"You're not at it again, are you Hermione?"
Hermione sighed to herself as she looked up to meet Ron's questioning gaze. "I happen to think that all of my classes are important, including Potions."
"Do you see the warm day out?" Harry questioned. "We should be out there enjoying the weather instead of stuck inside working on more schoolwork."
"We could go visit Hagrid, or even just walk around the lake," Ron suggested.
"Better not," Harry warned. "I heard some third years talking about some screeching they heard from his hut during their class."
"Ugh, who knows what he has in there?" Ron sighed. "C'mon Hermione, even your bloody cat is outside."
Hermione snapped her head up before deciding to let it go. "Fine," she responded. "Let's go out." Hermione long ago learned that when the boys got restless like they did now, it was best to just put aside her studying for some other time.
The trio walked into the bright sunlight and slowly walked around the lake. As they neared Hagrid's hut, they heard the rumored screeching and decided to give the hut a wide berth. Ron leaned down and picked up a rock to throw. It only skipped three times before sinking beneath the cool dark water.
"That all you can do?" Harry teased. He picked up a rock and threw it. It managed to skip five times before sinking.
"Oh, because that was so much better," Hermione joked.
"Can you do any better?" Ron asked.
Hermione sighed before responding, "It's all a thing of math, Ronald. As long as you throw it at the right angle with the right velocity, it should work. Bearing in mind the velocity and direction of the lake's waves, of course.
Both the boys stared at Hermione before looking at each other and rolling their eyes. "Forget I asked," Ron muttered. The trio sat at the lakeside and watched the squid swim around. "What do you reckon the chance is for Chudley Cannons this year?" Ron asked Harry hopefully.
Hermione groaned inwardly as Harry answered, "I don't know, Ron. Puddlemere United had a good season last year and is looking to have another good one, from what I hear."
"But the Ballycastle Bats had tryouts and I hear they found a really good Chaser," Ron objected. "They could flatten Puddlemere United if they make a good comeback like they used to be."
Harry sighed. "They've won twenty-seven times so far. They're a favorite."
Hermione raised her eyebrows. "I don't remember reading that in any of the articles about the teams this year."
"It was in Quidditch Through the Ages," Harry yawned.
Hermione felt her anger seep up. "I'm going to go study. You know, if you spent even half the effort on your class work that you do on Quidditch, you both could be near the top of the class."
"What for?" Ron shrugged. Hermione rolled her eyes before turning swiftly on her heel, heading back for the castle.
From the safety of the castle's shadows, Snape watched the exchange. Neither of the boys would ever be able to be at the top of the class, Snape thought. He sneered at the idea of either of them being Head Boy the following year. He had no doubt Hermione would be Head Girl. Deep inside, he hoped she would be. She deserved it. Severus frowned. Deserving it didn't mean anything. He had deserved it his final year. Instead it went to James Potter. He hadn't even been a prefect the year before. But still it went to Potter. I was deserving of it, Snape thought with a scowl. I was a prefect. I worked hard at school. I made the grades. But no. James Potter had been made Head Boy. Then Potter got the teaching position he himself had applied for. Even now he couldn't seem to get the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts. No, Severus decided, I'm probably stuck as Potions Master.
Suddenly, someone smacked right into him. His arms caught the falling student, only to find he was holding Hermione Granger in his arms. His snide remark caught in his throat, and it took a second for him to recover his voice while he helped steady her.
"I'm so sorry Professor," Hermione rushed. "I didn't see you there and I was just going over a few things in my head-"
"Yes, well, next time you're lost in your thoughts, you might want to keep your eyes where you're walking," he responded.
Hermione paused. She wasn't sure how to answer, mainly because she couldn't tell if Snape had meant that coldly or not. "Again, I'm terribly sorry Professor. I was actually trying to figure out how I miscalculated the ingredients to get the wrong color for my potion today."
Snape paused, not expecting such an answer. Then to recover, he coughed before responding, "You probably needed to add a little more wolfsbane. If there wasn't enough, the potion would appear a more brownish purple like yours did."
Hermione's face fell. "Oh. I was sure I had measured everything right, but I guess I was off. Thank you, Professor." She started walking slowly around him to continue down the walkway.
"Miss Granger?" Snape said quickly. Hermione turned, a mixture of emotions on her face. He tried to think of something to say. "Keep up the good work."
Hermione's face became confused before she slowly responded, "Thank you, Professor Snape." They continued to look at each other before Hermione turned to head back to her dormitory.
As soon as Hermione was out of site, Severus sank into a shadow and slid against the wall to the ground. Putting his head in his hands, he couldn't help but think: what am I doing?