Disclaimer: The characters, settings, etc. of the Harry Potter series are not mine. I just play with them.
"Idiot," Snape muttered as he walked out into the night. "Stupid git." He walked hurriedly away from the storefront. The small muggle community was very quiet even though it was still rather early on in the evening.
"You're such a twit," Severus sighed softly as he stopped a few streets down from Hermione's store. He turned and looked into a darkened store window. His reflection confirmed his suspicions. He looked like a complete idiot with the cap pulled down so that it hid half of his face. He noticed that the jumper he wore wasn't exactly flattering as it was about two sizes too big. His slacks fit him well, but he doubted Hermione Granger was the type of person to worry much about a man's pants.
Sighing once more, Severus turned away from the window. He walked a few steps to the alleyway next to the shop and looked around. There was no one to be seen, save a small cat slinking along the wall. Severus focused his attentions on the grounds outside of Hogwarts and disappeared into the night.
After he apparated to his destination, Severus walked the short distance to the castle gates. Once inside, he headed directly to his chambers, not bothering to let the headmaster know he had arrived back to the school safely.
As he trekked through the school, Severus's thoughts were occupied by one person. Granger had again looked beautiful this evening, so beautiful that he had unable to keep his damn mouth shut about it. He could not bear to imagine how ridiculous he must have looked standing there in his damned cap, complimenting her appearance. He'd probably frightened her, he was sure of it. He looked like some kind of psychotic with that cap and his sweater that didn't fit. She probably thought he was stalking her. He supposed that the next time he showed up she'd have the muggle authorities casing the place. He could see them, ready to pounce when he asked her out to supper.
He came to his door and opened it quickly, muttering his password quietly. He passed through his study and went straight into his bedroom. Suddenly exhausted, Severus tore off the baseball cap and sweater, tossing them onto the chair beside his bed. He set the book on his night table and peeled off the nicely-fitting slacks, placing them on top of the pile on the chair. Kicking off his shoes, he climbed into bed.
After a few moments of staring at his ceiling, Severus realized that he was not going to fall asleep any time soon. He sighed and reached for the book. He could not believe he was going to read a basic level Divination text book, but he opened it to the first chapter anyway.
On the page before him he saw millions of markings in blue ink. Phrases were underlined and words were circled. He saw notes written in even lines in the margins. They were made in a remarkably neat penmanship he recognized from essays he had graded years before.
Suddenly he was poring over her notes, eager to see what Hermione had written in this book. He was amazed by some of the assertions she made. She seemed to list thousands of resources to back her arguments. He was surprised and amused by some of the more scathing comments she had scribbled in the margins. The doodles were by far the most entertaining feature of the book, though. She often took it upon herself to illustrate the text. Some of the drawings were quite rational: flow charts of processes and tables of information. Most, however, were purely amusing, like the exaggerated drawing of a woman, who bore strong resemblance to Trelawney, looking into tea cups and musing "Who knew a common beverage contained all of the answers to life's mysteries?"
Snape sneered at the pages. So her humor needed a bit of work? It didn't bother him much. In fact, he imagined it had improved a good bit since her fourth year. He could remember hearing some of the sarcastic comments she had muttered in her seventh year, and though he would never have revealed it in his expression, some of it was quite clever.
Snape felt his muscles relax as he continued to think about her. He pictured her clearly, sitting at the counter in her shop. He loved the way her hair fell about her shoulders in the soft ringlets she had managed to tame her formerly wild mane into. He loved how bright her eyes were when she discussed the book with him as though she was simply ecstatic to be imparting information about magic to him.
Snape sighed and turned over in bed. Closing his eyes and continuing to think about her, he found that sleep came to him quickly.