Chapter 5
Dumbledore sat at his writing desk reading a letter from the Minister for Magic. He was so concentrated that he startled when someone suddenly knocked on his door. "Please, enter," he then called.
To his surprise, his Potions Master came in; the man rarely left his dungeon unless he had to.
"Severus," he greeted friendly. "Please sit down. What can I do for you?"
"I am here to ask for something," he stated formally.
"Do tell."
"I want to ask for your permission to work on a project together with Miss Granger."
Dumbledore blinked a few times. "I beg your pardon?" he then retorted, kind of shocked. He thought he knew the man in front of him, but this was a side of Severus he had never even thought possible. It was probably just a misunderstanding.
"A project with Miss Granger," the Potions Master repeated slightly annoyed. "Isn't that what you always wanted me to do – to support the excellent students?"
"Yes," Dumbledore admitted, "but why are you suddenly agreeing to that?"
"I realised that this is Miss Granger's last year at Hogwarts and that she already knows all the important topics for the NEWTs. Therefore, I thought about giving her something else to do, so she won't fall asleep in my class."
"Hmmmm," Dumbledore pondered. Something was off here. He had heard about a rumour that Miss Granger had fallen in love with her professor but that couldn't be true. And more so, Severus would never agree to anything inappropriate. "Was this your own idea or did Miss Granger propose this?"
"Let's say we thought of it together," Severus replied.
The Headmaster watched his teacher closely and even tried to read his mind but as always Severus wore the perfect mask and his inner walls high. "Very well," he agreed at last.
Severus stood up at once, nodded his thanks and then left the office, almost as if he was fleeing from something.
Something was wrong, Dumbledore knew, he just couldn't tell what – yet.