Disclaimer: Harry Potter and associated ideas, characters, places and events are the property of J K Rowling. Severus Snape and Hermione Granger pairing is not canon, there is an age difference of almost twenty years (please consider wizarding standards) and are in a student/teacher dynamic.

*Note: Professor Snape is interrupted by the new library assistant Jean Wilkins aka Hermione Granger.

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

Exchange

~~oOo~~

Professor Snape

It was days like this that he had no faith in Dumbledore's ability to lead - every time he sought to seek his council, Minerva and that nitwit Jean Wilkins (the new library assistant) would turn up and he would get evicted from the office.

It was days like these that he began to question Dumbledore's complete faith in strangers who suddenly turn up out of nowhere with no prior history with Hogwarts or any other school worth mentioning.

There was something off about Jean Wilkins - if that was her real name.

Since that woman arrived their has been an imbalance in the natural hierarchy - the order of things - and Snape felt unhappily aloof in the grand scheme of things. One minute Dumbledore is confiding his concerns over the ever so precious Harry Potter and suddenly he has no desire to discuss anything with Severus other than the curriculum and lemon drops.

What the hell is going on?

"Excuse me, Professor Snape, could I have a moment?"

The voice slices through the air like a knife in butter; that woman, is standing in the doorway looking calm and collected as always. Damn this woman - there was something surreal about her; she was always kind yet aloof, always courteous but never present, always knowledgeable but restrictive. This was a woman with a hidden agenda.

"Perhaps, though not all of us have the luxury of a librarian's assistant." he replied hotly.

Ignoring his remark she invited herself into the room and took seat opposite him. Her eyes were what lead him to distrust her, they seemed haunted, like his own. Perhaps she was another death-eather like himself, looking for reprieve or betraying her brothers and sisters.

"Then I shall be brief," she reached over and handed him a letter, it was from Albus - her hand was small and chapped for a librarian, "Albus requires us 'To Rise Once More'. "

"To Rise Once More?" he asked quietly, dragging the letter out from under her hand, eyeing it suspiciously. Had Albus inducted her into the Order? What had happened to require the reunion of the Order members? Why isn't Albus telling him himself? Why is this stupid twit delivering important information?

"Alright then." he finds his throat constricting with anger and his heart pumping wildly in his ears, "Tell me who you are."

"What do you mean?" she asks, suddenly hot.

He sighed, suddenly agitated, "You know what I mean! I'll show you mine if you show me yours."

And he had his arm out, Dark Mark blistered across his flesh, black ink stationary on white.

He took in her brown eyes -impassive, like she was all too familiar with the dark mark and he felt a ping of success at his right assumption, until he heard those words.

"Oh Severus"

Barely passed her lips as a whisper, did he hear correctly? It was cooed, as if she had said it to him a million times and he had accepted it each time with gradual tenderness. This was absurd, Albus must be having a jape for their was surely something demented about this woman.

She reached out her arm and pulled down her sleeve to reveal something completely different.

MUDBLOOD

And suddenly he felt kind of horrible.

He was enraptured at the very sight of it, why, how and whom circled his mind - did he know this woman?!

She averted her eyes and lowered her sleeve, small pricks of tears teasing the corners of her eyes.

"Satisfied?"

As quickly as possible she rose and exited the room calmly. His gut felt suddenly wrenched and the anger he felt dwindled into festering curiosity.

~~oOo~~

Enjoy this 600 word drabble? Tell me all about it!