Chapter Four
Severus held open the door and as they entered the pub the tall lanky bartender standing behind the oak bar looked up. "Oi, Hermione! 'Bout time you showed up. Where ya been, girl? Ali's been going crazy worryin' about you." Before Hermione could reply, he called out to a woman just entering from the back kitchen area. "Ali, love, look at who the cat dragged in."
With a squeal, the buxom auburn-haired waitress rushed to Hermione, practically bowling her over in her enthusiasm. Severus stepped back, half worried that he would be next; he didn't do the friendly greetings with strangers thing. However, it soon became apparent that the two weren't strangers, as the girl scolded Hermione for not coming around or calling her sooner.
"I'm sorry, Ali. Everything's been a mess lately, work's been crazy and I broke it off with Mitch—to say he didn't take it well would be an understatement. He's been showing up everywhere I go, and can you believe he followed me to the park today and tried to propose?"
Ali gasped. "You aren't serious?"
"As a judge. He even said his mum was waiting to meet me to help plan our wedding."
"Damn, love, you're well rid of that wanker. I never did like that bloke, you know. You'd best be careful though, I think he's off his noodle. Maybe I should send Roddy out to have a talk with him? He'd be happy to put the fear of God into him for you."
"No. No need. I think we've got it straightened out now, at least I hope so," Hermione reassured her friend.
"Who's we..." just then Ali noticed Severus standing a few steps behind Hermione. "Hold on now—the better question is who's this? No wonder you dumped crazy Mitch. You've been withholding information on me, Hermione. So who's the new beau?"
Hermione laughed. "Ali, behave yourself. You're going to scare him off and you have no idea how hard it was for me to convince him just to come to dinner with me." She reached back to snag Severus' arm and pull him to her side. "Severus, this cheeky wench is my very good childhood friend Alison Talbot. She and her husband Rod..." Hermione motioned to the bartender who waved back, "own and run The Lucky Penny. And Ali, this is Severus—Professor Severus Snape—he taught at that boarding school I attended in Scotland."
Ali's eyes popped wide. "Oh, Professor is it? What do you teach then?"
"Ah... chemistry," he answered. "Taught, that is. I no longer teach, I'm in... er... private research now."
"Chemistry! Ugh... not my favorite subject, but then, if you'd been teaching it, I think maybe I'd have paid a lot more attention in class. Well anyway, very pleased to meet you, Professor," she said extending her hand. "Any friend of Hermione's is welcome here."
Severus shook her hand and said, "Thank you, Mrs Talbot. And since I no longer teach, the only people who call me professor any more are former students. It's just Severus now."
Ali eyed him up and down with a grin before replying with a wink, "If I'm any judge, and I like to think that I am, a man like yourself is rarely 'just' anything, Severus. Like I said earlier, any friend of Hermione's. And please call me Ali. Now let's find you two a table and get you settled before the dinner rush starts."
They were seated in a room to the right of the main pub which was more for the restaurant customers. It was a bit early, and since Ali had put them in a booth in a quiet secluded alcove they had the space to themselves. She returned shortly with their drink orders, a stout for Severus and wine for Hermione, gave them menus and recited the specials, then hurried off to prepare her staff for the dinner crowd.
Taking a sip of his beer he observed her over the top of his glass. "So—childhood friend?"
Hermione chuckled. "Yes, we've been friends since starting primary school. Her family lived just three houses down from ours. I know she's a bit over the top, but she's a good person and a good friend."
Severus set his glass down and looked at her curiously. "How did you manage to maintain such a close friendship, with you..."
"In the magical world, while she lived on the Muggle side?" Hermione finished his question for him. "Coincidentally, her family moved to the States, just before I went off to Hogwarts. I didn't have to cover up personal information about school and whatnot, because our only contact over the next ten years was through correspondence. After she finished uni she moved back here about six years ago, and we renewed our friendship. Since then we've become even closer than we were as children."
"I've always envied people like you who can make friends so easily," he said as he toyed with his glass.
Hermione snorted, nearly choking on a sip of wine. "Are you joking?"
"No. What do you mean? You were always surrounded by friends at Hogwarts, never seemed to lack for companions."
"Maybe it looked that way from your perspective, but I assure you nothing could be farther from the truth," she responded. "Harry and Ron were my only close friends and if it hadn't been for the troll incident our first year, our friendship probably never would have happened. Up until then I felt like a pariah. I was actually thinking of asking my parents to let me come home and go back to Muggle schools."
"Merlin forbid. Potter wouldn't have survived the war without you."
Hermione shook her head. "You never give Harry enough credit. And as far as the legions of friends you seem to think I had, I suppose later I could count Neville and Luna and maybe Ginny, although she's questionable—she was always worried I'd somehow steal Harry away. As if that would happen. Harry's always been the brother I never had, and she ended up driving him away herself with her possessiveness and jealousy."
As Hermione ordered, Severus wondered how so much that he'd believed to be true about her could have been so wrong. She'd always been in the centre of things, thus he'd always assumed that she was a popular student. Of course, he'd also thought she carried something of a superior air about her, always trying to prove she was smarter than everyone else, and he'd judged her harshly for it. Was it possible she'd just been a shy, lonely girl trying to win others acceptance by showing off her intelligence? He couldn't help but think maybe he'd been wrong about in his assessment...and possibly other things as well.
"Severus?"
He looked up to realize that she must have said his name more than once.
"Did you decide what you want, or do you need more time, sir?" asked the waitress.
"Sorry, I was lost in thought. I'll have the cottage pie."
The waitress nodded and left. Hermione narrowed her gaze and studied him for a moment, her nose crinkled as she pondered. "You certainly seemed far away. What were you thinking about so intently?"
Severus gave her a wisp of a smile as he leaned forward. "You," he said as he tapped the tip of her nose. Her eyes grew wide and she stared up at him as he stood. "I'm going to pop over to the gents. Back in just a bit."
Hermione's mouth hung open in shock as she watched him leave the room. "Holy Hufflepuff, what just happened here?" she muttered under her breath. Was he... did he... Holy shit! Was Severus Snape flirting with me? She wrapped her fingers around the stem of her wineglass and chugged an extra large gulp.
She was deep in thought, pondering her next move, when Ali hurried in and plopped down in Severus' vacant seat. "Where did the hunk go? Nooo, Hermione! Don't tell me you managed to chase him off already?"
Hermione's head snapped up. "Hunk? Severus? Are you serious?"
Ali shrugged. "Aren't you? About him, I mean? Don't lie, I've seen how you look at him. Oh, he's not a pretty boy, that's for sure, but he's got this air of—I don't know, strength or power or control or... something. Sends shivers down my spine, y'know? Plus I've always had this thing for older guys. So, where is he, did you lose him already?"
"No, he went to the loo. Hey aren't you supposed to be working, instead of out here interrogating me?" Hermione teased with a grin.
"Taking a break before the main rush starts," Ali said with a shrug. "Don't try to change the subject, Hermione. So what's the deal with this one. He really was your teacher, yeah?"
"Yeah, and that makes this all the more confusing. It's not like I had a typical schoolgirl crush on him, or ever even thought of him like that—until today. And he didn't like me at all, quite the opposite in fact."
Ali looked truly shocked. "What? I didn't think there was a teacher alive that didn't love Hermione—the brain—Granger."
"Well, you've met one now," Hermione replied with a chuckle. "The thing is, Ali, I'm not sure what to think. It almost seemed a few minutes ago as if he were..." She hesitated, nervously shredding the cocktail napkin. "As if he were teasing me, or flirting with me or something... And believe me that is a totally un-Snape-like move. And earlier, at the park, after the scene with Mitchell, he helped me, he took care of me." She went on to explain what had happened, except for the part about Severus having special healing potions on hand, instead making them anti-histamines and inhalers. "I don't really know how to explain it exactly... it's just... I guess, he made me feel so safe, "she mused. "And at the same time, when he was holding me, I was really turned on." She laughed and shook her head. "Gods, Ali, I don't know what to do."
Ali was quiet for a bit, idly tracing patterns with her finger on the table. Finally she looked up. "You really like this guy, right? And it seems pretty obvious from what you said that there's a strong chemistry between you two, as well." Then she laughed at her own words. "Chemistry, get it? Chemistry with your old chemistry teacher?"
Hermione rolled her eyes, but nodded so fast in assent that she felt like one of those crazy bobble-head dolls, hoping Ali would tell her what she should do now.
"Then here's my best advice, ducky. Try to forget the past, that he was your teacher, that you were his student. Pretend you're just two people. Start out like that – he's some bloke you just met and you're wild about him. If you can manage it, take him home and shag his brains out. If things are meant to work out they will, and if not... Well, if not I guess it's just what's meant to be, and at least you'll have got a decent shag out of the whole deal. Right?"
Hermione looked at her best friend and burst out in a fit of nervous giggles. If memory served her correctly what Ali had described was almost exactly how she and Roddy had started out together. "Right, sort of like 'que sera sera' then."
"Exactly!" Ali countered, giving her a cheeky wink. "Like Doris fucking Day. Whatever will be, will be. You got the idea now, love." She whipped her mobile out of her pocket. "Whoops, I've only got about three minutes before I have to get back to work and I haven't shared my newest Penny pics."
"Aww... Penny! How is my gorgeous goddaughter?" Looking at the first picture, Hermione melted. Penelope Jean Talbot was two and a half years old and a fair mixture of both her parents. She had Rod's dark curly hair and fair complexion, but she'd inherited Ali's cupid's bow mouth and her deep green eyes. So green in fact, they reminded Hermione of Harry's. The little terror had Auntie Hermione wrapped tightly around her little finger. "Ah, gods, Al. She's so beautiful and I think she must have grown an inch in just the few weeks since I saw her last."
"What are you looking at?"
Hermione started at the deep voice and looked up to see Severus standing there.
"Sorry, love, I'm in your spot," said Ali as she made to move.
"No need to get up. You're fine." Severus slid onto the bench next to Hermione. "Budge over, Granger."
Surprised by his request, she hesitated momentarily but ultimately did indeed 'budge'. She expected him to perch on the edge of the seat but instead he slid right in next to her and made himself comfortable. So much so, in fact, that she could feel the heat of his thigh brushing against hers. Butterflies! Butterflies! Damn, was he trying to make her crazy?
He reached out and tilted her hand holding Ali's mobile so that they both could see the screen. Then he surprised her yet again when he proceeded to scroll through the photos, expertly swiping from right to left.
"Who's this?" he asked.
"That's our original lucky Penny," said Ali. "Penelope Jean."
"Yours, I presume?" he asked Ali, as he leaned in and spread his fingers across the screen enlarging the shot. "Ah, yes, I can see she clearly has her mother's eyes." Glancing back to Hermione, he added, "And she shares your middle name, Hermione. Your namesake I presume?"
Surprised that he even knew her middle name, she nodded. "Yes, she's my godchild. A sweet, lovely little girl, much like I was at her age, I'm sure," she replied with a teasing nudge.
"Yes, I can see that." Severus directed his gaze back to the screen, currently showing a shot of perfect Penny with her mouth open wide, face scrunched up red and angry, apparently screaming bloody murder."
Hermione nearly choked. "Oh dear gods, Ali! Why on earth would you take a picture of her like that—and why keep it?"
Ali turned the phone back towards her, glanced down at the screen and laughed. "Blackmail purposes. For when she's older." She put the phone back in her pocket and stood. "Well, it's back to the nightly grind for me. Hope you both enjoy your meal. If I don't get a chance to stop back before you leave, professor, it was nice to meet you and I hope we'll be seeing more of you in the future. Hermione, please don't stay away so long again, love, and call me soon."
Hermione gave her a warm smile. "I will, Al. I'm sorry for worrying you."
Their dinners arrived, and although she expected Severus to move back to the opposite side of the table he remained next to her. She was so distracted by his nearness that at first she didn't think she'd get through the meal at all. The way his fingers brushed against hers when he passed her the salt, or his hand rested on hers to steady her glass as he freshened her wine, or he shifted subtly closer so his thigh rubbed against hers, it all drove her thoroughly mad. Before long, however, Severus drew her into a companionable conversation. They spent the rest of the meal discussing mutual acquaintances, her job and what she hated about it, his travels, and what the rest of wizarding world had been up to while he had been gone.
TBC