Sorry about the long wait guys. Finals season. Craziness. Need I say more?

Here's chapter three. Hooray! We finally have Severus cornered:evil grin:

Onward...

Hermione was about to knock on the dungeon's door when a faint sound stopped her fist in midair. At first she thought she was hearing things, but then she heard it again. Without hesitation she leaned her small frame against the door, pressing her ear to the wood, straining to hear. Music in Severus Snape's private quarters? As a student she would have thought it impossible; she was having a hard enough time believing it now as a professor.

Suddenly the music stopped. Hermione pressed harder against the door, trying to hear more. Just as she did, the door swung inwards. A small "eep!" was out of Hermione's mouth before she realized it, too startled to stop it from surfacing as she flew forwards. She closed her eyes tightly in anticipation of a cruel impact with the cold stone floor but was surprised to find it soft and rather warm. She opened her eyes but could only see black. She blinked confusedly, but before she could comprehend that her face was rubbing against fabric instead of stone, she was pulled backwards to a standing position, and suddenly before her was a smirking Snape.

Severus had been putting books in a trunk, cursing Dubledore vehemently in his mind, when the hair on his arms raised, the goosebumps his warning that someone had violated his wards. He quickly turned off the obnoxious music that he couldn't believe he was listening to (and would never admit to liking for anything in the world) and strode to the door, expecting a knock at any second. When none was heard, he had snatched the door open in an attempt to catch the perpetrator, most likely a student trying to pull a prank on the mean old greasy Potions Professor. A small "eep!" and a body hurtling at him caught him off guard. His reflexes acted before his brain as he reached out to catch the person; if he had been thinking clearly, he would have let the offending party fall painfully on the floor. A glance down told him that the person he was how holding close to his chest was not a student. Pulling the person slightly from his body, he saw that it was Hermione Granger, and he quickly schooled his face into its well-practiced smirk and pulled her to her feet.

"That's what you get for spying on me."

Hermione gaped at him. How had he known she was there? Had he?

Snape was growing impatient. Had the girl—woman, he reminded himself—hit her head to hard on his chest, or maybe on the door during her fall? Why was she just standing there? Then Snape remembered. She hadn't heard...?

"What can I do for you, Miss Granger?" he asked, trying to sidestep that conversation. "Surely you came to my rooms for some other purpose than eavesdropping?"

It worked. Hermione snapped out of her stupor and sent him a mild glare. "Of course, Professor. I came to inform you that Dumbledore would like us to leave tomorrow morning. He has an automobile reserved for us in Boston, and he will give us his itinerary requirements"—involuntary shudder from Snape—" and money for the trip."

Hermione eyed Snape carefully. What? Am I supposed to say something? Snape thought, annoyed at her prolonged presence.

"Alright."

More silence.

"Tomorrow morning then."

Hermione nodded. Snape glared at her. Why was she still there? Inwardly rolling his eyes, he walked around her to the door and looked back at Hermione expectantly, who was now staring at his bed. She pointed at it and, turning to him with disbelief on her face, exclaimed,

"Is that your luggage?"

Snape glowered. Who was she to criticize his choice in luggage? In a dangerous tone, he replied, "Yes, what of it? I suppose yours is more tasteful?" It was on the tip of his tongue to inform her just how much this luggage cost him, but before he could spitefully spit this out, she started to go through his books.

"Professor, forgive me, but this will not do. You cannot bring all of this!" she told him pointedly. Gesturing to the seven oversized trunks already packed and orderly arranged at the foot of the bed, she asked, "What is in those?"

Snape seemed rooted to the spot, hardly believing that she had the audacity to look through his belongings and question his packing skills. "Why do I need to tell you that, Miss Granger?"

Hermione looked at him in bewilderment. "Do you really think you can take all of this with us? It's physically impossible!"

Snape simply sneered at her. "You have no right to question my choices in packing, nor practice such ignorance in my quarters. Leave!" he retorted, opening the door flush to the wall to further emphasize his point.

Hermione was angry. She stalked to the door past the glowering Snape and started out the door, but turned on her heel back to face him.

"I apologize, Professor. I was only trying to help you. You will recall that Dumbledore expressly forbade the use of magic on this trip. You will not be able to minimize your trunks. We will have to portkey them with us."

She stalked out of the room, leaving him with a chagrined expression on his face. He was furious with himself for forgetting that detail. Damn Dumbledore and his damn rules! Thinking quickly, Snape knew what he had to do.

"Miss Granger, wait--"

The sound of retreating footsteps ceased, then grew louder as Hermione returned to the door, a sour expression on her face. She looked at him, one eyebrow raised in an ironically Snape-like fashion.

Sigh. "As much as this pains me, I'm afraid I need to ask for your assistance."

Hermione glared at him. "Really? After chasing me from your quarters, you expect me to help you pack?"

Snape averted his eyes, knowing full well that he had deserved that. "The truth is, I have never been on, what you have termed, a 'roadtrip'. I have no idea what to expect, or what to bring..." He looked over at his trunks with a slightly panicked expression. Hermione bit her lip to keep from snickering at the suddenly amusing circumstances. At her silence, Snape took up the defensive once again. Turning back to her, he quickly added, "The more you help me now, the less trunks you have to drag with you through the streets of Boston!"

Hermione looked like she was about to retort but bit back any reply she had formed in her mind, clearly weighing out the pros and cons. With a reluctant nod, she stepped further into the room and pausing by the packed trunks and asked, "May I open these?" Snape grimaced but nodded, knowing it was the only way to get her help. Besides, on this trip we are likely to get to know each other and each other's things very intimately, he thought.

Hermione opened the trunk closest to her to find it full of bottles of individual potions, each bottle individually wrapped in tissue paper to protect it. She shook her head. Why would they need this many potions?

Snape, seemingly reading her mind, haltingly said, "You never know..."

Hermione just looked at him and shook her head. He acquiesced. Levitating the trunk, he took it back to his private potion stores and began to sullenly put the bottles away in their correct places. Hermione bit back a chuckle and opened the next trunk, which was full of blankets, pillows, wool socks, a hot water bottle, and, shockingly, a soft satin eye mask. She threw a disbelieving look over her shoulder at Snape, who was still busily restocking the shelves. Deciding to give him a break, she quickly pulled all everything out of the trunk and placed it all neatly on the corner of the bed, making sure the mask was hidden underneath the blankets. She then opened the third and fourth trunks, each full of robes, shirts, and pants. She sorted them out on the bed as well. Snape had finished replacing the potions and had walked over behind her, watching in horror as she removed his things from the luggage. Hermione turned to start on another trunk and started on seeing him standing there. Catching his gaze, she calmly informed him,

"You can only bring one trunk with you."

Snape had a difficult time hiding a gasp. "The journey is going to be at least three weeks long!" he said incredulously.

Hermione gaped at him. "You really have never been on a roadtrip, have you?"

"You are testing my patience, Miss Granger."

"Professor Snape, I am no longer your student! If you wish me to help you then treat me with the respect I deserve as your colleague!" The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them. Hermione slapped her hand over her mouth, looking more like a scared second year than the professional she was insisting she be recognized as. She carefully eyed Snape, expecting him to fly into a rage and throw her out of his rooms, but surprisingly he didn't. He remained rooted to the spot, curiously watching her with surprise, then a flash of anger and finally admission showing in his eyes. In an uncharacteristic move, further astounding Hermione, he dropped his eyes and nodded. "Of course, Professor. I apologize."

Hermione let the surprise she was feeling show on her face for a split second before turning her head back to the trunks. With a deep breath, she opened yet another trunk and did a double take.

"Shoes? This is full of shoes!"

This time Snape did get angry. He bellowed, "You never know!", which was quickly becoming a refrain for him.

Hermione was digging hastily through the footwear. "You never know what? Half of these are the same!" she retorted, pulling out several pairs of black leather boots. "You only need one pair of these, I promise. If they get dirty, you wash them off. If they get wet, they will dry. Let's see, you will not need riding boots, because I assure you we will not be using horses for transportation at any point. Slippers...well, the slippers can stay, they don't take up much room. (pause) More riding boots! No, these have to go." And so she continued, enjoying her position of power, as minute as it may have been. Who would have guessed Severus Snape was a shoe person? With every pair she discarded, Snape looked like he was losing a piece of his soul. His face, of course, showed no expression, but she could see a faint glimmer of loss in his eyes. This was turning out to be kind of fun.

"Flip-flops?"

Hermione was sure the world had come to its end. First of all, she was holding a pair of atrociously red—no, fuschia--flip-flops. Second of all, said flip-flops had been retrieved from a trunk belonging to and packed by Severus Snape. Third of all, Severus Snape was blushing.

"What could you possibly need these for?" she asked.

Snape shrugged his shoulders slightly and averted his eyes, looking anywhere but at the amused face and offending sandals. Why me?

Hermione was enjoying herself far too much. She stood with sandals in hand, strode over to the potions master, looked him squarely in the eye, and, pushing the sandals against his chest for added emphasis, said in mock seriousness, "You have a sickness!"

Normally she would have died before getting up the nerve to criticize him, or touch him for that matter.

Normally he would have started knitting a pretty purple scarf before allowing a former student to rifle through his belongings and so blatantly confront him.

Normally they would have never voluntarily have been in such close proximity to each other for this long. But both were becoming subtly more comfortable with the other's presence, and looking down at the pink flip-flops that now spanned the distance between their bodies, and then back at each other, they both began to smile, then try to hide their smiles, then suddenly start to laugh.

They laughed together, not loudly or obnoxiously, just quiet chuckles. And both realized that this roadtrip might not be as altogether horrible as each had imagined it would be.

Dumbledore chose this moment to appear in Snape's fireplace. It took a few seconds before either Hermione or Severus noticed his presence, just long enough for the Headmaster to observe the two standing no more than eight inches apart and laughing quietly.

Snape suddenly registered the "whoosh" he had heard as his floo around the same time Hermione did and both quickly stepped away from each other. Snape inwardly groaned. The last thing he needed was for Dumbledore to have seen him standing so close to a woman, staring into her eyes, laughing no less. He whirled to face him but could see no trace of amusement in the old man's face.

"Wonderful, both of you are here!" Dumbledore exclaimed from the fireplace. "Saves me a trip. Although, I must say I would never have expected to find you two here, together."

"I was just helping Professor Snape pack."

Snape sent a glare in Hermione's direction. She caught his eye and bit her bottom lip, trying to keep from laughing. Don't you dare...

"Well, that was very thoughtful of you dear," Dumbledore replied, taking the new information in stride. Then, looking around and noticing for the first time the massive piles of clothes, blankets, and shoes on the bed, "Severus, you can't mean to take all of this with you?"

Snape just about snapped. "No."

Dumbledore looked relieved. "Good. Well then, I just wanted to tell the both of you that you leave tomorrow morning at nine. I will meet you at the front entrance to the castle then. Good evening. And, Severus," with a slight twinkle in his eye, "it would suit you to lighten up more." And with that the troublesome Headmaster was gone.

Snape closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. Dumbledore had seen. At least he was escaping the old man's grasp tomorrow morning. Old, cunning, devious, evil devil of a man—

A voice invaded his ominous thoughts. "He's right, you know."

Snape opened his eyes quickly. Was she going to tease him too?

"This trip is only three weeks long, and you can bring with you only one trunk. Therefore you need to lighten up like Dumbledore said. Pack one week's worth of clothing, and only the essentials."

He could have sighed in relief. She had taken the old man literally. But...

"That still leaves the question of what I am to wear for two of the three weeks."

Hermione had returned to sorting through Snape's trunks. "It would be impractical to bring clothing to last three weeks. The lodgings we will stay at will have laundry facilities, and we will wash our clothes as needed." Opening the sixth trunk, she shook her head. As she removed the food items, she informed him that it was customary to eat at restaurants regularly while traveling. "Dumbledore will be giving us money, so there will be no need to bring along any food."

Snape was relieved. One trunk did not seem so daunting any more.

Hermione walked over to the last trunk and opened it, finding it full of journals, periodicals, books, notes, and various sheets of paper. Snape jumped in quickly. "I was planning on using those while we were traveling. I can't justify three weeks of sitting still without any kind of research."

Hermione looked at him with something like admiration in her eyes. Or was it understanding?

"Of course. But you can't bring all of this with you." Once again Snape was at a loss of what to do. Hermione snapped the lid shut and sat down on top of it. "I am bringing a backpack with just a few books and other things. I couldn't leave it all behind." She looked at him and still sensing some confusion on his part, offered a final suggestion: "Decide on one project, preferably a small one, and bring only the supplies for that one. Obviously you won't be able to test anything in a lab, so bring reading materials and research." Snape nodded. It was the best they could do.

Hermione stood, stretching. "I need to get back to packing myself." She started to walk over to the door, but then seemed to think of something else. Turning back to Snape, she said, "Three weeks of sitting in a car. Remember that. As much as you or I would like to think we could read or research for that long without a break..."

"What are you saying?"

Hermione sighed. "I'm saying, bring something else to occupy your thoughts and your time. Reading for pleasure. Crossword puzzles. You bring a pillow and I'll bring a blanket so we can sleep. Things like that." She resumed her walk across the room. Reaching the door, she turned back and with a carefully blank face added, "And any music you like."

Snape blanched. Oh, no. She had heard. Trying to cover, he smirked at her, but before he could sarcastically reply, she cut in. "You won't want to listen to my voice for twenty-one days without a reprieve." With that, she turned on her heel and left the rooms, quietly shutting the door behind her.

Severus wearily sat on the foot of the bed. Closing his eyes once more, he allowed his mind a few seconds of silence. Then, snapping them open again, he reached in between the mattresses and pulled out five CD cases and hastily shoved them into the darkest corner of a trunk. He quickly placed two pairs of shoes around them in an effort to obscure them from his vision. He would just ask Minerva to transfigure something into a portable CD player with headphones. There was no way he would let Hermione in on his secret taste in music.

Dumbledore returned to his desk, allowing the grin that had been threatening to appear since seeing Severus and Hermione laughing together to finally surface. Minerva looked at him warily. "What now?"

Dumbledore looked at her gleefully. He might as well have been rubbing his hands together. "Hermione was in Severus's private rooms." Minerva's eyes widened. "She was helping him pack."

Minerva knew there was something else he wasn't telling her. That glint in his eye betrayed him. She sat stiffly in her chair, desperately trying to act aloof and uncaring, but after five minutes of Dumbledore staring at her silently with that idiotic grin on his face, she snapped.

"Spit it out, Albus."

Dumbledore's self-assured grin slowly changed into one of amazement. "He was laughing."

Minerva was sure he was lying. But Dumbledore looked back at her in absolute seriousness, and she knew it was true.

Hermione had somehow cracked the Potions Master.

There she be! I know I promised to deliver Severus in a car, but this idea popped into my head and I couldn't get rid of it. But there is more dialogue! And believe it or not, it makes for a pretty good transition, and the seemingly pointless information here will actually come into play later. Mostly. Some of it is just for kicks. I like making Sev uncomfortable.

Severus glares at the author. "Don't call me 'Sev'!"

The author backs away slowly. "Sorry, Sev..."

Severus takes a menacing step, wand out and ready.

"...erus! Severus!"

The good news is that my finals will be over as of May 19th, which means I will have a lot more time to devote to this story, which means faster updates for you! Hooray!

Please review! Honestly, if you're an author you know how much a review can help. If you see anything that you think should be edited or revised, if you have any questions, or even if there is something you would like to see in later chapters, let me know in review or email.

Thanks to everyone who commented!

Softballchick dreaowa: Yes, yes she is. It will get interesting, I assure you. And about the ps: yay! We should start a club or something! Tee-shirts for members...

Mirlanthiriel: Thanks! 70s would be fun too. I almost did it in the 60s so I could use Elvis as my theme. Dumbledore would have had them go to every place he performed as well as any museum and, of course, an obligatory stay in Memphis. I think they will have to make a pitstop there anyway; I can't seem to resist.

KandKL: Indeed. I couldn't have him saying "Dammit!" but that is what he said in my mind. Do you even realize how many inside jokes we're going to have in here? I guess we're just that cool...

Siriuslyblack04: You know I love you. Much thanks! Good luck with finals!

Natsuyori: I would love to get them in a Miada! If I wasn't already set on a Volkswagon van (yes I know it's more sixties than eighties but I don't care! Won't Severus look hilarious in one?)...maybe the van can break down and they can end up in a Miada for the last leg of the trip. We shall see! ;)

KangaRoo526: No worries, this is indeed meant to be a humorous romance. Hopefully that will come across.

rasaaabe: I'm glad you like it! Enjoy!

Much thanks to my beta, Siriuslyblack04! Mwa!

All Harry Potter characters were used without permission. They are the copyright of J.R. Rowling and Warner Bros. They are used with consideration and with no intent to make money.

Peace and love y'all!