Disclaimer: The characters, settings, etc. of the Harry Potter series are not mine. I just play with them.

A Summer at 12 Grimmauld Place
Part Five

Hermione slept fairly well that night, despite the fact that she kept dreaming about a certain Potions Professor. She awoke the next morning rather late, feeling refreshed.

"This coffee is great, Professor," she heard Ron say as she made her way down the stairs and into the kitchen. "How are those eggs coming, Harry?"

"Fine," Harry replied, as she walked into the kitchen. "Oh morning, Hermione," he added as he glanced over his shoulder.

"Good morning," she replied.

"Hey, Hermione!" Ron exclaimed. "Now what do you think of my tan now that you see it in the morning light? Definitely a golden, Adonis type glow, right?"

"Right," she replied, smiling at him. "Good morning, Severus," she said softly as she shuffled past the table towards the counter.

He grunted in reply, not looking up from his paper which Hermione thought was actually a good thing, as he had no way of seeing the blush that had suddenly blossomed on her cheeks.

"Guess what we did, Hermione!" Ron exclaimed from the table as she poured her coffee into her waiting mug.

"What?" Hermione asked, as she added milk and sugar to her coffee.

"We made Professor Snape his own mug! Didn't we, Harry?" said Ron.

"Yes, we sure did," Harry replied as he began dishing scrambled eggs onto plates.

"That was very nice of you," Hermione commented as she took her coffee and headed back to the table. She seated herself next to Ron and across from Severus and saw that his hand was indeed wrapped around a red mug. "Did you monogram it?"

"Of course we did!" Ron exclaimed. "Go on, Professor, show her the monogram."

With a loud sigh, Snape took his hand away from the mug, but did not remove his eyes from the paper. Hermione saw that the red mug bore the name 'Severus' proudly. "That's lovely boys," she said, taking a sip of coffee. "I'm sure Professor Snape appreciates the gesture."

Ron beamed and Snape snorted in response.

"Soup's up," said Harry cheerfully as he set a plate of eggs and toast before each of them. They all mumbled thank you, and Ron dug in at once. "Ron, don't you have something to share with Hermione and the Professor?" Harry asked as he took a seat next to Snape.

"Oh yeah," said Ron through a mouthful of egg.

"Swallow first!" Harry demanded.

Ron nodded, waving his fork at Harry. He chewed and swallowed his eggs before continuing to speak. "My mum flooed me last night. Everyone's coming round before the meeting tomorrow."

"Everyone?" said Severus, raising an eyebrow as he peered over his paper.

"Yeah," Ron said, shoveling more egg into his mouth. "Charlie's in the country, you know. Bill should be coming. The twins, of course," he continued, not noticing the tiny bits of egg that occasionally sprayed from his mouth. "Ginny, too. Percy might even stop by."

"And your parents?" Severus asked.

Ron finally swallowed. "Yeah, them too, of course."

"Well," Snape said, turning his attention back to the paper.

"It will be very nice to see everyone," Hermione said, smiling at Ron who gave her a very eggy grin in response.

"Ron and I got to stop by the Burrow on our way back from our Order business," Harry supplied. "Got to see Charlie. He asked about you, Hermione."

"He did?" Hermione asked, unable to stop herself from blushing and keep the squeaky tone of her voice. She was aware of Snape watching her, but she kept her eyes on Harry.

"Yeah," said Harry after he swallowed a bite of toast. "Wanted to know how you were doing and if you were still terribly cute."

"I told him you were fine and that you'd recently become devastatingly gorgeous," Ron said, grinning at her again.

Hermione's reply to Ron was lost to the sound of Severus's fork falling onto his plate with a loud clatter.

"You all right there, Professor?" Ron asked.

"Fine, thank you, Weasley," he replied as he glared down at his plate. Hermione had a feeling he was avoiding Ron's gaze.

"What do you think of our little Hermione, Professor?" Ron asked. "Devastatingly gorgeous or what?"

"Ron!" Hermione exclaimed, feeling her cheeks blaze.

"Come on, Professor," Ron continued, ignoring Hermione. "What do you think of her? Or, I know, let's go around the table. Harry! You're first mate. What's your verdict?"

"Hmm," said Harry, tapping the handle of his fork against his chin. "I think Hermione has definitely blossomed, Ron. She's quite lovely."

"You hear that Hermione? You're quite lovely!" Ron exclaimed, smiling at her. "That's nice. Ok, my turn. I hope you're thinking, Professor, you're up next."

"Weasley," Severus growled, again raising his eyes from the paper to glare at Ron. Hermione tried not to notice the blush that colored his cheeks.

"Well, like I said before," Ron said, "I think Hermione is just gorgeous now. It's really too bad that little affair we had in sixth year didn't work out." He paused to give a dramatic sigh. "All right, Professor, you're on. What do you think of Hermione?"

Snape sighed, folding up his paper and setting it down on the table. "I can't answer that question, Weasley."

"What!?" said Ron. "Why not? Of course you can, don't be silly. And once you have, Hermione will tell us what she thinks of all of us."

"She'll do what!?" Hermione exclaimed.

"It's only fair, Hermione," Harry said, nodding. "Ok, Professor, your turn."

Snape again sighed, and raised his gaze to meet Hermione's. "I think she's beautiful," he murmured.

"There you go!" Ron exclaimed, grinning at everyone. "Professor Snape thinks she's beautiful. It's not just us then."

Hermione barely heard what Ron said, however, as she was too busy staring at Snape in disbelief. He thought she was beautiful. Beautiful. Not many people thought she was beautiful. Ron and Harry would tell her that she was lovely, but it meant about as much to her as when her mother said it. It was obligatory for them to say. But when Severus Snape said it, well, it was something completely different. He probably meant it; she did not think Severus Snape was the type of person to tell lies to simply be nice.

"All right, Hermione," Ron said, tearing her from her thoughts. "Your turn. Start with Harry."

"Harry?" she said, suddenly remembering what it was he was asking her to do. "Oh, all right. Harry, you're very attractive. Your eyes are lovely and you're very sweet. Any girl would be lucky to have you."

"Thanks Hermione," Harry said, smiling at her. "That's really nice of you."

She smiled back. "And Ron, your turn now?"

"Yes!" Ron said, leaning towards her eagerly. "Do your worst."

"Ron," she began, "You're adorable. Very attractive, just like your brothers. You're charming and fun." She paused and shrugged. "You're just a great guy."

"Ha!" said Ron, looking at Harry. "I'm a 'great guy,' Harry. Were you a great guy? No, you most certainly weren't."

"Ron, shut up," Hermione said, laughing at her friend.

"Yeah, all right," he said, smiling at her again. "Ok, the Professor now. What do you think of good old Snape?"

"Oh," said Hermione, blushing and looking down at the tabletop.

"Please, Miss Granger," Severus began, causing her to bring her gaze up to meet his. "Do not feel obligated to answer that question. Unlike our friends here, I do not need your compliments to validate my existence."

Hermione felt Ron tense beside her, but she saw what Snape's words really were. He was afraid; he was afraid of what she might say and afraid that she might lie out of kindness. "I think," she began, as if she had not heard what he'd said. "I think Severus might be the handsomest man I've ever met."

They all stared at her once she'd finished. Harry's eyes widened and Ron's mouth fixed itself into a large grin. Severus simply gazed at her, seeming to inspect her. She seemed to pass inspection, though, as a few seconds later, his eyes looked downwards to the table and a fresh flush colored his cheeks.

It was Ron who first recovered his voice. "Hermione, Snape can't be the handsomest! You've forgotten Lockhart!"

Hermione laughed and after a few seconds, the rest of her companions joined in. "Ron," she said once she'd calmed down. "Just shut up."

The Weasleys arrived the next morning almost immediately Ron and Hermione had finished washing up the breakfast dishes. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were very happy to see Hermione. Ginny seemed enthusiastic to meet again with her friend, and the twins had greeted her in a very friendly manner.

Mr. Weasley had greeted Snape in the same way he usually did, a respectful handshake and a soft inquiry after his health. Mrs. Weasley gave Severus a huge hug, and announced how happy she was that he had managed to get away from the Death Eaters alive. Hermione had nearly laughed when she watched Severus blush in the arms of Molly Weasley, patting her back gently and looking like he'd rather be absolutely anywhere else. The twins had greeted their former professor civilly, which Hermione thought to be awfully good of them, and Ginny had said hello kindly and respectfully, as she usually did.

"Mrs. Weasley," Harry began after everyone had taken a seat at the kitchen table, and he'd began serving drinks. "I was really hoping Bill, Charlie, and Percy would make it out to London."

"Oh, I was too, Harry dear," she replied, sighing, "but poor Bill was suddenly called back to Egypt and Charlie had already promised to spend the weekend with another friend of his."

"And Percy?" Ron asked.

"Working of course, Ron," said Fred, as he thanked Harry for the drink he'd just poured him. "It's all Percy ever does."

"Speaking of which," said Harry as he poured pumpkin juice into a glass for George, "do either of you ever go to work anymore? I always seem to be running into you when you should be working."

George shrugged. "It's difficult with the war. Business is slow. Nobody seems to be too interested in jokes."

"But that doesn't mean there's not work to be done," Fred added. "In fact, we'd best get back to the shop as soon as the meeting ends. We just wanted to stop in and say hello to everyone. Especially you, Hermione," Fred said as he settled his gaze on her. "You know, Charlie's been asking after you."

Hermione blushed. "So everyone keeps saying. I wish I knew why."

George smiled at her. "Well, you see, Fred and I were discussing you with him. Telling him how close you and our Ronnie are. We're all just dying to know when you'll be married and when we'll get to be uncles."

Hermione was saved from responding by Professor Snape suddenly coughing and sputtering on his pumpkin juice. Arthur, who had been quietly discussing some of the recent additions to his plug collection with Harry, was the first to leap to the Professor's side, hauling him out of his seat and wrapping his arms around Snape's waist.

"Muggles do this all the time!" Arthur announced as he attempted to perform what Hermione thought to be a rather rough looking version the Heimlich on Severus. "No need to worry, it's quite simple and will save his life!"

"Arthur!" Severus attempted to roar, but had difficulty as Arthur's arms were periodically tightening around his chest, cutting off much of his oxygen supply. "I'm not choking!"

"What?" said Arthur, relaxing his grip so that his arms settled loosely around Severus's waist. "I thought you were."

"If I were choking, I would not have made any noise," Severus said softly as he struggled to breathe normally again.

The twins were the first to erupt into laughter, and they were soon followed by the rest of the gathered group. Severus even allowed himself a small chuckle.

"Well," said Arthur, patting Severus good-naturedly on the back. "No real harm done and better safe than sorry, anyway."

"Indeed," Severus said, giving him a small smile. "Well, while it has been nice seeing all of you, I am afraid I have had more than enough adventure for one morning, and I have an experiment waiting. I wish you all good day," and with a short nod, he turned and strode quickly from the room.

"Oh dear," said Mrs. Weasley once he'd gone. "I hope we haven't embarrassed him."

Ron shrugged. "I doubt it. Harry and I have done much worse to him since he's been here and he's never acted as though we'd embarrassed him. You know, Snape's a fairly decent guy, actually. Never would have thought it, but he's agreeable enough."

"Severus has always been kind to your mother and me," Arthur said as he settled himself back into his seat at the table. "He's a good man. Very brave."

The conversation turned almost immediately back to Arthur's plug collection and Hermione found her concentration drifting. She paid some attention to the conversation, interjecting bits and pieces whenever she was called upon to do so, but mostly her mind strayed to thoughts of a man who was currently hidden away in another part of the house.

They were right, she thought. Ron's assessment of Snape was rather accurate. She would never have thought the cruel, sarcastic man who had taught her Potions could be so pleasant. She never would have thought that a smile from him could make her blush, that a well timed look from could leave her reeling, and that the sound of his voice pronouncing her name could leave her short of breath.

Snape was a mystery, and though she was not comfortable admitting it, he was a mystery she was eager to solve.

----

Author's Note: Once again, thank you so very much for reading and for all of the wonderful reviews this story has received. You are all too sweet. I think I should be posting the rest of the story in sets of two chapters. I am afraid the end needs a great deal of work as this story will be doing something I have avoided with everything else I've written: turning serious towards the end. So, as this is something new for me, I am going to try to take great care and the time (like, maybe two days between updates? hehe) to do it right. Or, as right as I possibly can.

Anyway, I wanted to address something else that has been noted in reviews by Rachel and Evie Black, and that is Snape's awful tendency to be nice. The only way I can justify this is that I imagine Snape to be almost like Mr. Darcy in that he might be a very different man when he's in love with someone in comparison to the not-so-friendly one he is when he's not. Hopefully this is justification enough. If not, well, we'll just call him OOC and be done with it. Ron, too. Poor, dear Ron. I have no idea what I've done to him.

Well, thanks, as always, for reading!