Severus Snape's My Valentine
The Hogwarts professors had a strange way of celebrating Valentine's day that Hermione knew nothing about until she had come back to apprentice under Severus Snape. Almost like a secret Santa, the staff drew names for people to give gifts to on Valentine's day. The one who drew the name would give the other small gifts over the course of the day while also trying to guess who it was that had gotten them as a secret Valentine. It was supposed to be a morale booster or bonding experiment but Hermione could imagine it was something Severus dreaded every year. Hermione was nervous, though it was a matter of it being her first event and not knowing exactly what it would entail. So when McGonagall brought out a red, fluffy top hat, Hermione shoved her hand in to quickly take out a name and get it over with.
They were not allowed to unravel it until later that evening as there were a few teachers who were known to give away their picks with facial expressions. And well, Severus was a particularly skilled legilimens and therefore could tell immediately who everyone had gotten if he so wanted. At the end of the event, everyone was to guess who the others had gotten and the person who figured out the most pairs won a gift certificate of their choice to any Wizarding Store they chose. If the person also managed to remain unguessed by their pair and guessed their gifter correctly, they would also get a week's stay at a lovely inn by the water over summer break. Hermione could immediately picture herself lounging by the ocean, reading a new book from Tomes and Scrolls or Flourish and Blotts. She could use it after her four-month apprenticeship.
Hermione arrived back in her chamber, sitting back on the overstuffed mattress and purple floral bedding. She pulled out the note from her pocket and chewed her lip as she debated whose name she would actually want to be on the other side of the paper. Finally, when no option seemed to be easier to manage than the next, she unfolded the paper and her jaw dropped open.
Severus Snape
Not only had she gotten the powerful legilimens, but she also got the man that she worked for all day. How could she slip him a gift without him knowing it was her? It wasn't as though she could fake another person's arrival and exits from his classroom while they were brewing. The only thing that wouldn't be a problem is that she was already compiling a mental list of all the things she could get him: books, potion ingredients, a new cauldron stirrer. The thought of giving him gifts excited her, but she would have to start practising shielding her thoughts or she would never be in the running for the summer vacation.
The Hogsmeade visit that weekend was over-chaperoned as most of the staff took the opportunity to go shopping, though most of them were being abundantly sneaky. Hermione had written to Harry to ask for his invisibility cloak to make it through the shops undetected, only revealing herself at the till when she would pay for the items. She had gathered one large bag full of items she knew Severus Snape would enjoy and went back to the castle to wrap them. She had thought at first to poorly wrap the items, to disguise her fastidious nature, but decided that was a rather muggle notion and she would be even easier to find out. So she wrapped them with magic and hid them throughout her chambers, preparing for Wednesday.
-x-
After dinner, Hermione went down to the classroom to begin a brew that would have to sit overnight and quietly went to work. Severus had evidently tucked himself away for the evening which allowed her some privacy to get started. He had left out the ingredients list and the instructions next to the cauldron, as he always did for her weekend brews. The classroom was dimly lit, to avoid over-exposing the ingredients to artificial lights, and smelt of old books and spiced rum. It looked just as she had remembered it during her school days, even though it had been partially rebuilt after the war.
Her cauldron began to bubble and one floated up and popped in front of her nose. Turning off the flame, she put the cauldron to the side. Hermione was reaching for a bottle when a noise behind her startled her. She flung around, dropping the bottle, but it didn't shatter on the floor.
Severus Snape had entered the room and saved the glass with a flick of his wand, replacing it on her table. "I did not mean to startle you, Miss Granger," he said, tucking his wand away and sitting down at his desk. "Merely came to finish the last of my grading, carry on." With a dismissing wave of his hand, Hermione finished bottling up her brew for the hospital wing and turned to leave.
"Miss Granger, I wonder if you might be able to help me," he asked before she could leave. She wondered, for a brief moment, if he was going to ask her to help him pick out gifts for another teacher, but she ushered that thought away as he was well aware of the rules and known to follow them.
"Of course, what can I do?" She strode back over to him, taking a chair from one of the desks and placing it opposite him. He handed her a stack of parchment, about half of what was piled next to him.
"Help me get through these essays, and you can have tomorrow off," he instructed, never quite looking up from his page. She settled into her task, crossing one leg over the other under the desk and accidentally brushing his leg with her own. Shivers ran over her skin as she tucked her legs closer into herself. Biting her bottom lip, she willed her mind to focus on anything other than the tingling feeling running up and down her back. However, her mind remained fuzzy as she thought of how nice it would be to brush up against him once more.
Her thoughts shifted to what his hands would feel like. Would they be soft and smooth? Or rough from chopping so many ingredients and bottling so many potions? Would they be warm? Or clammy like Ron's were? How would they feel pressing against her back as he kissed her?
"Mind wandering, Miss Granger?" His voice shook her from her reverie and her face flushed deeply. Had he been reading her mind? Embarrassment sunk in and she dove into the essay, flipping one after the other until she had powered through the remainder before the clock struck 11.
"You may go now, Miss Granger, thank you for your assistance. I will see you Monday." Hermione wanted to ask if he had seen inside her mind, she wanted to know if he had watched her fantasies play out, but she was too nervous to ask. So instead she stood and returned to her chambers, trying not to let the embarrassment brew inside her any longer. At least in her chambers, she was safe to wonder how, exactly, he would kiss her.
-x-
Monday came far too quickly, then Tuesday, then Wednesday morning all of her plans to hide Severus' gifts seemed far too feeble. She had started her day early, determined to get down to the teacher's table before the rest to plant the first book on Severus' chair. But when she arrived, the head table was already packed with professors, including Snape. Before she could be seen, she doubled back and rushed down to his office and, shrugging on Harry's cloak, placed the gift outside his office door then returned to the dining hall. She slipped into her chair and hoped her absence hadn't been felt.
In front of her was a small pink box wrapped in a glittering white ribbon. She took it with a smile and opened it to find a small bottle of dittany. The label was written with magic to disguise the handwriting as it was entirely unfamiliar from any of the teachers at Hogwarts. She pocketed it and started her breakfast, catching glances from other professors as they had all, obviously, already hidden and opened their first gifts.
She hid another gift at lunch, the stirrer, and another just before dinner. She had caught Professor Sprout leaving Flitwick a gift and caught Professor Flitwick leaving a small package, much like Hermione's had been, outside Trelawny's office. McGonagall had gotten Madame Pince and Professor Sinistra had gotten Professor Binns. She was surprised at how easily it was to deduce who had who and how easily some were caught during the school's breaks. Hagrid was the easiest to guess, given he was not the most subtle of people. He'd gotten McGonagall and left all his gifts at once, likely knowing that he wasn't in for the running anyway. Hermione hoped that her attempts hadn't been so feeble to guess. She still had no idea who it was that was leaving her gifts or who Severus had gotten. He was slick and seemed to be able to tell when Hermione would be off looking elsewhere to make his drops.
Hermione had so far gotten the small bottle of dittany, a book on apparitions while in distress, and a small bag with an undetectable extension charm like the one she had used throughout the war. There was one gift left to give and receive before the party that evening and she was determined not to get caught. She knew that Severus took his tea in his chambers and she equally knew where those chambers were. Under the cloak, she had gotten made it to his chamber door without being detected when she noticed a package sitting outside. She reached down, swapping it for her own, and read the tag.
Hermione Granger
She opened it up hastily and it was a note:
I've guessed you are my Valentine, seems we got a perfect pair. I owe you.
She debated for a moment who else would know where Severus' chambers were, as they were in a rather well-hidden part of the Dungeons, but he could have been close to any number of professors. She examined the handwriting, which was the same as every other gift she had gotten thus far, and therefore could not be deduced that way. Who owed her? She wracked her brain trying to figure it out as she sauntered back to the Great Hall for dinner, still wrapped in the invisibility cloak.
It was only when she made it back that she put it all together. She recalled uncomfortably the moment as Severus lay dying in front of her as she desperately poured dittany on his wounds. Ron and Harry had ushered her away to the castle before she could be certain he would survive and only found out after the death toll had been released that he had survived. Somehow he had managed to apparate to St. Mungo's who knew how to treat the wounds as they had treated Arthur for the same only years prior. But he couldn't possibly remember that. He had been dying. He was barely lucid when she had been trying to save him.
And if Severus had gotten her, and she had gotten him, that only left a handful of people left to guess. So she went on the hunt. By the time she had to leave for the dinner party, she had caught Binn's floating over to Madame Hooch's office and Madame Hooch leaving a present for Pomona sprout. She never caught Professor Vector, Madame Pince, Professor Trelawney, or Professor Babbling. So made a couple of random guesses and assigned the rest on her sheet as she walked into the party.
The room was adorned in red and pink hearts. There were floating sparklers and streamers hung from the walls. It was quite the Valentine's Day spectacle and she was entirely prepared to submit her answers.
Hermione nursed her pink sparkling fruit punch as she kept an eye on Severus. He was lingering near the walls of the party, never meeting anyone's eye, though still seeming to enjoy himself. She had caught a smile or two, and a tap of his foot when a song he recognised came on.
When it finally came time to announce the winner, Hermione's stomach flipped.
"It appears we have a tie," Headmistress McGonagall announced. "Our two Valentine's are Severus Snape and Hermione Granger." Applause broke out as Hermione made her way to the front of the crowd, Severus following suit. Minerva conjured two bubblegum pink crowns and placed them on their heads, much to Snape's apparent displeasure. "And now, to see who wins the vacation..." A drumroll came out of nowhere and drew out the suspense. "Hermione Granger! Having successfully guessed her Valentine, Professor Snape, and remaining unguessed by Professor Snape as his Valentine, she is the winner of this year's vacation!" She glanced over at him and he smiled slyly. He had known who his Valentine was, he said as much, how did he not also win?
He slunk away as Hermione accepted her gift but she went after him.
"You knew it was me," Hermione said. "Why didn't you say anything?"
"Consider it my final gift," Severus chuckled.
"Come with me, you deserve it just as much," the younger witch insisted.
"I owe you my life, Miss Granger, a vacation would just be the start," he grumbled, no longer smiling. "However, if you would like me to accompany you, I would be delighted."
"Don't accompany me just because you think you owe, I want you to come. And I want you to want to come." Hermione felt sick at the prospect of everything Severus had done for her thus far being out of some obligation he felt. Had he taken her on as an apprentice as a form of repayment? Had the compliments on her work been nothing but appeasement?
"I would be delighted," he repeated. She stood there for a moment, daring to protest some more. But just as she opened her mouth to speak he leaned forward and captured her mouth in a kiss. Her mind emptied at the action and she leaned into the kiss. His hands felt just as she pictured pressed against the small of her back as she relished in his scent. Old books and spiced rum. "Happy Valentine's day, my Valentine."