The following Saturday afternoon found Severus Snape and Remus Lupin sitting in the same chairs they had occupied the previous Sunday evening.
Lupin had been surprised how much encouragement Snape had needed to believe that a manipulated situation could produce the desired results. Snape had vast belief in the malleable properties of physical ingredients, but no true grasp of setting up a tableau of individuals. Lupin had a strong background of seeing people arranged into situations which nearly always produced a predictable outcome. It was he who suggested how to introduce the players to the game board and it was his convictions in unwritten rules Snape was ignorant of, which finally persuaded the other man to acquiesce.
Lupin had owled Harry and told him that on this, the next Hogsmeade weekend, he could be found at The Three Broomsticks if Potter and company were inclined to stop in and say hello. Snape had been left to owl Tziganne and invite her to join him at the pub.
Now the two men had procured the table, ordered the drinks and were waiting. Snape shook his head at Lupin, "This feels very sketchy."
"I can tell you feel that way, Severus. But really there's no need. What's to lose? Either it works or it doesn't. Nothing life or death here."
"It doesn't feel safe to me to have so much of my private life on display."
At this Lupin nodded.
"So, I've decided to share the stage with you, Remus."
"Come again?" the wolf felt his breath hitch.
"I asked Tziganne to bring along a friend. To meet you."
"You what???" Remus felt his heart trip hammer inside of his chest. He hadn't planned on meeting a woman today. He couldn't help but look down at his rumpled chinos and almost clean white t-shirt. He ran a quick hand through his choppy, long blonde hair, trying to remember when he'd actually last showered. He was sporting a soul patch which he suddenly felt was a ridiculous affectation. He wondered if he could escape to the loo and charm a quick shampoo and shave.
"Ah, gods, Potter is here first," Snape hissed this and Lupin looked over at the entrance. Harry and Hermione stood just inside the door, waiting for their eyes to adjust to the dark interior of the pub.
"It's fine, Severus, it's fine." Lupin frowned at Snape and waved back as they spotted him. The two young people began winding their way through the crowded tables towards the men. Lupin turned back to Snape "What isn't fine is you playing matchmaker without asking me first." Snape scowled at him.
"Hello Remus," Harry and Hermione said in unison. Hermione shot a shy glance over at Snape, who had risen politely upon their approach and was now resettling himself in his chair.
"Hello Professor Snape," she murmured and Lupin watched in astonishment as her face softened and her eyes sparkled at the sight of the man. Snape nodded at her and then at Harry who answered with his own nod.
"Sit down, then, both of you," Lupin pulled out a chair for Hermione. She thanked him but kept her eyes on Snape, who was now intently staring at the backs of his hands as he flexed his fingers. Harry immediately launched into a report of last week's Quidditch match and Lupin tried to juggle his attention between Harry's story and observing Hermione's obvious focus on Snape.
If Lupin didn't know the seriousness of Snape's feelings about Hermione's interest, he would have been deeply amused. There was no question that Snape's intuition was correct. The young woman's gaze was fixed on the man's bent head, her face flushed, two spots of color high on her cheeks. She kept winding a thick lock of her brown hair around her finger. In a sudden flash of guilt, Lupin ached for what Hermione was about to experience. But there really was no choice, he knew, and the road to maturity could be filled with far worse lessons.
Harry was huddling closer and closer to the wolf, even scraping the chair legs on the flag stoned floor as he rearranged himself. Lupin realized that the young man desperately needed his full attention. He placed his hand on Potter's shoulder and looked into his face, "And then you caught the snitch?" Harry relaxed visibly, smiled, shook his head and continued with a less frantic report.
Two butterbeers were set down on the table and Harry absently corralled his. Hermione reached out for hers and brought it to her lips, still watching Snape. She pulled at the thick drink and closing her eyes swallowed several times, leaving the mug half full.
"Do you often come here, Professor?" Hermione asked quietly. The silence between the two stretched out awkwardly and Lupin wanted to kick the man under the table. Finally Snape lifted his head and settled a sharp look on the girl beside him.
"The term 'often' is rather a bit broad, Miss Granger. I do patronize this establishment. And have been doing so since before you were born."
She blushed all the way to her ears. Lupin winced but kept listening to Harry's play-by-play description of the match. Snape began to slowly drum the fingers of one hand upon the table top; Lupin knew he was getting restless.
Hermione pressed on, "You came here for Hogsmeade weekends when you were in school?"
Snape's lips were a thinly drawn line across his angular face. He caught Lupin's eye and the other man shot him a look of helplessness. Snape fixed another hard look on the girl, "Indeed, Miss Granger, as students we spent probably more hours here in a month's time than you and your classmates will do in a year. I believe that Hogwarts boasted a rather raucous crowd then."
Lupin laughed and Harry quietly turned his attention to Snape and Hermione. Lupin joined in, "Perhaps everyone looks back on their misspent youth with an exaggerated eye, but those were wild, wild times."
"Indeed," Snape admitted.
"I suppose you wouldn't tell us a few choice stories from those years?" Hermione asked this boldly, looking between the two men.
"Supposition correct," Snape snapped.
"Well," Lupin began, ignoring Snape's heated look, encouraged by the way Hermione and Harry leaned into the table, "there was this one time Rosmerta was laid up with the rather nasty effects of a Chinese box hex, Padfoot and Prongs convinced her she'd go broke if she didn't let them open the pub for her that weekend…"
A loud hooting and hollering rose from the back room of the pub. Male voices could be clearly heard welcoming someone who had just apparated. Clapping soon followed and as the sound died down a bit, Snape turned to Lupin, "I do believe our dates have arrived."
Harry caught Hermione's shocked look. He mouthed the word "Dates?" to her and she could only look positively stricken and barely manage a small shrug.