September arrived and Snape was still no closer to thinking of a solution to his problem with Miss Lovegood than he had been to begin with. If anything, he had hoped that Defence Against the Dark Arts, which he had, after so many years of nagging Dumbledore about it, finally been asked to teach instead of Potions, would be her last lesson before dinner, just like Potions had been the previous year, giving him a chance to occasionally speak to her after class. Unfortunately, though, it was as if everybody was plotting against him, including Minerva McGonagall, who, being in charge of timetables, put Miss Lovegood's DADA lesson just before her Herbology lesson, meaning the girl could not afford to dawdle much if she wanted to get to the greenhouses in time. There went his only plan, then. To compensate for his frustration he had, at least, come up with a sufficiently devilish detention for Miss Adams and Miss Wilson, one he officially called 'gathering potion ingredients' for his new colleague, Horace Slughorn, who had replaced him as Potions teacher, but which, in fact, involved accompanying him to the Forbidden Forest and rummaging through unicorn excrements (without gloves, of course) in search of Star Grass, which, when digested by unicorns, gained additional magical properties. Somehow he doubted the girls would want to mention the nature of their punishment to anyone for fear of being laughed at, and he could not wait to see their faces when he told them.
If he had been hoping for some last-minute inspiration, none ever came. By the time he was to teach Miss Lovegood's class, he was still as clueless as to what he would do or say as before. This made him uneasy; it was not a situation he generally found himself in. It was he who was supposed to make the students lose all power of speech, not the other way round. And so as he waited for the class to file in, he was caught in a conflict of emotions: there was pleasant anticipation at seeing the girl again but there was also anxiety; he desperately wanted to speak to her and yet did not know how to. To his immense relief, it was Miss Lovegood herself who solved his dilemma for him; as the lesson ended, she took longer than her classmates to pack her things (which was nothing unusual, as she was normally slow about everything she did) to ensure that she was the last one to stay, then approached him with a smile that seemed to light up the whole room.
"I really liked your lesson today," she said without preamble. "Everyone says Defence Against the Dark Arts is what you've always wanted to teach. I'm happy for you."
Snape could not help but give her a half-smile of his own, so delighted was he to finally be in her company again it was almost like taking a drug, and so grateful to her for making the first move. "Thank you, Miss Lovegood. I trust you had a good summer?" Strangely, whatever had seemed stupid to say only a few hours ago sounded just fine now that it came down to it.
"Very nice, thank you. Dad took me to France. I really loved the food. It did get a bit lonely towards the end, though. I missed the bustle of the school. I missed you, too."
Snape felt as if he had been given an extra dose of the drug. "I ... have also grown somewhat accustomed to spending my evenings searching the school for stolen items." Which, of course, was a severe understatement, but he would have had to be put under torture to wear his heart on his sleeve like Miss Lovegood did.
"I actually feel kind of sad nobody will be stealing my things anymore," sighed Miss Lovegood. "It gave us a chance to spend time together. I'd still like to, though. Maybe we could go for a walk sometime?"
Snape could have hugged her for her directness; she had said exactly what he had been thinking but had been unable to put into words. "I am certainly not opposed to continuing our meetings, Miss Lovegood," he said, "but it would look decidedly strange if the two of us were seen walking together for apparently no reason. People would gossip. It could sabotage my work for the Order. If, however, you knew of a place free from prying eyes, I would-"
"Of course!" nodded Miss Lovegood enthusiastically. "The Room of Requirement."
"I beg your pardon?"
"The Room of Requirement," repeated Miss Lovegood. "It's where our DA meetings took place last year. You just walk past a wall three times, wishing for it to be there, and it appears, taking the form of whatever you want it to be."
Snape could hardly believe his ears; this sounded too perfect to be true. He had, of course, heard that Potter had been teaching his friends in some sort of secret room, but nobody had bothered to fill him in on the details at the time and all the events that followed had driven it right out of his mind. Still, he had to know more before he gave it a chance. "All right, but won't anyone from your little club be able to enter the room now? Since they all understand how it works?" He imagined Potter walking in on them and felt his skin crawl.
"They would have to know what we asked the room to change into. If we turn it into something nobody would ever guess, we will be quite safe." She clapped her hands excitedly. "This is going to be fun! I have a few ideas already."
Snape smirked. "I can imagine." Inwardly, however, he was celebrating. The place really did seem a godsend. Could it be that his wishes had been heard? That he and Miss Lovegood would be given a chance to continue meeting? "Where exactly is this room?" he asked after a few moments of examining the information from all angles, finally satisfied to have found no fault.
"On the seventh floor. Opposite the tapestry on which trolls are dancing ballet."
"Very well then. Shall we meet there tonight after dinner?"
"Ooh, yes, I'd love that! Perhaps we could make the room look like an art gallery? Me and Dad went to a few in France and they were really nice. I don't think anybody at Hogwarts will think of visiting one, though."
"I quite agree. Make it an art gallery with a table, two chairs and a tea set. I shall provide the tea."
"Tea in an art gallery! How thoughtful of you, Professor!"
Snape swelled at the praise; it was so easy to please Miss Lovegood that he could no longer understand what had frightened him about this conversation in the first place. Perhaps it was because he had never met anyone so accepting before that he still had trouble getting used to it, perhaps the summer had blurred his memories of their previous meetings, or perhaps he was still affected by his failed friendship with Lily where he had said some things he should not have, but all he had needed were a mere few minutes to reconfirm what, for the reasons stated above, he seemed to have forgotten: that with Miss Lovegood he really could say anything and would never get a negative reaction. "It is nothing, Miss Lovegood," he said modestly. "Now, as for the timing, it would not do for us to arrive together, so I suggest you enter the room at seven and I shall join you shortly after. Perhaps it would also be a good idea to check there is nobody around when you go in, as people might start wondering what you are up to in there."
"This is almost like a secret mission!" beamed Miss Lovegood. "I love secret missions."
"Indeed. But for now I had better not keep you any longer, as I believe you have ... a class to attend." He had almost said 'Herbology' but checked himself just in time. Miss Lovegood did not need to know he had familiarised himself with her timetable. "I shall see you after seven."
"I can't wait already! See you, Professor!" She gave him a dazzling smile and, throwing her bag over her shoulder, ran out of the classroom, leaving him gazing after her and feeling the weight on his shoulders that had been poisoning his life all summer suddenly becoming considerably lighter.
