The Perfectionist
By Mykerinos
Chapter Ten: The interview
Severus flew back to the ground as
well. Great. Now he had made her cry, and they again couldn't finish tonight's
training. Was she ever going to learn how to fly properly?
"Severus!" a painfully cheerful voice
made Severus look up.
"Wonderful. The only person who could
make this all even worse has to show up as well," Severus muttered irritated.
"What are you doing her, Remus?"
"Just checking up on you, of course!"
Remus smiled kindly. "How's it going?"
"That's none of your business," Severus
snapped, not willing to share tonight's events with him.
"I know, but I saw Hermione running
back into the castle, crying. I got worried," he explained, meaning it.
"Well, nothing to be worried about,
werewolf, believe me," Severus grunted, resizing the brooms to minimal
format and putting them in the pocket of his robe. He started to walk back
to the castle, Remus following closely.
"By the way," Remus said, changing
his tone and the subject. "Did I tell you already the contest is big news,
also in other countries? There will be a lot of reporters, even from overseas.
Tomorrow there will be some reporter from the Daily Prophet as well, to
interview some of the participants."
Something in Remus' way of saying
made him feel uncomfortable. "And?" he asked, shooting him a glare that
surely would've given Neville Longbottom a spontaneous heart-attack.
"And," Remus said. "When I accidentally
told them you are also one of the participants, they insisted on an interview
with you and Miss Granger..."
Severus snorted, getting a weird
look from Remus. "What?"
"Don't be silly!" Severus exclaimed.
"You don't certainly think I'm going to give that interview to them, do
you?"
Remus frowned.
- -- - -- - -- -
"So, you must be Severus Snape and
Hermione Granger then!"
A woman in pink robes and long brown
hair smiled at them from across the table in the library Severus and Granger
were sitting on.
Severus glared. Granger wasn't happy
either, but Severus could see her give a reluctant nod.
Damn that Remus. Damn that woman!
Wasn't blackmailing against the law? Forcing him to answer questions or
else publishing some nasty piece revealing some embarrassing facts about
him in her paper. He bet Remus had accidentally, just as accidentally as
he had mentioned Severus' name, mentioned those facts to her.
So now he sat here. When he had fetched
the Granger girl, he had whispered some short instructions in her ear,
so she wouldn't make a complete fool out of them, or give anything away.
Short answers. Yes. No. Not "I forgot",
that makes you look stupid.
She had just given him an angry look.
Obviously she still felt offended.
"Well, my name is Mary Skeeter, and
yes, I am Rita Skeeter's cousin..." the woman smiled. Severus made a sound
of annoyance. At least she didn't have a hexed quill.
"Very well.... Let's get to the interview
then. Professor Snape, you teach Potions, don't you?" she asked.
"I do," he answered, crossing his
arms and tapping his fingers on his arm. He wondered how long this was
going to take.
"And you are a student in your seventh
year, correct?" she asked Granger.
"I am," Granger answered curtly.
"And Harry Potter happens to be your
best friend?"
"He does,"
"Interesting! And Professor Snape
here is your Professor, right?"
"He is,"
"And he's also your partner in the
contest?"
"Yes,"
"How did that happen?"
Silence.
The sound of students playing outside
could be heard here. The woman was scribbling some things down, then she
stopped, looking up at Granger.
More silence.
Severus turned his head to look at
her as well, wondering if she was going to answer. She was just staring
at the table. No sign of any emotion on her face.
"Hello?" the woman asked, waving
her hand.
"Ask him," she jerked her
head aggressively to Severus. He felt both women staring at him.
"No comments," Severus just answered,
getting more frustrated.
The woman sighed, and sat back, rubbing
her forehead with the back of her hand. "Listen, I still have got some
interesting rumours I could spread--"
"You're blackmailing me," Severus
stated through gritted teeth.
"That's right," She smiled broadly.
Severus felt his anger rise. Glaring at Hermione, he saw she was smiling
as well. She knew just as much he had no choice, and obviously she found
this amusing. Furiously he jumped up from his chair.
"Fine, if you need to know so desperately!"
he barked, becoming quite desperate himself as well. His mind was racing
to come up with something to talk him out of this. Surely he couldn't tell
about the bet. But he couldn't just walk away either, or she'd certainly
publish those 'facts' about him in her paper.
"When the contest was introduced
to the students, originally nobody was really enthusiastic..." he drawled,
relieved for this sudden solution. "So I thought that if I'd enter with
someone else, more people would follow. Miss Granger volunteered, did you
not, Miss Granger?" He shot her a piercing look, but she just stared back,
smiling. For a moment Severus was scared she wouldn't play along.
"Yes, I did," she finally said.
The woman nodded approvingly, and
Severus felt relieved. "Now, if you don't mind, I still have some other
work to do," he said.
"But we've just started!" the woman
exclaimed indignantly. Severus had left already.
TBC