Hermione was frowning down at the parchment in her hands.
Severus, as self-conscious as ever, had to curl his hands around fistfuls of his cloak. Obviously, he did this from the inside, and at the back, so that nobody - Hermione, Minerva, Vector or any ghosts that might choose to pop in - could tell that he was anxious. This had the added benefit of drying palms that were far too sweaty.
Without taking her brown, exquisite eyes away from the paper, Hermione separated out a curl and began to chew on it.
Chew. On her hair. Severus found this utterly distracting, and the tension in his chest eased. His next breath swished in with velvet smoothness, rather than being dragged whistling through his teeth, as he considered her. Hermione had many places where she shined far more brightly than Eri - bad habits were clearly not one of them. Did she cough up hairballs like that abomination she called a cat? Did she have to pick them out of her teeth?
Severus tried heartily to summon the disgust he'd feel if one of his students - cretins, all - were to do the same and he found himself empty of any such emotion. Hermione just looked cute, and confused - the ball of tension and butterflies began to unfurl once again in Severus' stomach. He rethought the shot of whiskey he'd had while researching the newly minted potion.
He still could hardly believe the addition of a muggle lime - with no magical properties whatsoever - could have such an effect on a Burn Salve.
"But…" Hermione hesitated, finally glancing away from the Burn Salve recipe to frown up at Severus. Minerva plucked the parchment out of her hand and, Vector hovering at one shoulder, began to read it for herself. "Why on earth would you want to add a lime to a Burn Salve?"
Severus smirked. "When you add too much of it - the juice, the rind seems to have no effect - it will turn into something far more… revealing."
"Sure…" Hermione tapped her fingers against her chin, the frown still marring the skin above her brows in familiar groove lines. "But... the recipe for Burn Salve doesn't have any sort of citrus in it."
"Can you expect your pig of a boss to know that?" Minerva asked, looking up. "If Severus says that adding half a lime will do something embarrassing to him, and only a squeeze of lime juice will remain inert, shouldn't that be enough?"
"Won't he suspect?"
"Hermione," Vector smiled gently, as though to ease the words that followed. "You are very, very smart, and have probably memorised hundreds of Potions recipes. How many other people in your year do you think have done that?"
Hermione looked up, her eyes brimming with indecision. Severus frowned. He opened his mouth to step in when Hermione sucked in her lower lip and began biting it, a sliver of her tooth shining against her lips. The sight nearly brought him to his knees - in his struggle to remain upright and appear unmoved, he completely forgot what it was he'd been going to say.
"But this is the Department of Education," Hermione argued. "That's-"
"Sweetie, even I don't know the Burn Salve recipe off by heart. And I covered for Severus sometimes. So please, don't stress over that."
Hermione took a deep breath as though to argue, and then relaxed. The captive lip slipped free, and Severus' thoughts were his own once more.
"So you'll be able to somehow triple the ingredient depending on the name?" Minerva asked, passing the recipe back to Hermione but addressing Vector.
"As I said before… this isn't really what Arithmancy is about. We predict the future - we don't play number games on paper."
"But you can do it?"
"… Yes. One of my University friends invented a charm that changed the start time for a party invitation depending on how late she thought you'd be. It was very good - I think we all arrived within three minutes of one another. I asked her for it, and I'll start tweaking it now. Worst case, I'll have to be round the corner with his name and Hermione's clutched in my hands."
Minerva ran her hands through her hair and smiled, sighing with relief. He'd never seen her look so relaxed, but he supposed running a school left one wound tighter than a coil of wire.
"Then we're on track. Soon Hermione's boss will be leaving the Small Schools Initiative alone for Hermione to run for whomsoever she pleases."
Severus found himself sharing a triumphant smile with Hermione herself as she carried the cauldron to the table, ready for the demonstration. Severus was sure the resident Know-It-All could craft the Potion, Charm and Transfiguration simultaneously, in her sleep, but she'd wanted to practice in front of them all just in case.
"While we're on the subject…" Vector said, clutching her own lesson plan against her chest. It crinkled pleasingly. "I had a thought. I know you won't let favouritism spoil your choice, Hermione, as the teacher of the first cohort has to be smashingly smart for the initiative to succeed, but… I'd like to put my sister forward."
"Your sister?" Hermione asked, pushing up her shirt sleeves and staring at Vector.
"Yes, my older sister. Florence."
"I remember her," Minerva said, smiling. "Nice girl, very studious."
Vector swallowed, and Severus wracked his brain. Had he known Vector had an older sister? He was fairly sure she'd been the first of her family to attend Hogwarts - he remembered vaguely some dreary small-talk around the same topic.
"She… she caught Polio when she was around 7 years old."
"Polio?" Hermione said, her voice cracking with surprise. Severus realised he'd involuntarily echoed her question - Minerva was simply staring at her, hands pressed so hard against her mouth that her fingers had turned white.
"Quite." Vector crumpled the paper even more tightly against her chest and took another deep breath. She blinked several times before she continued. "We'd been begging our parents to let us go to Disney Land in Paris, and … well, I suppose… anyway, she caught it there. It nearly completely paralysed her, and her lungs.. she had to have help breathing for a long time."
"But Septima, couldn't Mungo's-?" Minerva burst out, the words squeezing between her fingers. "I knew she had trouble walking, but…"
"We're Muggle-born, Minerva. They have rules."
"Stupid rules."
Vector smiled, and tears shimmered in her eyes. Suddenly Severus found himself crossing the room to her and placing a hand on her shoulder. "Go on," he muttered, his voice scraping across a throat he suddenly found was dry.
Taking whatever comfort she could from his hand, Vector stared at the floor.
"Anyway, it took a few years before Mungo's could eventually get her back on her- well, back on her feet. Literally, I suppose. They couldn't fix everything. She walks with the help of a metal frame, but at least she can breathe. Look, this wasn't the reason I brought her up. I think she'd be an excellent teacher. She lives in a village in Kent, rather small, but with several Magical families surrounding it. There's a few witches and wizards who set up a sort of commune there in the seventies, for mixed families. I think that would be the perfect place to start, since I know at least two of the children there have problems - Arthus was born without legs, and Daisy looks after her grandmother almost full-time."
"And Florence?" Hermione asked, her voice so choked with emotion Severus wondered if she didn't need a hand on the shoulder.
Minerva smiled. "From what I remember, Florence was an incredible student. Despite her difficulties walking, she had such an amazing heart, and really helped people feel at home here. She was a prefect, wasn't she?"
"Yes," Vector smiled, and reached up to squeeze Severus' hand. "Thank you," she mouthed silently.
Severus nodded, taking his dismissal in good faith, and turned to watch Hermione.
"I'll certainly meet her," Hermione said, her gaze locked with Septima's. "I'd love to. Could you arrange it?"
"Of course."
"Excellent. Now, let's make sure there is a course she can teach!"
The three audience members fell silent, Minerva's arm wrapped around Septima's shoulders, brushing against Severus' own as they watched. Severus shifted away slightly, but before he finished the movement, he felt Septima's arm slip into his own.
Severus didn't bother trying to suppress the small smile that grew, since nobody could see him anyway. It had been a long time since he'd felt as though he had a friend, and here he was surrounded by three amazing women.
This might all end in a week, when Hermione finished off her presentation and no longer needed Severus, but until then he would try to enjoy it.
AN: I hope you're continuing to enjoy the story! I can't tell you how much your reviews and comments mean to me! They fill me with this balloon of happiness that settles in my chest.
