A/N: A thousand apologies for taking so long to update.  Forgive me?  *puts on innocent puppy dog face*  I'm at college now and I don't know how often I'll be able to update, but I'll do my best to balance everything.  (Had a heck of an adventure getting here, but that's another story.  ^_^)  Anyway, enjoy the chapter that took me so long to write, and I'll try to get the next one out faster.  (I know, I say that all the time… bah, it'll go up whenver it gets done.)

            Two weeks later, at the start of December, the entire cast was off-book, work on costumes had started, set construction began, and everyone was counting off the days until New Year's Eve.  The morning of December third, exactly four weeks from the performance, a groggy Hermione awoke to find an owl scratching at the window by her bed.  Upon letting it in, she saw that it was carrying a letter from the Ministry of Magic.  Hermione suddenly became fully alert, and tore the letter open.  She had been expecting this.

            Hermione knew she had to show the letter to Snape.  She read it twice, then tried to remember what day it was.  Wednesday.  She frowned.  She didn't have Potions on Wednesday, and this couldn't wait until rehearsal that night.  The sooner she told him, the better.  She saw only one option: find him now.

            She dressed quickly, then left the Gryffindor tower and began walking through the school, wondering where she should check first.  It was too early for him to be in his classroom, so she decided to look there only if she couldn't find him anywhere else.  She contemplated going over to his chambers, but realized that it probably wouldn't be a good thing if anyone saw her there.  Finally, she concluded that the safest option would be to wander the school in hopes that she would cross paths with either Snape or a teacher that could take her to him.

            She didn't have to wander for long.  Two hallways down from the Gryffindor tower, she spotted Minerva McGonagall walking toward the Transfiguration department.  "Professor McGonagall!" Hermione called, and started jogging to catch up to her teacher.  "May I have a moment?"

            Minerva stopped walking and looked back at her student.  "You may, Miss Granger," she answered.

            "Do you know where Professor Snape is?"

            "May I ask why?"

            Hermione showed Minerva the letter from the Ministry of Magic.  "I need to speak to him regarding this.  It's important that I find him as soon as possible."

            Minerva nodded.  "I see.  Well, as you know, teachers' chambers are off-limits to students, but he's probably already awake and lurking around the school, so that wouldn't help you anyway."  She pulled out her wand and conjured a quill and piece of parchment out of the air.  "You have my permission to check the staff room."

She scribbled something onto the parchment with the quill, then handed it to Hermione.  "Permission in writing, in case there is a problem," she said.  "The password is 'solar tadpoles'.  If he's not there, I would suggest his classroom."

            Hermione smiled at her.  "Thank you," she said, and began walking toward the staff room.

As Minerva watched Hermione go, the thought that should have guessed that it had something to do with Snape crossed her mind.  Dumbledore had been right about her reaction – he'd told her a week ago about the relationship forming between Hermione and Snape, and she hadn't taken it nearly as "well" as he had.  The thing that bothered her most was that she knew she had no right to be upset.  Her situation had been nearly identical; the biggest difference being that she and Dumbledore were never caught.

The thing that surprised Minerva the most when she learned about Hermione and Snape was that she was surprised at all.  She'd wondered if it might happen since she had been in a similar state, but never seriously thought it would, mostly because of the history between the couple in question.  Up until they started working on Macbeth, they hadn't even liked each other.  One would think that after committing the ultimate breach of student-teacher protocol herself, she would be able to see when it was going to happen again. 

By contrast, Indira Nay only needed about ten seconds to figure out what was going to happen, and that was weeks before the kiss took place.  Indira, though, seemed to have a knack for that, as Minerva had discovered years ago.  She found herself smiling at the memories.  Indira long suspected a relationship between Minerva and Dumbledore, but she could never prove anything, and it drove her crazy.  She was one of two people who were not surprised when Minerva and Dumbledore announced their engagement; the other being Armando Dippet, who had been told by Dumbledore some three weeks earlier.  Indira had, however, come close to catching them, and although their long list of narrow escapes hadn't been too funny then, it certainly was now.

Minerva spent a few more moments in thought, then resumed her journey toward the Transfiguration department.  She was certain Hermione and Snape were aware of the risk they were taking, and she could only hope that it would be worth it.

"Solar tadpoles."

The door to the staff room opened, and Hermione went inside.  She glanced around, but couldn't see Snape.  She did, however, see Flitwick, sitting on a couch and reading the Daily Prophet.  "Professor Flitwick!" she said, getting her teacher's attention.  "Have you seen Professor Snape?"

"Professor Snape?" Flitwick repeated.  "No, not this morning… and – wait a minute.  How did you get in here?"

"Professor McGonagall gave me the password so I could find Professor Snape," Hermione answered.  "If you see him before I do, could you please tell him I went down to the Potions classroom?  It's important."

"Why don't you just turn around?" came a surly voice from behind.

She did, and found herself face-to-face with none other than Snape himself.  "I need to talk to you, Professor," she said, trying to keep things formal in front of Flitwick so he wouldn't start to suspect something.  She handed him the letter.  "I just got this a few minutes ago."

"What is it?" Snape asked as he started to unfold it.

"It's from the Department of Magical Transportation," Hermione answered.  "Our request for the Portkey has been processed, and we have to go down there on the sixth to make it final."

"The sixth?" Snape repeated.  "That's Saturday, isn't it?"

"Yep."

"It'll take all day, won't it?"

"Yep."

He frowned.  "We were supposed to have a full run-through with the blocking on Saturday."

"Yep."

"And Professor Lupin and Professor McGonagall were supposed to teach Malfoy, Creevey, Crabbe, Goyle, and Boot the choreography for Banquo's death scene."

"Yep."

"This is bad."

"Yep."

"Could you say something useful, please?" he asked, trying not to smile.  Their new relationship resulted in him finding this conversation amusing, but they couldn't take the chance of Flitwick thinking they were cooperating for reasons other than the greater good.

"I'm trying, sir," Hermione replied.  She was having trouble concealing her amusement, too, even though the situation wasn't funny at all; it was, in fact, quite serious.  Saturday's rehearsal was vital, and if they couldn't be there to make sure everything ran smoothly…

Suddenly, she gasped.  "I've got it," she said.  "Ginny."

"Ginny Weasley?" said Snape.

Hermione nodded.  "Yeah.  You know, our Lady Macbeth?"

"I am aware of what part she plays." 

"She's good.  In fact, she's very good.  She could do it."

"Run an entire rehearsal?" he said skeptically.

"Everyone's doing a good job.  They could probably rehearse by themselves," said Hermione.  "She could just… you know, officiate.  Professor Lupin and Professor McGonagall will be there, so if she does have problems…"

"Well, we can't afford to lose that rehearsal, and if we can't be there, then I suppose this is the best option," said Snape.  "Can you speak to her about this?"

She nodded.  "I'll do it right now."

"Good.  See you at rehearsal tonight, then?"

She replied in the affirmative, thanked him, and left.  Snape watched her go, then went inside the staff room.

"I thought you didn't like her," Flitwick commented.

"Desperate times call for desperate measures, my friend," Snape replied.  "Thus thou must do, if thou have it; and that which rather thou dost fear to do than wishest should be undone."

Flitwick sighed.  "I think you might be spending too much time on that play, Severus."

"Ginny?"

Ginny Weasley groaned and opened a sleepy brown eye.  "Go away," she said to the girl sitting on her bed, and pulled her covers over her head.

Hermione pulled Ginny's covers down.  "Ginny?" she said pleadingly.

Ginny grunted and pulled the covers up again.

Hermione poked Ginny through her comforter.  "Giiiiiiiinnnnnnyyyy???"

"WHAT?" Ginny cried, sitting up in bed.

"Can you do me a favor?"

She groaned.  "What could possibly be so important that it would require you waking me up at…"  She grabbed Hermione's wrist and looked at her watch.  "… at six oh nine in the morning?  We need all the sleep we can get, you know!"

Hermione explained the situation with the Portkey.

"Oh," Ginny said when Hermione was done.  "That's bad.  There's a rehearsal on Saturday, isn't there?"

Hermione nodded.

"Did you come to tell me it's cancelled?" Ginny asked hopefully.

Hermione shook her head.  "Nope.  Sorry."

"Then I'm going back to sleep."  Ginny grabbed her comforter, laid down, and pulled it over her head.

"Ginny!" Hermione said.

"Mmmmpf!" was Ginny's reply.

Hermione took a deep breath, then said in a soft, calm tone of voice, "I want you to run Saturday's rehearsal."

Ginny sat up again, now fully awake.  "You what?"

"Se – Snape and I can't be here, so we wanted you to do it," Hermione said, hoping Ginny wouldn't notice her little slip.

No such luck.  Ginny arched an eyebrow suspiciously and said, "You so just almost called him Severus."

Hermione could feel her cheeks turning red.  "I did not!" she insisted.

"Oh no, you totally did."

"Okay, so maybe I did…"

"Ha!  I knew it!"

"But you know, we do have to work on the play a lot, and calling him Professor Snape wastes a lot of time after a while…"  She hoped her excuse sounded a lot better to Ginny than it did to her.

"'Mione's got a crush, 'Mione's got a crush…" Ginny sang.

"I do not!" Hermione said.  At least that was the truth.  Whatever this thing with Snape was, it was definitely a lot more than a crush.  "Look, do you want to run Saturday's rehearsal or not?  If you say no, I'll go to Malfoy, and you will definitely regret that."

Ginny laughed.  "Not as much as you would.  Sure, I'll do it."

"Thank you!" Hermione said.  She threw her arms around Ginny and hugged her tightly.

"Whoa there," Ginny said, smiling mischievously.  "Save it for Severus."

Hermione let go of Ginny and blushed an interesting shade of red.  "I'll get you the master script after Friday's rehearsal.  And the costume-makers are going to start next week.  I'll give each cast member their fitting-time at rehearsal today."

"Who's making the costumes?" Ginny asked.

"Megan Jones, Parvati Patil, Luna Lovegood, Pansy Parkinson, and myself."

"Luna Lovegood?" Ginny repeated.  "Why didn't she try out for the play?"

"She said she wasn't interested at the time," Hermione answered, "but she's more than willing to help out with the costuming.  She's shown me some sketches, and they're good."

Ginny shrugged.  "Okay, whatever.  So: tonight, rehearsal and fitting times.  Saturday, full run-through with blocking."

"Oh, and after that, Professor McGonagall and Professor Lupin are going to come by to teach Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, Boot, and Colin the choreography for Banquo's death scene.  I'll need you to hang around for that and take notes on it so Professor Snape and I can know how it went," Hermione said, putting emphasis on the words "Professor Snape" so Ginny couldn't accuse her of slipping up again.

Ginny smiled, but said nothing.

"That settles it, then," Hermione said, standing up.  "See you at rehearsal."

"… and on Saturday, Professor Snape and I have to go to London," Hermione informed the cast as she finished wrapping up her comments after the rehearsal of  the text's Acts Three and Four that night.

"Will we still have rehearsal?" asked Ernie McMillan.

Hermione nodded.  "Yes, there will be rehearsal.  Professor Lupin and Professor McGonagall will be here, but Ginny's going to be running it."

A murmur ran through the members of the cast.  Hermione caught Draco Malfoy shooting a disdainful look in Ginny's direction, and she hoped he wouldn't give her any trouble.

"Why do you have to go to London?" Millicent Bulstrode asked.

"To finalize the Portkey authorization for the show," Snape answered.  "Saturday's rehearsal is crucial.  If I receive word that any of you make things difficult for Miss Weasley…"  He made eye contact with several students, including Draco.

"And that's it," Hermione said, glancing at Snape, "unless you want to add anything, Professor Snape."

"I think you've pretty much covered it," he said.  "Dismissed."

Hermione stayed behind as usual as the students left the room, but didn't say anything to Snape until she was sure all of them were halfway back to their house common rooms.  "Does Professor McGonagall know?"

"About… us?" he asked.

She nodded.

"I don't know," Snape answered.  "I haven't asked Dumbledore yet… why do you ask?"

"Well, she was the one I saw this morning when I was looking for you, and I just started thinking… their situation was almost exactly like ours, wasn't it?"

"Not quite," Snape answered, "but very similar.  We're closer in age than they are, and they always liked each other, not necessarily in a romantic sort of way."  He felt a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.  "And they never got caught."

Hermione had to fight back a smile, too.  "They probably remembered to keep the door closed."

"Yes, and a good thing, too; remember Indira Nay?"

She crossed her eyes, wrinkled her nose, and stuck out her tongue.  "How could I forget?"

"I told you she was my Defense Against the Dark Arts instructor.  Did I ever tell you that she was also Professor McGonagall's Defense Against the Dark Arts instructor?"

"No, I don't think you ever did."

"Ah.  Well, if you think she has it in for you…"

Hermione chuckled.  She could see where this was going.  "Point taken.  Is the door shut?"

He nodded, took her into his arms, and kissed her.  "And locked."

A/N: Had to work Luna in somehow.  I like her for some reason.  That's all.  ^_^