A/N: Thank you to SassenachStarbuck for looking over this so quickly.
Chapter 21
The door of the library burst open and Snape billowed inside. Hermione trailed behind, an amused look on her face. She closed the door softly in her wake and turned to see Severus standing next to the fireplace, scowling into the flames.
She looked around until she spotted a small table and levitated it between the two armchairs in front of the fireplace. She motioned for Snape to take a seat. He complied but held onto his scowl. When she was seated, he waved an impatient hand, motioning her to get going.
She raised her eyebrows at him and pulled the envelope out of the pocket of her robes as slowly as humanly possible. He narrowed his eyes at her, a menacing glitter lightening them up from the inside, and she decided to not play her luck. She opened the envelope and slid out the two coins, pushing one of them over the table towards Severus. His long, slender fingers picked up the coin, turning it towards the light to inspect it closely.
"The numerals on the rim can be raised in four different heights to form the basis of the code." She showed him the different wand movements needed and how to press the numerals into position. "We need one of them to code for a space in between letters, and one of them to code for the end of the word. Which leaves us with two different heights to base the letter code on."
She drew in a breath to continue, but he interrupted her. "Morse code," he said thoughtfully, "not a bad little idea. Complicated and a bit impractical to use for more than a short sentence, but virtually impossible to decode for wizards without very deep knowledge of Muggle culture."
She should not have been surprised that he had figured it out for himself, seeing that he had caught on the first time just as quickly, but still she could not help feeling impressed again at his keen mind. A small wave of bliss stole through her body at the veiled compliment of 'not a bad little idea.' He had never commended her for her ideas before and this was probably the closest that he had ever come to paying her a compliment. She worked very hard on suppressing a joyful smile.
To make up for his almost kind words, he kept muttering on about what a pain in the ass it would be to send those messages via coin, and that he would probably develop a tendonitis trying to get longer messages across.
She took up the envelope and slid out a blank piece of parchment, setting it in front of him with a smug grin. He picked it up, turned it over to look at the back and met her eyes with a confused frown.
She smirked. "I charmed it so that whatever you write on it will be transferred onto the coin. I matched each letter of the alphabet to a certain spell translating into its Morse code equivalent, and then added secondary spell to transfer the code onto the coins." She handed him a quill. "This piece of parchment is linked to your coin, so all you will have to do is release the message on the coin after the writing on the parchment has disappeared."
She could see from the look in his eyes that he was impressed, even if he did not comment on it. It had been a nasty piece of charm work, to be truthful. She'd stretched the limit of what she was able to do, but she could feel that she had not yet reached her full potential. Her thoughts strayed to Flitwick and his offer for a second before she forced herself to concentrate on the task at hand.
"Unfortunately, it only works in this direction – from parchment to coin, not the other way around. The coins have already been charmed in multiple ways to allow for the embedded code and the link between our master coins, so adding additional charms could have interfered with their basic function, and I did not want to risk that. So reading the messages will still have to be done using fingertips and code." She looked at him expectantly. "Let's try it out?"
He studied her for a moment, then picked up the quill and started writing. She kept her eyes averted and focused on the coin in her left hand. She felt it heating up and ran her finger once around it, starting the message. Her fingertips felt along the rim while she matched the Morse code to the alphabet in her head. She wrote down the letters on a piece of parchment in front of her. When the coin heated up once more and grew cold, she looked down to read: "Are we done now?"
Hermione gritted her teeth. Snarky old bastard. But she decided not to take it personal. Because it wasn't and she knew it. To him, she was his former student and it was a slightly uncomfortable situation for him; plus, he did have a bit of a sour disposition quite naturally. For Severus Snape, that answer had not even been that unfriendly. He just didn't care. And that was how it should be, she reminded herself. It was important that he was focused on his mission. Still, she would have to work with him and guard her heart all the while.
She decided the best strategy was to either play aloof or respond in kind. She did not mind a bit of sarcasm, herself. This time, she decided to go for aloof. She pulled out the piece of parchment that was linked to her coin and wrote with a flourish. "Sure thing."
As the handwriting disappeared, she gathered her things, packing them into her bag. As Snape looked up from his message, she rose from her chair, gave him a friendly nod and walked out of the library, leaving Severus staring after her with a slightly bewildered look on his face.
Severus Snape sat rooted in his chair, watching the doors of the library close quietly behind Miss Granger. Her behavior confused him. She was so different from the girl he remembered, and the quiet confidence that had taken the place of her constant pursuit of praise was a pleasant surprise.
He had been astounded at her charm work with the parchment. Multiple charms were a challenge, as well as linking two charms to one cause. But linking multiple charms as well as adding charms on a secondary level needed skills that were beyond most wizards or witches. He himself could not have mastered this. It seemed the brightest witch of her time was still going strong. For a moment, he wondered if she might have taken up a Charms apprenticeship before realizing where his thoughts had strayed to and with a snort, reminded himself that he really didn't care what Granger did with her life. It was bother enough that he would have to deal with her via coin.
Still, he didn't seem quite able to purge his mind of the last thoughts about her. She was a lot less annoying than he had thought, and a lot more intriguing than he had believed. Which, in turn, annoyed him very much.
So all was well in the end, he decided, and rose from his chair to get the portkey from Potter.
Snape picked up his travel bag and slung the strap over one shoulder, one of his hands checking a last time that his coat pocket held the parchments he needed as well as his portkey and started walking towards the door. He was about to reach for the handle when he heard someone speak up.
"Professor Snape."
He turned around so see Granger standing in the hallway, an unreadable look on her face. For a moment, he thought she was about to say 'Never mind,' but then she said: "Will you let me know when you've arrived safely?"
He stared at her for a moment before replying.
"Yes, mother," he said dryly.
He could see her annoyance in the glimmer of her eyes and wondered if she would turn around and stomp off. He had always enjoyed riling her. But then she blinked, and the glimmer in her eyes changed in nature.
"Thank you, honey, and do watch out for the local food," she drawled out sweetly, stepping closer. "You know how too much fenugreek upsets your sensitive bowels," she added, patting his cheek. Then she turned around and walked off, leaving him too bewildered to notice he had let her go without snarling an appropriate response.
He scowled darkly in the direction she had left. After a moment, he turned and opened the door. Taking a deep breath, he stepped outside.
A/N: Don't forget to brush your teeth, honey, and leave the nice little author a review, will you? ;)