AN - I am terribly sorry about the delay. Not had the best time IRL + no motivation to write has lead to more time between updates than usual. I hope you won't mind if I'm not militant about the "every weekend update" for a month while things settle down (if they ever do!) . I also struggled with releasing this because I want this story to be good, not just present, and I can't tell if it's good because it's mine...
The students kept Severus plenty busy, forcing him to give up long chunks of Eri time to stalk the hallways, ousting reunited lovers from crannies and corners up and down Hogwarts. He shuddered to think if these little crooks were ever even cleaned - judging by the dust on one particular couple he could guess not. Were the little blighters so wrapped up in each other that they didn't even think of germs before they embraced?
And honestly - most of them were same-house couples. Couldn't they just… find a sofa in the Common Room, instead of subjecting his eyes to their flailing limbs and blushing faces.
The lack of sleep, naturally, lead to a nasty tension headache that had followed him around in the bunched muscles of his neck since his disastrous breakfast on Monday, Hermione's glacial gaze haunting him every time he relaxed an inch. Even sleeping appeared dangerous - he dreamt of Eri, but she always morphed slowly into Hermione, her eyes slitting as she stirred and awoke, unable to tear his eyes away as she realised exactly who she was sharing that library with.
He woke up on Wednesday morning in a cold sweat, his hands already reaching for his cloak, desperate to get to Eri and make sure everything was still alright between them.
Which was ridiculous. His fingers stilled, curled around a button. Eri wasn't real - she was a facade, an illusion created by a mirror based on his very real loneliness. She wouldn't just turn her back on him, misunderstand wilfully like a certain Gryffindor cretin he knew.
With a long, drawn-out sigh, his fingers started moving again. Severus Snape had never had any luck with clever Gryffindors, not as a boy and certainly not as a man. He admired them, on the whole - Minerva, Hermione, Lily - admired their talent and power. He was drawn to intelligence and wit, and that shining need to take care of and look past flaws. Perhaps it was because he thought they might eventually be persuaded to ignore his own past, his own flaws.
Severus scoffed and shook his head, long strands of black hair falling forward to hide his face as he did so. He had better things to worry about - like the latest suicidal student, Henry McDuffin, who had tried to mix horse blood with a Burn Salve and ended up near blowing his own fingers off - succeeding in removing his Ravenclaw partner's eyebrows in the process.
If he hadn't known Eri was back in the castle waiting for him, he wasn't sure he would have come back.
No, that was nonsense. He'd come back because, living in that shithole, he'd started to go slowly mad. Severus was a man who needed a purpose, who defined himself by it, and without Harry Potter to keep alive and breathing, hated by all those who'd looked up to him and despised by everyone else, he'd… he'd suffered.
"Clearly," he snarled at his reflection as he squeezed toothpaste out onto his threadbare toothbrush, "you had gone mad - or did you really think spending your days dodging McDuffin's experiments was going to help you live a long and uneventful life?"
Running his wand over his face to remove the stubble - he never did get the hang of the Muggle razor, and he didn't have time for it anyway. Who cared if it irritated the skin less or felt better? Who was going to touch him?
Mired in his thoughts Severus stalked out of his room and up to the Great Hall.
"Oh, there you are! Severus!" McGonagall's voice startled the one or two early rising students, who blinked around to stare at Severus like cows chewing the cud. Next to the sparkling, very awake Minerva was… a bushy haired, innocently beaming Hermione.
Severus paused mid-step, his foot hovering over the floor, as though he thought he still had time to wish her away, or Apparate, or something. Anything.
"Minera. Miss Granger." He nodded, whirled on one foot, and marched rapidly back down towards the dungeons. There was nothing he wanted to do less than spend time embarrassing himself in front of Hermione… again.
"Severus-" He could hear heels trotting after him, clicking against the stone tiles purposefully. For a few paces he continued on, fuelled by his own fear, and then realised how utterly foolish he looked and obligingly came to a halt.
Hermione barrelled into the back of his cloak, and nearly brought them both down.
"Dammit, really?" She pushed away from him, smoothing down the front of her cloak, and Severus' heart plummeted. If she was going to blame him- "Are you alright, Severus?"
"It's Professor Snape," he added, relishing in being childish for once. In denying her something just to prove he still had the backbone.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I thought I was a grown woman. Am I taking remedial Potions?" The arch of her eyebrow, the tapping of her hand against her thigh - Severus could do nothing more than melt.
"I'm fine, Hermione."
"There, see. Perfect. Let's go grab breakfast - I have to get to work but Minerva said she might finally have an idea." Almost before she'd finished the thought, Hermione was gone, clipping back down the hall. Severus allowed himself a brief moment to admire her - even with the robe distorting her figure she was a marvellous thing to behold, like a spotlight made flesh, all focus and drive.
"So, why did you want me here?" Severus asked, spreading margarine on his toast and refusing to glance at Hermione, to his left. It meant he could only look at Minerva - to his right - or the students dead ahead, but it would save them both from being the targets of gossip. He did not want any of the miscreants that roamed the school getting even an inclining of his obsession with Eri.
"You have a good eye for detail. If this idea spins into a plan… lets just say I want you on side, looking out for anything that could come back to bite us. And besides, you're a wizard at Potions."
Severus ducked his head to hide the crease of pink spreading across his cheeks, and focused his mind on the toast. The crunch as he bit into it, the taste, the roughness against his tongue…. It wasn't enough to keep his mind from dwelling on the compliment. A good eye for detail.
"And why am I here?" Professor Septima Vector leaned around Hermione to grab for the metal teapot full of bitter hot chocolate. She'd been half-hidden by Hermione's mess of curls, and since Severus was denying himself the pleasure of glancing in that direction, Vector had gone completely unnoticed.
"Well if you let me begin explaining my plan-" Minerva complained, only to be interrupted by Vector.
"Also, you know, I've never noticed this before, but isn't the staff table an odd… formation? I suppose it does focus our attention on the students, but it makes it almost impossible for, say, the four of us to actually have a conversation. After all, if I can't see you, how do I know when you're about to start talking? I'll come up with some designs, if you like, that'll allow us to still keep an eye on the students but also-"
"Enough!" Minerva's voice had tipped into shrill with her frustrated amusement and Severus winced, covering up the ear in her direction gingerly. "Now, how about you let me speak? All of you!"
Severus saw Peeves in the corner of his eye preparing some mischief for Hermione, but before he had chance to open his mouth and warn any of the group, Minerva's wand shot out and sent the poltergeist corkscrewing away.
"Honestly, why don't you just get rid-" Hermione seemed to realise she was talking only after her mouth started moving, her eyes bulging from her face as she snapped her jaw shut. Severus realised, bashfully and too late, that he'd been staring, and turned resolutely towards the food once more.
"Here," Minerva said, her hands trembling as she dropped jam into her porridge. "I wondered if we might have a demonstration of a few of the potential first year curriculum."
"My subject is hardly simple-" Vector began. Minerva held up her hand, and flashed warning eyes across the group towards her. Severus bit his lip so that he wouldn't join in - after all, it wasn't like Potions was a walk in the park either.
"One of those subjects will be Potions. I will set together a Transfiguration demonstration. I can probably do a simple Charms one too - it'll only be the first lesson, so it won't take up too much of my time."
"I can do that, if you'd rather." Hermione butted in. Severus smirked, amazed that he'd been perfectly correct that Hermione wouldn't be able to keep silent for long.
"No, because you'll be making sure that there are plenty of higher ups from your department there to witness the demonstration. And no children! That part is very important. If there are children present, the plan won't work. Too disruptive. It needs to be only the higher ups and the presenter, gives your boss a reason to steal the reigns."
"But…" Hermione chewed her lip. "Why would we want to give Martin more glory? I don't understand…"
"Well, that's where Severus and Vector come in!" Minerva smiled benevolently down at the students before them, her voice laced in acid as she continued to speak. "We'll finally teach that overstuffed buffoon what's good for him."
