Not a Stud, Not a Babe- my pseudonym
All the usual disclaimers apply
AN: Sorry everyone, I really probably should be shot for how long it takes me to post stuff on here. It's just that I don't have as much time to think about it during the school year. I can't even imagine how bad it would be for a story that I hadn't already written out. Anyway, this is the last chapter, no epilogue, no sequel.
Chapter 4: Meeting
"Ginny! Help!" Hermione cried out from her bedroom. Ginny turned and ran back to the room to find her friend standing in the middle of a room strewn with clothing, a room they had oh so recently cleaned.
"What's wrong, Hermione?" she asked.
"It's time to get dressed and I still don't have a clue what to wear!" Hermione panicked. Her studious nature made her such that she needed to have everything figured out ahead of time. Ginny had come to help her prepare for her date with this 'mysterious' wizard. Ginny had promised to help with her hair and makeup, but Hermione was an utter mess. She'd managed to nearly flood the bathroom when she got distracted while running her bath earlier. She'd been storming about the flat for an hour, doing nothing and everything all at once. Her two cats had long since gone into hiding behind the couch for fear of their own safety.
Ginny strode valiantly up to Hermione's closet, knowing that most of Hermione's wardrobe would not be appropriate for dinner with the professor, especially not when they were trying to woo each other. Ginny pushed her friend aside, forcing her to go sit on the bed while Ginny worked. Ginny dug deep into the closet and came out a few moments later looking triumphant.
"Here, this dress will suit you quite well. You can add this scarf too it if you're self-conscious with this alone. Hermione slid on the dress- a magnificent piece she hadn't worn since her university graduation- and was surprised that it still fit. Hermione looked in the mirror and decided that she looked better in it now than she did over a decade ago.
Ginny fashioned Hermione's hair into a simple bun with tendrils around her face. Into this, she clipped a deep red rose just above Hermione's ear. With a little makeup and a few glowing compliments, Hermione looked absolutely stunning.
Meanwhile, Severus was getting dressed. He wanted to look nice, but not so unlike himself that she would be scared away when she saw him in teaching robes, ready to brave the dangers of a Potions classroom full of incompetent students. He put on a refreshingly simple set of black dress robes and tied his hair back with a thin black ribbon. With that, he grabbed the red rose from his desk and hurried off to his date. For some reason, Severus figured that Lupin was more qualified to choose a date for him than Albus Dumbledore, at the very least. Or perhaps it was the knowledge that he'd either end this evening with a pleasant woman or a lovely case of firewhisky.
Chez Pierre, the Wizarding restaurant chosen for the date, wasn't empty, but it was far from crowded. The maitre d took him to a table near a window. Severus sat down, placed the red rose on the table, and waited. Right on the hour, a stunning woman in a black dress with a red rose pinned to her hair entered the restaurant. She paused just inside the restaurant, clearly looking for someone or waiting for someone. Severus kept his eyes down on the table; he knew from the moment she walked in that she was too young and too pretty to be his date.
"Professor Snape?" the lady questioned, sitting across from him. He nodded. His head shot up as he recognized that voice. He hadn't seen those remarkable hazel eyes in 20 years or more. For the first time ever, Severus Snape really looked at Hermione Granger. The thoughts he had when she was just an anonymous woman outweighed all thoughts of her as a former student, but that didn't mean this would work. Surely she wouldn't be able to look past how horrible he had been as her professor.
"I find it hard to believe that Remus Lupin would set me up with you, Miss Granger." He said, slowly.
"Well, I could say the same thing about Ginny Weasley." She said, nearly laughing, her eyes full of mirth.
"I guess the only thing we can do now is enjoy a nice dinner and assess our incompatibility." Severus said, examining the wine list. With a quick question to Hermione about her wine preferences, he ordered them a bottle of a nice red wine.
When both had ordered and they were sipping their way into the bottle of wine, Severus began the dialogue.
"So, how did you get to this point, Miss Granger?"
"A lot of very unpleasant dates with wizards and muggles alike. The last one was so caught up in work, it was really rather disgusting, especially since he was an accountant." She reported.
"I've had problems the other way. My last date had loads of children already and was looking for more." Severus explained.
"Clearly a woman who took 'Go ye forth and populate the earth' a little too literally." She retorted. They both laughed.
"Exactly, I mean, I don't even want to have children, nor do I want to raise anyone else's." he said after they'd both finished a rich laugh.
"At your age? I'm not surprised. If you had a child today, you'd be, what, 78 by the time he or she entered school?"
"Ugh, don't even get me started on school. I detest discussing work outside of particular environments."
"That's fine with me. If you mentioned work, then I would have to reciprocate, and I'm not allowed to discuss my work." Hermione responded.
"Ahh, and Unspeakable, quite a noble profession I suppose. Is it true that something horrible happens to you if you discuss anything that happens in the office?" he asked.
"I'm not at liberty to say." She responded. They both laughed again.
"So, no work, what about pets? Do you have any pets?" Severus asked.
"I have two cats. Crookshanks I've had since my school years and Milo I adopted about two years ago from a wizarding animal shelter. They were going to put him to sleep the day I went to donate supplies. One look into his beautiful eyes and I took him home with me." She said, "What about you?"
"I've got a black panther named Mortimer who stays with me. Please tell me you don't have kids?"
"Alright, I'll tell you that I'm a future spinster who works a lot and when not working, is sitting alone in her flat with two cats and a stack of periodicals." She responded. He chuckled at her.
"Periodicals you say? Which ones?" he asked.
"Well, The Daily Prophet of course, plus Transfiguration Today, Potions Mastery, The Quibbler which I get for free from Luna Lovegood-Longbottom, you remember her? There's Everyday Charms and Witch Weekly." She listed, counting them off on her long fingers.
"Did you read the article in last month's Potions Mastery about the possibilities involved in using unicorn hair in healing potions?" Severus asked.
"Oh yes, I thought it was a bit outdated a poorly researched, but there could be more to learn in that area of study."
"As did I."
The two continued this conversation easily through salads, entrees, dessert, and another bottle of wine. By that time, they both realized that they were having a really good time.
Remus and Ginny were hiding in a booth across the restaurant watching Hermione and Severus enjoy each other's company.
"Well, do you think it will work?" Ginny asked
"It's too soon to say. You know as well as I do that a very important part of a recipe is to allow the ingredients time to simmer." Remus said. Ginny stifled a giggle at his cooking analogy. It was hard not to laugh loudly, but she didn't want to give them away. Hermione was sure to recognize Ginny's laugh.
"Is that what we've been doing? Cooking?" she whispered.
"Maybe." Remus responded.
"Severus, I know this sounds strange, but I'd like to continue this conversation. Would you like to walk down to The Leaky Cauldron and have some coffee or something?" Hermione asked.
"That would be wonderful, Hermione." Severus said. He paid the bill, and the two walked out of the restaurant arm-in-arm, bound for The Leaky Cauldron, a long night, and maybe something more.
THE END