Chapter 7: Confused Minds
Hermione left the Potions Master's private quarters shortly afterwards. Climbing through the hole in the cold stone wall and ignoring the strange calls coming from the quirky painting, she made her way through the maze-like dungeon corridors as countless thoughts occupied her ever-busy mind.
She was still completely baffled by this morning's events. It had been more than exciting – and frankly a bit scary as well – to see Professor Snape's rooms with her own eyes. It wasn't the first time that she had been inside a teacher's chambers, of course; after all, she and her Head of House had enjoyed one or the other afternoon tea time filled with interesting discussions and even some motherly advice over the years. But her relationship with the Potions teacher – if she ever even had one to begin with – had never been good enough for the two of them to exchange words outside of the classroom, let alone for her to be invited into his quarters. Come to think of it, she couldn't fathom any student setting foot in those rooms, not even every pure-blood's favourite Draco Malfoy himself.
For some reason, she hadn't been surprised by the lack of a Slytherin colour scheme. She'd never taken Professor Snape for someone who would want to excessively show off his affiliation to something. She had, however, been pleasantly surprised by the warm and comfy atmosphere in his sitting room – she could very well imagine spending many delightful hours there, browsing through his impressive collection of books.
But the pupil had been even more thrilled about being able to work in his potions lab. She was still mesmerised. She had of course known that his laboratory would be well-equipped as well as adequately taken care of; but she had been completely awestruck by the sheer extent of colourful potions, rare ingredients and weird tools hidden away in the small dungeon space. Even though she was arguably one of the smartest witches in the world, she could have never named even just half of the things she'd seen in there. The half-blood owned so many odd and complex appliances, some of which seemed to be older than Hogwarts itself. She'd also never seen as many diverse potions in one single spot before. So she would give anything for a chance to explore this mind-boggling place for even just an hour.
However, Hermione had been a bit puzzled by Professor Snape's behaviour. The black-haired man had seemed distracted throughout the whole work process. He had avoided eye contact and talked even less than he normally would – which probably no one would have thought to be possible. In fact, he'd never once called her an annoying know-it-all or anything similar to that. And when he had finally escorted her out of his rooms, it had seemed as though he couldn't have her leave fast enough.
She shrugged. "Well, he probably just felt extra uneasy because one of his least favourite students was invading his space. Can't really blame him for that …" she mumbled as she tucked her blouse back into her charcoal grey skirt.
Severus turned on the old, rusty faucet and let the cold water trickle down his naked body. Crushed snake fang powder mixed with sweat was rinsed off him as a few strands of jet-black hair fell into his face. He hadn't felt this uneasy since his days of being both the Dark Lord's servant as well as Dumbledore's spy.
He still couldn't believe what had gotten over him back in the lab. His impure thoughts about his own student made him feel dirty and disgusting. Sure, Granger wasn't a little girl anymore, and most people would probably think of her as an attractive young woman – but having any feelings of this sort was still something highly inappropriate for a teacher. Besides, Snape had never been one to show much interest in the opposite sex to begin with. As a matter of fact, he hadn't harboured any feelings for anybody since Lily Potter, his childhood sweetheart. After her violent death had broken both his heart and will, switching sides and being in constant danger as the headmaster's puppet in the plan to bring about Voldemort's downfall hadn't left much time for him to fall in love again or even just to simply lust after a woman. Seeing the Head Girl's feminine curves, which were normally well-hidden underneath Hogwarts' plain uniform, had made him experience a rush of feelings he had thought long gone.
"Enough!" he snarled angrily. "Get a hold of yourself, Severus! Thinking about the Gryffindor Princess in such a way – how low can you get?!"
He hastily turned off the faucet and exited his rundown shower. He walked out of his bathroom and into his sitting room, ignoring the water running down his legs onto the floor. Opening one of the narrow doors, his rather spacious yet still cosy bedroom was revealed. Within only three big steps, he reached his king-sized bed and let himself fall on his back. He could feel the sheet beneath him getting wet, but he simply didn't care enough about that at that moment.
Snape laid in the dark for a good few minutes, before his stomach suddenly started to growl aggressively. But while his body may have been desperate for food, the wizard didn't feel like eating. Actually, he didn't feel like doing anything. He only had about an hour left before he had to get ready to teach his third-year Gryffindor and Slytherin students; and even just the thought of that made him groan. He closed his eyes in exhaustion and was soon fast asleep.