AN: You want me to hurry the fluff along, don't you? Ha! It's a-coming, but noooooot quite yet. Here's more playful interaction.
Chapter 21: Sunday afternoon
He had been working on potions for Poppy. Now he found himself in the final stages of the brewing process, waiting for the colour of the liquid to shift so he could add the split seeds. Someone had slipped into his classroom. The wards weren't full force when he was around, but he noticed the breach nonetheless. Then came the knock on the door to the lab.
"I don't like to be disturbed on Sundays or when I'm brewing. I am brewing on a Sunday, so this better be good!" he called and put a stasis spell over the cauldron.
"Alright professor Scorn McSpiteful. No need to haul me over the coals. It's only me," she joked when he opened the door and scowled at whoever dared to interrupt him.
"Your hair looks like a bird's nest, as usual, so that's not why you're here," he retorted with a grin.
"Hm, it's not," she agreed. "Is that volatile?" she pointed at the cauldron.
"Hardly. Standard bruise salve and it's under stasis. I am entirely at your disposal."
"But it better be good," she grinned and he nodded. "Look, I know we agreed no Christmas stuff and I promise you I won't insist, but I'm offering you cookies. They're ginger snaps and I made them. You can say no and I won't blow a fuse. Cool?" She thrust a round tin at him.
"Cool, Granger? You're suddenly down with the crowd," he snarled and took a biscuit from the tin.
"I can do the lingo if I want to. I just don't usually want to," she replied and hopped on a table.
"Then don't. Believe me, it's not an improvement. I've not thought of you as a silly little girl for some time now, don't make me reconsider. These are excellent, by the way," he said crunching the biscuit.
"Aww, thanks Snape, you have definitely gone soft. It must be my feminine wiles."
"Wiles, Granger? You wouldn't know wiles if they hit you in the face. I'm probably just being nice so you don't make me sleep on the couch," he played on the students' gossip.
"There is that," she laughed.
"You know, Granger, you're not so bad when you're not trying to show off."
"I don't show off."
"But sir, are you sure you should be crushing those berries? The book says chop." he said in a squeaky voice he had never used before. She gasped and threw him a nasty glare.
"Oh yeah, Snape? 50 points from Gryffindor for helping Mr. Longbottom. And 50 points from Gryffindor for not helping Mr. Longbottom fast enough," she said copying his low silky tones.
"That boy was a menace!" he huffed.
"That boy is going to be on the payroll when Sprout retires and you know it. You're going to have to call him professor Longbottom before long," she snickered.
"Oh gods, I hadn't thought about that," he groaned. "Vector isn't leaving, is she? Is she? Not professor Granger. Please, anything but that!"
"Doubt it. But Mistress Granger has a nice ring to it, doesn't it? Only two more years," she giggled.
"If you make it through your apprenticeship."
"Oh, I'm going to make it. If only to prove a point to you. Brightest witch of my age and that."
"Show-off," he teased.
"Yes dear," she replied, smiled at him and hopped off the desk. "Enjoy your Sunday brewing. And the biscuits. Oh, and Snape? Only two more days of dunderheads until the end of term."
"Biscuits and the promise of no dunderheads are a sure-fire way to a man's heart, Granger. You might have wiles after all."
She wiggled her eyebrows and left. He had a smile plastered on his face for the rest of the afternoon.