Hermione and Minerva were doing some plotting of their own. If longing looks, to the point of practically drooling, were not enough to attract his attention, then more drastic measures would have to be employed. Minerva was an advocate of the direct approach. she was all in favour of pinning him to a wall and snogging him senseless. Hermione thought that this was a silly idea. As she pointed out, he was far too tall for that to be effective.

She had then moved on to suggesting slipping him a Lust Potion - "there's no doubt that he wants you, dear; he's just a little nervous around women" - strip wizard's chess - "whether you win or you lose, you win!" - enchanted mistletoe - "who cares that it's midsummer?" - or simply chaining him to the bed - "I saw that look in your eyes, you were definitely tempted by that suggestion!"

She was indeed tempted by the last suggestion but not, she felt, on a first date. She thought long and hard about the best way to approach Severus. She wanted something subtle, but that would allow her to get him alone, so that she could employ the less-than-subtle tactics that were obviously going to be needed.

"Wizard's chess it is," she announced. Minerva blinked. "I was just joking," she said cautiously. "He's never go for the strip chess, you know!"

Hermione looked at her with exasperation. "Who said anything about strip chess? I simply thought that I would ask Severus for a game of chess one evening. It's the perfect opportunity to spend time together; a game could last hours."

"Not the way you play," Minerva smiled.

Hermione smiled back. "I really wouldn't judge my abilities on any games I played with Ron. He is a shockingly bad loser, you know."

Minerva's smile broadened. "It's a shame you won't be playing strip chess then, because I don't think that Severus knows that. You could really take advantage of him."

"I will, Minerva. I will, don't worry; one way or another."

They grinned at each other, and then headed off to dinner.

Hermione managed to secure a seat next to Severus at dinner as usual. There wasn't a lot of competition; there was very much a suggestion that the seat was hers as the most junior teacher present until she had worked her passage or a new teacher joined the staff.

DADA didn't count.

There was universal agreement that the new DADA teacher had to be shielded from Severus in a vain attempt to ensure that someone would make it into a second year. The present incumbent was rather reminiscent of Professor Quirrell in his twitching nervousness although mercifully free of the turban. She and Minerva had been running a book on how long he would last. Severus had wagered ten galleons that the man would last the full year. "At least that way," he had said, "if he lasts the full year, I'll be in funds to go out and get very seriously drunk." He was only half-joking.

Hermione was mildly surprised when Severus returned her softly spoken greeting; he tended to be somewhat taciturn on Mondays. She decided to press her luck and attempt to strike up a conversation. Sometimes, if classes hadn't been too annoying, he would talk to her; usually though he would hide behind his hair and refuse to communicate. He was at his most approachable on Friday's, with two whole days of freedom to look forward to, but she wanted to strike while the iron was hot, her self-belief was high, and frankly she was just too damned impatient.

Gyrffindor impetuousness seemed to be winning the day though, as Severus quietly chatted to her about his day.

"Young Blenkinsop managed to get himself another three Nevilles today," he said. "A more stupid boy it would be hard to find. He was clearly told to put three ounces of bubotuber pus in 5 minutes after the boomslang skin, and what does he do? He puts five ounces in, three minutes afterwards. I am told his nose will grow back, but Poppy isn't pleased. Why she thinks it is my fault the child can't follow simple instructions I will never know."

Hermione had been shocked on her first day at Hogwarts to see a large board up on the wall in the staff room, with the legend 'Nevilles' at the top. Various children's names were listed down the side, and a black line tracked its way from the left hand side towards the right hand side, stopping at various points along its way for each child.

"What's that?" she had asked Minerva, pointing to the Board.

Minerva looked sheepish for a moment, and then explained. "You remember how incompetent Neville was?"

Hermione nodded reluctantly; she could hardly pretend he wasn't, no matter how fond of him she was.

"Well, it's something we invented during his time at Hogwarts: a little competition. Severus said he was the most useless boy in the school. I said that wasn't true, because Crabbe and Goyle were even bigger wastes of skin. Albus got tired of us arguing about it, so we set this up. Every time anyone did something really stupid in class, they would get a point or two, and they would show up here. At the end of the year, we were going to add them up, and whoever 'won' would be declared the official dunderhead of the school."

Severus was smirking at this. "Go on, Minerva, tell Miss Granger who won."

Hermione sighed. "Don't bother, I can imagine."

Minerva sighed as well. "Neville won, of course and I paid up like a good loser." The other teachers snorted at that. "All right then," she allowed, "I paid up with a bloody bad grace. At the beginning of the next year, I challenged Severus to a re-match and so the annual Neville awards were born."

"Did he win every year?" Hermione asked.

"No. In his seventh year Crabbe won." Minerva smiled at the memory. "Double or quits that year, wasn't it Severus?"

"Indeed, Minerva," he replied silkily, "which didn't even being to outweigh my winnings from the previous six years."

Minerva looked daggers at him.

"So it continued after Neville left?" said Hermione.

"Yes," said Severus. "We turned it into a sweepstake. Everyone pays ten galleons to pick a name out of a hat at the beginning of the year, and whoever gets the child with the most Nevilles scoops the pool. Mind you, you normally end up spending it at the end of year celebration down at the Three Broomsticks, but there's a little left. Usually there's just enough to buy you a new book, or some other little treat. We found it made teaching blockheads a little more bearable."

"Of course," Minerva said darkly, "some people began to cheat."

"Professor Snape fiddled the points did he?" asked Hermione pointedly.

Minerva laughed. "We got that little problem sorted out in the first year. If you don't agree with the points awarded, you can appeal. Three of the rest of us get together and look at the incident, and we can overturn the points. The threat of that was enough to keep Severus on the straight and narrow. Mostly, anyway. By the end of the year he will try and award Nevilles to students for breathing too loudly, having too dark a hair colour on a Monday morning, and on one memorable occasion, for being cheerful in a potions class."

Hermione thought that deserved an Order of Merlin rather than a Neville. "It's a pity you couldn't do that for House points as well," Hermione commented.

"Minerva normally finds a way to slip annoying Gryffindors points, if she feels particularly hard done to," sneered Severus. "And, for your information Miss Granger, the cheat in question wasn't me, but Albus."

"Albus!" she said in surprise.

"Oh, yes," said Minerva in the same dark tones as before. "Originally we drew the names out of the Sorting Hat. We caught him bribing the Hat to give him who It thought was the best candidate each year. We never did find out what he was using to bribe It with; probably best not to find out, the mind boggles."

So Hermione had paid her ten galleons and drawn her name out of the hat - Albert Blenkinsop. She had felt a little guilty about betraying Neville in this way, but it was her first year teaching and she didn't want to cause trouble over something that was essentially harmless. She noticed that when Dumbledore reached in for a name, Minerva slapped his hand. Apparently he was permanently disqualified.

Young Blenkinsop was the present front runner, and Hermione was rather smug about it. She looked to be on a certainty. Severus could tell that she was pleased to hear he had been giving out Nevilles to her candidate. "It's such a pity he's in Gryffindor; I was obliged to deduct ten house points as well."

Hermione flinched. Points deduction was still conducted along such partisan lines that it made the Millwall - West Ham derby look tame in comparison "You really are a bastard, Severus. Couldn't you have allowed me to gloat for a little longer?"

He couldn't smile in public, that would ruin his reputation, but there was a minute twitch of his lips that wouldn't be spotted by the children sitting below them.

"I'm terribly sorry," he said, patently not sorry at all. "How can I ever make it up to you?" He gave her the opening deliberately and waited to see what she made of it. He was surprised to see a very sultry look directed at him, and that she appeared to be considering some very advanced apologies indeed. Miss Granger was definitely letching after him, he realised with intense satisfaction, and he waited with interest to see what she would propose.

"Perhaps a game of Wizard's chess?" she suggested.

He thought about the Rules. He could accept her suggestion, but he ought not to be too easy. So, not tonight, but later in the week...

"Friday evening?" he replied.

Hermione demurely said that that would be fine, and had to kick Minerva under the table when she started grinning widely. There would be time to celebrate later.

Hopefully.