Disclaimer: The characters, settings, etc. of the Harry Potter series are not mine. I just play with them.
Severus woke up terribly late on Sunday morning. It was the first Sunday of his summer break. Neither Miss Granger nor any of his other colleagues needed him to perform some ridiculous favor today, so he decided he would spend the day relaxing.
His first plans were to begin brewing some of the suggested experimental potions on the list a friend from University had included in his last letter. This friend had studied charms, but had always shown an interest in all that Severus found to be intriguing. Severus supposed he was one of the few people who truly cared about him.
But as Severus lay in his bed at a quarter 'til ten on this gray Sunday morning, he discovered he had no interest in moving. He was quite content to lie in bed, experimental potions be damned, and think about how he had spent his Saturday.
When they had come back to the castle, Severus was startled when he realized that he was overcome with a desire to kiss Granger. He could not believe it when he had looked down at her, the moon shining overhead and lighting her face in a particularly charming way, that he suddenly desired nothing more than to bring his face closer to hers and claim her lips with his own.
It was, firstly, wholly unprofessional. They were colleagues, for goodness' sake. He would never think of kissing Madam Hooch or McGonagall, even if they weren't three times Hermione's age and about as many times less attractive. Furthermore, she was a former student! Certainly nothing could induce him to harbor romantic feelings for a student, no matter how much she had matured.
It did not matter that when she'd looked up at him, standing there in the moonlight, her eyes were shining with an emotion he would have placed somewhere between desire and adoration. And it was of little consequence that she'd whispered his name, and when she did, he forgot where he was and who he was. It was no matter that, for that moment, Hermione was the center of his universe.
He had probably just been drunk.
Or so he hoped. If he hadn't been, then the only explanation for his emotions would have been that they were real. And that would be horrific.
Sighing, he rolled over in his bed and looked around his chamber. It was fairly large. Hermione wouldn't be put off if he had brought her back here. He knew it had a certain charm. It was full of bookshelves which, he imagined, would have certainly appealed to her. He always had a fire going. In the summer it was more for aesthetic purposes, though it did get rather drafty at night. His furniture was well made, even if there were few pieces. It was nothing to be ashamed of, anyway, and he was sure she lived in a similar situation. So, if she were ever to enter his chambers…
Severus frowned and sat up in bed. He had no idea why he was thinking about such things nor did he know at what point in time Hermione Granger became such a fixture in his thoughts.
Swinging his legs over the edge of the bed, Severus sat there for a moment and tried to clear his mind of any thoughts related to Hermione. He had almost completed this task when someone knocked on his door.
"Come in," Severus grumbled, not thinking he had been loud enough. The handle turned and the door opened, and Severus decided that he may have been louder than he thought.
"Good morning, Severus," said Dumbledore as he entered the room.
"Good morning, Headmaster," Severus replied, looking at the man who now stood just inside his doorway. He watched as the elderly man closed the door behind him and crossed the room to sit in one the chairs Severus had before the fire.
"How are you this morning?" the headmaster asked, settling back in the chair and allowing his eyes to settle on the potions master.
"I am fabulous, Headmaster," Severus sighed and sneered. "I had planned on spending a relaxing day of reading or beginning work on some experimental potions. I am going to assume, however, that your sudden appearance will set me to some mundane task that is neither of these things."
"My, my, Severus," Dumbledore began, smiling brightly at him. "You are certainly becoming very perceptive in your old age."
"It is rather rich being called old by someone four times my age," Severus replied quickly.
"Indeed," Dumbledore said, continuing to smile with a flash of amusement in his eyes. "Well, I suppose I should give your mundane task now, yes?"
"Yes," Severus nodded in agreement.
"I have noticed, Severus, that I seem to be gaining a bit of weight. I need to you to research the chemical differences between regular lemon drops and the low fat version of the candy. I would like you to see what you can find in the library about these candies and report back to me sometime soon with your findings."
Severus simply glared at the man. Dumbledore grinned back, of course, and this caused Severus to become angrier. "Of all the inane assignments in the world you had to pick the one that is the most ridiculous, the most wasteful…"
"Severus," Dumbledore interrupted, holding up his hand to silence the ranting professor. "Just go to the library and look up some information for me, please. It's all I ask. Besides," Dumbledore paused to smile devilishly at him, "there's someone there whom you may like to see."
Severus cocked an eyebrow and stared hard at the old man. He tried to read into his eyes and see if he could find some clue as to what was remaining unspoken, but it was useless. "Fine," Severus sighed. "Fine, I will look up the stupid information on your stupid lemon drops to satisfy your stupid curiosity."
"It's not merely curiosity, my dear Severus!" Dumbledore exclaimed as he stood from his chair and moved rather swiftly to the door. "It's a question of my health and well being!" he added as he disappeared through the door, slamming it behind him.
Severus groaned and laid back on his bed. Perhaps he would be able to finish the research quickly and then move on to his experimental potions. He did have to acknowledge there was some good to this endeavor, though. It could quite possibly distract him from Hermione Granger.
Severus stood before the rows of books about muggles and stared. There were three books on muggle confections and all three looked to be rather old. Severus feared a low fat candy might be a more modern creation and was not confident that he would be able to find the answers to the Headmaster's query in any of these volumes.
Nevertheless, Severus grabbed them all from the shelf and carried them over to the nearest table. He dropped them unceremoniously onto the table and fell into one of the chairs before it. With a heavy sigh, he pulled the book from the top of the pile and opened it to the index.
He had just found 'lemon candies' when the sound of a throat being cleared distracted him. He looked up and saw that he was not alone at his table. In fact, just across from him sat a grinning Miss Granger.
"Good morning, Severus," she said, continuing to smile idiotically at him. "If I had noticed you earlier I would have come and said hello sooner. I was very engrossed in my reading, though."
Severus sneered at her. "Do not worry, Miss Granger. I was getting along quite nicely without your greeting."
"Yes, well," Hermione began and Severus noticed that she was blushing. "I wouldn't want you to think I am rude…"
"I already know that you're rude," Severus interjected. "I do believe I taught you once."
"Right," Hermione said softly, narrowing her eyes and the flush on her cheeks growing more prominent. "Well, I didn't want you thinking I was avoiding you, either."
Severus sighed. "I could only be so lucky, Miss Granger."
He was surprised to see her suddenly stand up and throw the book she had been holding onto the table. "Was I mistaken, Professor Snape, that something between us might have changed after last night?!" She exclaimed in what Severus thought to be a very angry tone.
He felt himself blanche and for a moment feared something more might have happened than what he remembered. "We didn't sleep together did we?" he asked in his best classroom voice.
"No, of course, not, but…"
He sighed with relief and proceeded to interrupt her. "Then I see no reason why anything should change, Miss Granger. I did you one favor. One tiny, inconsequential favor. It is no longer Saturday, the wedding is over, and things may now go back, thank goodness, to the way they were." She stared at him for a moment. Severus supposed she was stung by his words and was trying to compose herself.
"I saw the way you looked at me," she breathed and punctuated the sentence with a frown.
Severus felt his eyes widen as images of the previous night suddenly danced through his mind. "I'm sorry?"
She sighed and shifted her weight. "I talked to Elizabeth this morning."
Severus raised an eyebrow at the abrupt change of subject. "How lovely for you, Miss Granger."
"She told me about the conversation you two had," Hermione replied, continuing to scowl at him.
"Really? Which conversation would that be? The one in which your darling friend explained that you seemed to have been lying about a relationship between the two us for quite some time? Or the one in which I pretended the assertions she made about us being madly in love were true in order to help keep up this lie you've created?"
Hermione sighed again and Severus thought he saw tears in her eyes. "The one in which you said that I'm beautiful." She swiped angrily at one of her eyes and Severus realized that there were tears in her eyes. "I'd like to cook you lunch in order to repay your kindness, Severus," she said hurriedly.
Severus felt something inside him die as he watched the woman before him rubbing at her eyes, trying to hide from him that she was crying. He couldn't fight with her. He didn't want to fight with her, and he had no idea why he was. Well, apart from the fact that it was just the way he was: always cold, always cruel, always Severus.
He sighed and averted his gaze from her. She was breaking his heart. "When, Hermione?"
He heard the sharp intake of breath, but did not look up at her. "Tomorrow. You can come to my chambers around noon."
"I look forward to it," he replied softly, staring at the tabletop. He listened and heard her walk away a few moments later. Sighing again, Severus turned back to his research and tried his best to ignore the feelings of excitement evoked by the thought of dining alone with Hermione.
Note: Thanks very much for all of the kind reviews. They are, as always, very much appreciated. Lizzie Alice Dark, you expressed some confusion over Hermione's situation--she is in fact a teacher; hence, Snape refers to her, on occasion, as Professor Granger. I 'm afraid she didn't return to Hogwarts years after graduating in order to receive remedial potions lessons (though that could be quite interesting). I hope to post more soon! Thanks for reading.