Both of their thoughts during the Triwizard Tournament Yule Ball, when Hermione takes Krum.

"Four stirs clockwise, not three," Severus said gently grabbing her wrist and stirring the cauldron once more.

Hermione frowned. "The book said three."

"Trust me. It's four."

"Okay," she shrugged.

Severus let go of her wrist and moved back to his chair at his desk. Hermione watched her potion simmer for a moment while she tried to summon a small amount of courage to bring up a sort of... delicate subject.

"Victor Krum has asked me to go the Yule Ball," she said, turning away from the cauldron.

"A Champion. Congratulations," he said with a raised eyebrow.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Fake praise was not the response I was looking for, Severus."

"You don't need my permission to go to a dance with a boy. I am not your father."

Hermione crossed her arms. "No, you are not my father. But you are... someone to me."

Someone.

"Do you want to go to the ball with Mr. Krum?" he asked.

"I want to go with you, but that isn't socially unacceptable at the moment."

"Socially, ethically, morally..." he trailed.

"Oh please do stop with your 'I'm 20 years your senior and you're my student' shite."

They were soulmates, for crying out loud. Some things just didn't matter when every power in the universe was pushing you together.

"When that stops being true, I'll stop bringing it up," he argued.

"Well technically, you were never 20 years my senior, only 19..."

Severus rolled his eyes. "Only," he scoffed.

"...and I've probably gained at least a year in age from the Time Turner."

That... explained somethings, he thought to himself.

"And I won't always be your student. In fact, I could sit my NEWTs in Potions right now and never have to take class with you again."

"You'd still be my apprentice," he pointed out.

"Yes, but apprentices are closer to colleagues than students."

"A technicality," he said leaning back in his chair.

"Technicalities don't make something false," she pressed.

"No, but they do require a lot of things to go right. Which is why you should go to the Ball with Mr. Krum... assuming you want to," Severus said, getting back on topic.

Hermione considered this for a moment and nodded. "Victor is a good friend. I think we'd have fun."

"Then go. Have fun while you still can," he said.

Because these next few years are probably going to be something akin to hell, he thought.

"Does the staff ever dance with the students?" Hermione asked hopefully.

"Not typically," he said. "You are, however, my apprentice... Technically, it would be appropriate for us to share a dance.

Hermione grinned. "Technically."

I'll eventually do a part 2 of this one at the actual Ball. Thank you to anyone who reviewed or prompted. Happy New Year, my dudes.