Chapter 21: An Unpleasant Surprise II

"Oh!" The tall frame of the Potions Master was not what Hermione had expected to see when she pulled open the heavy door of her Head Girl suite. For some reason, the mere sight of him made her cheeks start to burn. "Professor Snape … what are you doing here?"

"Good evening, Hermione." As always, he had looked over her shoulder into her rooms to make sure that no one was within earshot before addressing her by her first name, and the witch had to suppress a smile – it was kind of adorable. "After our lesson this afternoon, I noticed that you had accidentally left your Transfiguration book in my office. Since I know that you will be needing it for class tomorrow, I figured that I would stop by on my way back from supper to drop it off."

He held out the book to her, and it looked so small in his big hands. Hermione could not help but think about what else those manly hands were capable of.

"Th-thank you, sir!" Her heart was pounding out of her chest – he was being so considerate! It was truly hard to believe that she had used to be so intimidated by him. After getting to know him over the past few months on a more personal level, she had quickly come to realise how genuine and caring he really was. "Um, would you maybe like to come inside? I don't quite feel comfortable just sending off back into the dungeons after you did me this huge favour."

She could see him hesitate for a second and felt like the suspense was threatening to make her faint.

"I suppose that I could stay for a few minutes," he ultimately said in that deep voice of his that was like honey to her ears, and Hermione had to bite the insides of her cheeks to keep herself from squealing in delight.

Struggling to keep her nerves under control, she stepped aside to let him in. As he brushed past her, his arm briefly touched hers, and it caused a bolt of electricity to speed through her. No boy had ever set foot inside her bedroom before – with the exception of Harry and Ron, of course – and while having male company before curfew technically was not against the rules, it still made her feel kind of naughty for some reason. And Professor Snape was not even a boy. No, he was a full-grown man who was able to make her feel things she had never experienced before merely by existing.

"My apologies for the lack of sitting accommodations," Hermione said as she pushed the door shut. "When I first moved in, there was a pair of old reading chairs in that corner over there. But I had the house elves remove them, because I felt like I don't have people over often enough to warrant them taking up so much space. But you can sit on my bed if you'd like!"

She could see his dark eyes widen for a split second before he was able to regain his cold expression.

"Ah … yes," he said in a hushed tone before stiffly walking over to her enormous bed and consequently slumping down on it.

It was an almost comical sight, seeing this pale-skinned man dressed in all black sitting on her old coral comforter, surrounded by a seemingly endless number of ruffled pillows. But even that did not prevent her thoughts from running wild: her mind produced mental pictures of him pulling her into bed, of them rolling around in it half-naked, of his rough hands slipping off her knickers and –

Hermione had to force herself to stop or otherwise, her perverse thinking would have started to show on her face. So instead, she refocused her energy on trying to decide whether or not she should be audacious enough to sit down next to him. It would be incredibly improper, of course, to be in bed with one of her professors, no matter how innocent the circumstances. Then again, was is not also incredibly impolite to keep standing, therefore practically implying that she could not wait for him to leave? A fine line appeared between her brows. Always a stickler for the rules, her mind was telling her she would not – could not – do something so inappropriate. But on the other hand, she was also not able ignore the fact that this was probably the only time she would ever have the chance to get into bed with her crush – even if it was not in the same way that she usually imaged at night.

It was all just so wickedly tempting. But right at the very moment she was about to risk it all, her chain of thought was interrupted by what sounded like clawing on glass. Turning her head, Hermione spotted a pair of small school owls sitting on her windowsill. How weird – why was it that she kept getting messages this late? It certainly could not be the same sender as the last two times as he was right here in the room with her. Feeling a bit unsettled, she walked over to free the animal couriers from their burden.

She could feel Professor Snape's gaze on her as she inspected the delivery more closely. It consisted of two completely identical parchment rolls, both bearing the official Hogwarts wax seal. But she soon realised that only one was addressed to her.

"This one's for you."

"What?" Professor Snape stood up with a frown. It only took his long legs two big strides to reach the other end of the room where she was standing. Taking the scroll in question from her hand, he teared it open rather violently and quickly skimmed over its content.

Hermione could not see what it said; however, the wizard did not seem to like it one bit as he exclaimed, "THAT IDIOT!" before ripping the paper into tiny pieces and throwing the remains into the open flame burning in her nearby fireplace.

This only added to her confusion, but she knew better than to ask questions while he was in a fit of anger. Carefully unrolling her own letter, her eyes grew bigger and bigger with each word that she read written in the headmaster's small script.

Dear Miss Granger,
To celebrate how successful the revival of our apprenticeship programme has been thus far, I have decided to throw a ball which is to take place on Friday, the twenty-third of January. I will be making an announcement to the entire school tomorrow at supper but thought that all tutors and apprentices should be informed in advance as they will be required to lead the first dance.
I am certain that you will greatly enjoy the evening!
Yours sincerely,
Albus Dumbledore

Hermione was stupefied. "A ball?" she questioned in a whisper.

"YES! A BLOODY BALL!" Professor Snape was pacing up and down, his face hidden behind his long hair. "First that ludicrous Halloween party and now this! What is that old man thinking?! Teachers dancing with students … in front of the entire school! I just –" Suddenly, he stopped dead in his tracks and looked up. Wait – was he blushing? "I think that I should go now."

And before she could say anything else, he was already gone, leaving Hermione alone and a tad bemused. But not even a minute after he had left, the door was thrown open again.

"HERMIONE!" Ginny came storming in, waving her version of the letter around wildly. A much calmer Harry came in trailing after her. "DOES THIS MEAN I WILL HAVE TO DANCE WITH MCGONAGALL?!"