Wham! Hermione ran straight into her very tall, forboding, slightly slimy potions professor. He looked down his rather large nose at Hermione, who hunched her shoulders and imagined herself smaller than she was.
"Miss Granger," his voice sounded like a particularly cold, thick, slimy poison, "what were you doing in my classroom?"
"Ummmmmm." She responded intelligently. "I was looking for some notes that I dropped earlier," she waved the scrap of parchment at him, "I got them, so I'll just go now…" She was almost two feet away before he had snatched the parchment from her hand. He read it quickly, holding it high above her head.
"Miss Granger," his voice, which had been cold a moment ago, was now fraught with malice and disgust, "Is there something you wish to tell me?"
"No," she said, in a very small voice.
"If you or one of your," his upper lip curled, "friends is cause of danger to the students of this school, it would be prudent to tell someone in authority."
"Yes, professor." He black eyes continued to bore into her, and Hermione wondered if it was too late to run away.
"Severus!" Her heart leapt as she recognized the tired yet good-natured voice of Professor Lupin. "Intimidating students again?" He smiled benignly at both of them. Snape seemed to be supressing a laugh.
"Lupin, perhaps you can shed some light on this," he thrust the parchment scrap into Lupin's hands. Hermione studied her shoes, trying to decide if ink rubbed across the black leather would conceal the scuff marks.
"Hermione," said Lupin quietly, "Is there something you want to tell me?"
Before she could think properly, Hermione did a rather obvious double take. She allowed her jaw to drop and stared, disbelieving, at her defense professor. "I think," Snape gleefully intoned, "We should all go to the Headmaster's office." He swished between them, batlike robes billowing.
Hermione and Lupin exchanged the sort of look twin cookie-thieves exchange when their mother catches them.
"Severus! Remus! Miss Granger! What a pleasant surprise." Albus Dumbledore greeted them from behind a particularly dainty teacup. "Please, have some tea." Three teacups appeared, dark blue ones in front of Lupin and Hermione, an elegant pink one before Snape, who sneered.
"It seems, Headmaster, that Miss Granger has a problem, and that Lupin, here, may be the cause of it," Snape was no longer hiding his glee.
"She doesn't look pregnant," said Dumbledore.
Hermione spit tea across the room and a melodious tinkling sound joined the air when Lupin dropped his cup. Even Snape looked taken aback.
Dumbledore smiled. "You all looked so serious, I thought a humourous comment might clear the air. Now, what seems to be the problem, Miss Granger?" He leaned forward, his sparkling blue eyes inviting her to confess everything.
The air, which hadn't cleared at all, seemed especially thick. Trying not to look in the headmaster's eyes, Hermione whispered, "I don't have a problem, professor." After a too-long silence, she looked up to see his sparkling eyes still observing her intently.
"Severus, Remus, if you could wait outside for a moment, I would like to speak to Miss Granger in private."
Five minutes later, the griffin-guarded door sprang open. Dumbledore, looking very sad, emerged, Hermione behind him, again trying to be very small.
"Severus, would you please escort Miss Granger back to Griffindor Tower, I believe it is past her curfew. Remus, please come inside, there is something we need to discuss."
When Snape abandoned Hermione at the portrait of the Fat Lady, he said, "If I catch you endangering anyone in this school, Miss Granger, I will personally see to it you are expelled." He stalked away with an unusual spring in his step.
A/N: Hello again! I'm sorry I haven't updated for so long, thank you for the occasional reminder to update! I will try to update more often, especially if you review.
P.S.: I have never been flamed, so I would be delighted if someone would flame me, whether or not they believe what they say. Thanks! Zvez