A/N Thank you to everyone who reviewed! You really did make me write this chapter for today… I was feeling lazy but then I read all the reviewers and you made me so happy that I decided to stop procrastinating and write this whole chapter then and there. And I wrote a chapter of Adhesion, too. So you can see how much your reviews mean to me! Thank you, all of you. I'm glad you don't think it's clichéd, and I'll try to keep it as unclichéd as possible… this chapter is slightly better in that respect, I think. This is unbeta'd, obviously, because I wrote it today and I thought you'd rather have my mistakes now than the final version of this chapter in mid-August, which is when I get back from Australia, so don't say you've not been warned. I'll repost it and fix anything Gem corrects, and anything you notice if you tell me in a review. Oh, and I've decided that I will break this into two stories, as well, so there are maybe four more chapters of this to go before it ends. The sequel will be shorter, but hopefully with more frequent updates, and it'll have lots more romance in it, mainly because I've done the background for their relationship here.

Repost: I knew there was something else I'd forgotten to fix! Ah well… I've gone back and changed it now, so you get her actual salary, and not my notes to myself to find it… If anyone cares, the minimum wage for anyone between 18 and 21 in the UK was ₤3.80 prior to the October of 2004 and is now ₤4.10. Thanks to Tracey2 and caerrae27 for telling me!

Chapter Twenty-Five

On her way to the school the next day, Hermione passed by the restaurant she and Snape had eaten at the other night, and saw that the 'Help Wanted' sign was still in the window. Impulsively she stopped by the restaurant and walked in.

"Hello?" she called out, seeing that it was empty.

A woman walked out from a door in the back, her face furrowed in confusion. "Oh, sorry," she said, "I thought I'd locked the door. We don't open until five."

"No," Hermione said quickly, "I came in about the job. Do you have an application form or something for me?"

The woman's eyes lit up. "Great! I thought we'd never fill it! Everyone's overworked and clamouring for time off, I'm so glad you've come! How much experience have you had waitressing?"

"Um… none, actually," Hermione admitted, blushing. "But I learn really quickly!"

"That's okay," the woman said good-naturedly. "We all have to start somewhere. Speaking of which, we need you weeknights. Times vary from day to day, depending on who wants which shift. The pay's ₤4.00 an hour, and the shifts are for three hours. Is that okay with you?"

"That's fine…" Hermione said.

"Great. We'll fill out the paperwork later. Consider yourself hired!"

"Oh," Hermione said weakly, not expecting that it would be that easy. She still had to convince Snape!

"Can you start next Monday? If you can come by in the afternoon, say around four-ish, to settle the details?"

"Um… yeah, that should be fine," she said, still worrying about Snape.

"See you then!" The woman said brightly. "Oh, by the way, my name's Alice."

"Jane," Hermione said. "Nice to meet you."

"Yes," Alice said briskly. "Well, I'll see you Monday then. Four o'clock. Goodbye!" And with that she went back through the door she'd come from, leaving a slightly shocked Hermione standing there. Slowly, a grin spread across her face. She had the job! She walked out of the restaurant and headed to the school, still grinning.

Even after her stop at the restaurant she arrived at the school early.. Mike wasn't there, but Melissa was.

"Melissa!" Hermione said, grinning at her friend. "I haven't seen you since last week."

"Yeah… I've been sick all this week, so I haven't come to the practices. I won't be debating today, just watching, since I've missed the last two days. Anyway, are you still up for tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow… oh, right, yeah. I'd forgotten, so thanks for reminding me. Same thing as last week?"

"Yeah, only we thought we'd skip the movie. We're all just meeting up at the park at one-ish. Would you like to have lunch first, maybe?"

"Yeah, sure," Hermione replied. "I'll have to ask Alexander, of course, but I'm sure it'll be fine."

"Good," Melissa said. She grinned, and added, "because I think you might have something to tell me."

"Something to…" Hermione began, confused, when she felt a light touch on her shoulder, and turned to see Mike there. "Hey," she said, smiling at him.

"Yes, you definitely have something to tell me," Melissa said, smirking. "Anyway, I'm going… over there. Talk to you guys later." She walked off, grinning.

"Nosy matchmaker," Mike grumbled, but he was smiling too. "All set to go?"

"I think so," Hermione replied slowly, her stomach beginning to jump with nervousness.

"You'll be fine," Mike told her, guessing the reason for her hesitance. "I know it. Come on, let's get on the bus."

True to Mike's prediction, the debate went well. Hermione and Mike didn't see much of Melissa, because she was off talking to other people most of the time, looking at them occasionally to grin and wink at them. For some reason she reminded Hermione of a teenaged female version of Dumbledore, which set her to giggling.

Then they came back and had a very pleasant dinner, happily discussing the debate. Hermione thoroughly enjoyed herself, and realised that was actually happy. She still missed Harry and Ron, of course, but their absence wasn't all-encompassing now. They didn't care as much for her as they did for one another, anyway, which she didn't really mind, but it was nice to have all Mike's attention on her. And then, of course, there was the way he kissed her; shy and timid yet with growing confidence as the evening passed and it became obvious that Hermione was enjoying her time with him. The movie they watched was amusing; it didn't exactly have much substance but then, romantic comedies weren't exactly designed for intellectual content. Mike didn't even complain about going to see what most muggle boys would definitely have termed a "chick flick," and when she dropped him off for the night he kissed her in a way that made her go all shivery and her toes curl.

"I'll see you tomorrow?" he asked, as he drew back.

"Mm," Hermione said, her lips still tingling pleasantly. "Do you want me to teach you to ride this thing after we all meet up in the park tomorrow?"

"That'd be great. Thanks, again."

"No problem." Hermione leaned up to kiss him once more, and grinned into the kiss, which sort of spoiled it, but it didn't really matter.

"Thank you," she said. "I really enjoyed this."

"I'm glad. Me too. See you tomorrow, then?"

"Yeah." With one last kiss she put her helmet back on and drove back home.

Hermione's good mood evaporated as she walked in the door and remembered that she had to tell Snape about her new job. This could go very badly, she thought morosely, and then, no, this will go very badly. But I'm not backing down.

The light was on in the living room, so she went in there to see Snape lounging sideways in an armchair, feet over the arm, reading a book. He looked up as she came in and nodded to her.

"Pleasant evening, Hermione?" he enquired. She felt a little jolt at his use of her first name. He had remembered!

"Very, thank you. We won the debate," she said as she crossed the room and sat on the edge of the sofa, crossing her hands in her lap.

"How nice for you," he said, picking up the book again.

"Um…" she said, not quite sure what to begin. Snape looked at her over his book, sighed, and returned it to the coffee table.

"What is it you wish to say?" he asked, with all outward appearance of calm and composure.

"Um… I'm meeting my friends tomorrow," she said, suddenly losing her nerve. "At about twelve. And then Mike was going to come back here so I could teach him to ride the bike, if that's okay."

Snape sighed. "I suppose he must?" he asked wearily.

"Well, I want him to," Hermione said defensively. She felt like she was asking her father for permission, and it was irritating her. "Anyway, I've already invited him, so I can't really cancel now. I was more telling you than asking you."

"How very considerate of you," Snape spat.

"Sorry," she said, not feeling particularly sorry at all. "Anyway, we're still going to London on Sunday, right? We're staying the night, too?"

"Yes," he said, "unless you've made other plans for then, too?"

"No," she said, "only I'm meeting up with… um, Melissa in town on Monday afternoon. At half three."

"Becoming quite the social butterfly, aren't you?" he asked, but not nastily.

"Yeah, I guess," Hermione said, smiling weakly and feeling guilty. She really didn't want to tell him about the job, though. Maybe he wouldn't need to find out. "Anyway, if that's all okay with you I might go to bed now."

"I shall do the same, then. After you, Hermione," he said, indicating that she precede him through the door. He followed her up the stairs, and when she bid him goodnight from her doorway, he turned and said goodnight to her, too. He looked at her for just a moment before going into his room, and the look made her stomach flutter in the way it had been fluttering earlier, when Mike had kissed her goodnight. Residual nerves, she told herself as she got ready for bed. That's all it was. She went to sleep, thinking of dark eyes.