

Severus placed his hand on Hermione's head, gently soothing her. :You will be fine. Just remember to mess up and look frustrated every so often.:

Hermione smiled at him. :Yes, Master."

"Patrol is soon," Severus grunted. "Out."

Draco and Hermione wrapped their arms around his waist and gave him a hug, causing him to place his hands upon their heads gently. They looked up at him fondly and zoomed out the portal with automatic hasted and stealth.

Severus watched as Draco silently gestured to Hermione as he left his chambers.

"Let's sneak some ice cream from the kitchen."

Severus smirked. :Don't let me catch you two raiding the kitchen pantries while I'm patrolling,: he rumbled into her mind.

:Never, my Master," she chuckled back to him. :My Master is a spy. Surely, he has taught me how to sneak into the pantry without being caught.:

:See that you are not,: he replied dryly.

Hermione beamed back at him, sending the warmth from her mind like the hug they had just engaged in.

Severus walked out of his exit portal, his robes swirling behind him. :You have ten minutes before I get to the kitchen.:

:Your will is mine,: she answered him formally, warmth laced through her mind voice.

Snape schooled his face into impassiveness as he began his patrol. If Minerva had any idea of the amount of mischief that simmered underneath Hermione's studious face and Draco's entitled facade, she would probably be aghast with disbelief. It would almost be worth it to reveal the truth just to be there when Minerva put it all together. Alas… it was better that Minerva believe she was doing things on her own terms. Perhaps, one day, this would change, but until then, he would keep his Apprentice and Draco's mischief to himself. In the mean time, he would have to think of good "reasons" to explain why Hermione would carry his scent as well as Draco's upon her person before he spoke with her. The work on his personal spiderweb, so it seemed, never ended.

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

A/N: Just as another choose your own adventure in this, my dear readers, but I request your thoughts on which way (if any) romance will go in this particular fic. As you know, my OTP has always been HG/SS, but in this story I can see it going many ways. Hermione already has a wonderful mentor/student relationship with Severus going, and he could, at least in this fic, be the Wizarding father/mentor that Hermione needs, rather than a romance.

Draco can go both ways, as a good friend/brother or eventual romance, but I don't see either of them being stupid about it. (Not like Ron and Hermione were in canon, that is, because they know each other intimately, trained together, and drilled together like soldiers of war.) Two people who have to rely on each other the way Severus is training them to be are going to be very, very close, with or without romance in the mix.

They are going to look out for each other that is already far more close than someone who is "interested" in the other. In that way, I see our main characters in this "gray trio" as one of my readers has put it (kudos for that btw, assassinsheart) as being very close from the get go. They are, even if nothing happens between then romantically, a family created by circumstances and choice.

I have held off with making any romance between our gray trio because they are developing a relationship with each other that is almost deeper than romance. They have developed a faith and trust in each other that many budding romances lack long before the addition of teenage hormones come into play, something that many adults even have problems with.

While I cannot promise I will go one way or another, I do value your opinions on how you would like to see it go (or rather how you adamantly do not want it to go.) If anything, if the opinion is split down the center, our Gray Trio will remain intimate and close as a family to the end, much as they already have, with none of the romantic drama. (There is always the possibility that Hermione would find true romance in someone such as Viktor Krum, who could in this deviation, be someone she could rely on instead of a side-character who kinda faded into the woodwork in the canon story…)

Please let me know what your thoughts are, my loyal readers. As always, I remain, grateful for your attentive reading of my story.