Chapter 2

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Several minutes later, Severus was sitting in the kitchen, still recovering from this latest blow. He wondered sadly why Dumbledore seemed so determined to make his life utterly miserable. What had he done to deserve this? Recently, anyway? Perhaps he could skip the whole process by throwing himself off of that convenient cliff face he'd seen on the way up. He gazed out the window speculatively. But no, knowing his luck he'd just end up back at Hogwarts, doomed to be a shadowy spectre haunting the corridors for the rest of time. Snape shuddered.

Before he could think up either an escape or suitable revenge, Hermione entered the room. "Sorry about that, Professor." She walked over to the sink and began washing her hands. "I had been working on an experiment when you arrived and needed to put a stasis charm on it."

"So I take it you are an accomplice in this latest plot of Dumbledore's, Miss Granger?" Snape levelled his best Intimidating Glare at her. She laughed. Hm. Perhaps the chit had picked up a backbone somewhere in the two years since her graduation.

"Not quite so sinisterly as all that. Dumbledore did owl me last week to ask if I had room for a temporary visitor. And as I have this entire place practically to myself" - she indicated the villa around them with a sweeping gesture - "I figured there was no harm in having a little more company."

"I'm surprised you didn't start blasting hexes as soon as you opened the door and saw me, then," he grumbled. He did manage to keep from voicing the opinion that it might be preferable to spending an extended amount of time here.

"Well, I have to admit that I had an inkling it would be you. Tea?" He grunted his assent. "Dumbledore didn't specify of whom he was speaking, but if anyone ever needed a vacation, Professor, it's you."

"In the interest of preserving a reasonably peaceful domestic environment, Miss Granger, I will endeavor to forget that impudent remark." She attempted to assume a contrite expression and placed two teacups on the table. Snape eyed them with mild surprise. "Will Mr. Weasley not be joining us for tea?"

"Ron? No, why would he?" Hermione seemed confused.

"He is not staying here with you? I had assumed... but... oh, dear God." All the color drained from Snape's face. "Don't tell me... not Potter?" Visions of paparazzi flooding the gardens outside filled Snape's head. He could see the headlines now... 'Hogwarts Professor caught in Spanish love nest with Boy Who Lived and top graduate! Inquiry into scholastic immorality imminent!' He stood up quickly. "Thank you for your hospitality, Miss Granger, but I find I have a pressing engagement to curse the bloody hell out of a doddering old wizard. Perhaps some other time." He prepared to sweep out of the room in top vampire-bat form.

"Professor, please sit down." She took a seat herself at the table. "Harry isn't here either. He and Ron have visited me for a few days in the past, but I have no one else staying with me at the moment. Nor do I plan to."

Snape sat down again somewhat uneasily. He had assumed Hermione to be romantically involved with one of the two; most of the Professors at Hogwarts had. Minerva and Poppy were not infrequently seen together, sighing over the prospect of a curly-haired little Potter (or Weasley, for that matter) being sorted in fifteen years or so. Snape found himself slightly ill at the prospect. Snapping back to attention, he noticed Hermione looking at him with an odd expression. He asked, "Then might I inquire to whom you referred earlier when you said you had the house 'practically' to yourself?"

Hermione smiled. "My cat, of course. Crookshanks!" she called through the doorway into the next room. "He's the only man in my life at the moment," she said fondly. An ancient, fat orange tomcat waddled slowly into the room. Hermione crouched and ruffled the fur behind its ear, cooing unintelligible nonsense syllables at it. It - or he, Snape conceded grudgingly - rubbed his head into Hermione's hand and purred blissfully. "Crookshanks," she addressed the cat quietly, "meet Professor Snape. He's going to be staying with us for a few days."

Crookshanks shuffled over to the chair where Snape was sitting. Standing toe-to-toe, the Kneazle gazed up at the man who was sneering down at him, sizing him up. A weaker man might have shrunk back beneath that orange glare, but Snape was particularly accustomed to appraising staredowns. Finally, Crookshanks, it seemed, had composed his opinion. The cat sat back on his haunches, quite deliberately flicked his tail twice, and sprang onto the very surprised Potion Master's lap. Snape was too shocked to move as Crookshanks turned around twice, kneaded the robes beneath him with his paws, and settled down, letting out a tiny, ridiculous 'mew'.

Snape sputtered. "Miss Granger, I really must protest..." Hermione was already scooping the cat up off his lap, trying rather unsuccessfully to hide her laughter.

"Sorry, Professor... I've never seen him warm up to anyone so quickly before... seems he's taken quite a shine to you." She dropped Crookshanks in the other room and shut the door.

"I can't imagine why," Snape said while picking strands of coarse yellow hair off his robes. "Animals have never been fond of me - a fact, I assure you, I have rarely regretted."

"Crookshanks isn't what you'd call a normal cat, Professor. He sees things a lot of people don't." She poured tea in Snape's cup and glanced up at him through the fragrant, rising steam. "Seems like he's found something in you he likes."

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Fifteen minutes, one cup of tea, and (in Snape's opinion) far too much small talk later, Snape had learned that Hermione's parents had moved to America and were doing quite well, thank you; that Harry was now living with Remus Lupin and quite enjoying a life out from under the threatening shadow of Voldemort; that Ron was attending a wizarding university on a Quidditch scholarship and dating a different girl every weekend (Hermione related this bit of information with a fond roll of the eyes, which seemed to confirm Snape's opinion that she did not regret their lack of romantic involvement), and that Hermione herself was studying Potions and Arithmancy at Cambridge, and undertook an independent study project over the summer, which brought her to Spain. Snape, for his part, reluctantly contributed that his life was going "as well as can be expected." Curiously, his coworkers were also "as well as can be expected", as were the new students at Hogwarts and his academic pursuits outside of the school. In fact, it seemed the only thing that was not as well as could be expected was Professor Dumbledore himself, who when Hermione brought him up, was met with a hard stare and stony silence. She'd changed the subject quickly.

When the tea has been finished and the cups washed and put away, they stood in a rather awkward silence. Finally Hermione spoke. "Would you like to see the work I've been doing here?"

Snape realized with no small amount of surprise that he actually would. "I must confess to curiosity about what sort of research necessitates moving halfway across a continent to accomplish."

Hermione perked up, as if she'd been expecting him to refuse. "Come on, then - it's this way."

To his surprise, she led him back the same way he'd come - through the front door. "Your labs are outside, Miss Granger?"

"No, of course not - and please call me Hermione. 'Miss Granger' makes me feel too much like a schoolgirl again. By the way, you'll want to leave your robes here - it's quite warm out tonight." As she turned away to lead him further down the path Snape noticed again the silhouette he'd seen through the window. 'No, Hermione,' he thought as he shed his heavy school robes, revealing well-tailored trousers and a black buttondown shirt. 'A schoolgirl you most definitely are not.'

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A/N: One more chapter tonight, just to introduce the SS/HG interaction. Another will follow in a few days. Please review! I'm trying to get steam up to continue a WIP I began far too long ago, and reviews definitely help.