The Deception

The next Tuesday Hermione woke to the sound of her alarm clock and made it out of bed under protest. She fed Crookshanks and Iris who had just returned from the Netherlands with a letter from Marit. She thanked the bird for her great work and dug around her cupboards for an extra treat. Iris seemed rather pleased with herself, while Crookshanks appeared a bit put out with her until she gave him an enchanted catnip mouse to play with. Just as she was finished with her breakfast there was a sharp rap of a bird's beak on her window. She quickly let the owl in.

"Muninn," she breathed. Iris scooted over and greeted the much bigger owl with a low hoot while Hermione untied the scroll from his foot. She dug out some extra treats for him before opening the scroll, some dried apricots she had bought in anticipation of his visits, hoping the dried fruit would be acceptable. Muninn hooted in thanks and made short work of them while she read the equally short note.

"I find myself unexpectedly free Friday evening. Would you be amenable to a rendezvous? — SS"

Hermione laughed and wondered where the butterflies in her belly had come from. Quickly she checked her calendar but it only confirmed what she already knew. She had agreed to go to Grimmauld on Friday but given the choice to spend the … evening … with Severus instead, the choice was clear. She Summoned a piece of parchment and penned a short reply. "I would indeed. My turn to choose, meet me outside the British Library at 7. — HG." She knew of several nice restaurants in that area, none too posh but the food was excellent and it was unlikely that they would run into anyone from the Wizarding world there. Iris was dispatched to Grimmauld with another note that she couldn't make it that weekend.

She walked to work with a spring in her step, not only because of the April sunlight. When she made it to her office she was immediately accosted by her office mate who flung her arms around Hermione's neck.

"My experiment worked!" Lucy squealed a bit too loudly at such close distance.

"Oh, that's great, congratulations," Hermione managed once she'd extricated herself. "What was the setup, again?"

Hermione spent an hour listening to Lucy's success, where she'd managed to develop a new charm to diagnose certain spell damage injuries in a better way. While she was happy for her friend, her own experiments weren't leading anywhere. She had identified at least twenty ways not to improve the Memory Potion but was no closer to healing her parents.

Two aeroplane memos sailed in through the half-open door and landed on Hermione's desk. The ones from the hospital were lime green, the ones sent by the Ministry were purple, the Aurors used yellow ones and their own internal memos were pale blue. The ones on her desk were pink and yellow, so she had her suspicions on who could have sent the latter. Her thoughts were confirmed when she opened it and read the short message from Harry, asking when she would come visit again and saying she could stop by anytime. The Ministry letter was more of a surprise as it contained an invitation to the Ministry's Victory Ball, to be held on the first Saturday of May to celebrate four years of peace in Wizarding Britain. Kingsley had even taken the time to scribble a personal note at the bottom, with a short greeting and expressing hope that she would attend.

~o~o~o~o~o~

They met up outside the British Library as agreed. Her heart soared, again, when she saw him stalking towards her in a Muggle-style black coat which he still managed to make billow. He kissed her cheek in greeting. She took his arm and led him to a small French restaurant her father had taken her to years ago, and they quickly fell back into the easy dialogue they'd had earlier. Although she'd invited him out this time, he still refused to let her pay and sneakily settled the bill when she had excused herself to the loo.

As soon as they made it out of the restaurant she pounced on him for a kiss, pulling his head down to her level. He tasted of Bordeaux and lust and home. It seemed he was in agreement with her treatment, as he pulled her as close to him as he could.

"Come to my place?" she asked when they broke apart, a little short of breath.

She barely let him answer but his brief nod and the heat in his eyes was enough confirmation, before she pulled them into the tight vortex of Apparition.

They did make it to the bedroom. He was methodically relentless in undressing her and kissing everything he could reach. She, on the other hand, was impatiently bossy and ordered his clothes off by magic since she couldn't bear to deal with the buttons of his white shirt. Some of the raw newness had faded from their actions, replaced by confidence. She kissed him in return wherever she could but soon he had her howling anyway as she came. With a knee he nudged her to roll over on her stomach and swiftly buried himself in her. The new angle made him feel impossibly large, pain and pleasure mingling when he went a bit too deep, but she still raised her hips to meet him and managed to snake her hand down to stroke herself to another orgasm which quickly had him join her.

Since it wasn't very late they ended up on the couch in front of the TV after a shower. He got dressed again in his shirt and black slacks while she pulled on her bathrobe and put on some tea. They ended up watching Time Team, where a group of archaeologists were busy digging up someone's back garden in their search for Roman artefacts.

"Severus?"

"Hmm?"

"I just got the invite, are you going to the Ministry's victory ball?"

He frowned. Blackness descended over his gaze as he seemed to stare right through her, and his voice got even quieter. "You mean the celebration of Light over Dark? The triumph of Good versus Evil? Of what happened when the Ministry was overrun by those very same forces, when it all was down to a bunch of schoolkids defending our world from wrongness? Oh yes, of course the Ministry would celebrate their completely justified actions during that war. Do you even know how many Aurors and Ministry workers fought against Hogwarts that day?" He sat up straight, pulling away from her. "Or perhaps I should celebrate the day I died in the shack of my nightmares, at the hands of the one I was trying to deceive and yet not for any reason that actually made sense, but merely for his delusions? When Potter shouted out my innermost secrets for everyone to hear, and you saved my life on a whim and with essentially nothing but pure luck?"

"I'm sorry," she managed. Why had she even asked?

His gaze softened somewhat and he sat up straighter, opening an arm to her. "Come here, witch. It's not your fault the Ministry is completely corrupt. Don't get me wrong, you know I do respect Kingsley but I cannot support this farce."

Cautiously she scooted up in his lap, seated sideways, her back against his shoulder.

"Severus, for what it's worth, I've never regretted saving you even when you yelled at me in St Mungo's for it."

He looked at her, eyebrow raised. "I did? My apologies, it took me quite some time to come to terms with it all. I had never expected to survive the end of the war and must admit to feeling rather cheated out of my death."

She kissed his cheek and snuggled closer, her arms around his neck.

"Still, nowadays, I too am glad you saved me, witch. These past few years have been infinitely better than all the ones before."

"Oh…"

He stayed the night again, wrapped closely around her when they drifted off to sleep.

They spent half the Saturday morning lazing about, eating breakfast and arguing about who should have which part of the newspapers first. Severus was quick to snatch her Muggle paper, leaving her with the Prophet. Somehow the newspaper bickering deteriorated into heavy snogging which they soon had to relocate to the bedroom for another heated session. How could he drive her so mad with lust, so quickly? She didn't quite understand it, but all thought fled under his gaze and all that remained was sensation.

Afterwards, he unfortunately had to leave to tend to some research potions. She put a hand on his arm as he had pulled on his coat, and rose on her toes to kiss his cheek. "Thank you, Severus."

"It has most definitely been my pleasure."

"And mine."

He kissed her again, with a hint of promise. "Until next time."

~o~o~o~o~o~

Luna showed up quite unexpectedly that Sunday, after a Floo call in the morning to ask if she could visit. Hermione had just put on the kettle for tea when Luna walked over to give her a hug and hand over the bag of muffins she'd bought on the way. The younger witch was wrapped in what appeared to be a yellow sari, or something like it, with random flowers, feathers and a few glass brooches stuck haphazardly to the fabric.

"How are you, Hermione?"

"Fine, thanks, and you? How's the Quibbler doing?"

Luna smiled faintly but her thoughts seemed to be elsewhere. "It's alright, I guess. Ginny's wrapping up the next issue. Thanks for letting me come over."

They settled with some tea and the muffins on Hermione's couch and chatted a bit about work and friends. Luna usually didn't invite herself over but Hermione didn't mind the company. She suspected that the blonde witch had something she needed to talk about but didn't want to press for details.

"How's Ron?" Luna asked, eyeing her a bit too keenly.

Hermione flushed. "Oh, he's fine."

"Really? How would you know, you haven't seen him much lately, have you?"

She fidgeted with her blouse. What did Luna know? "I've been busy with work, I still haven't managed to figure out the potion I need. I've tested everything from whale spit to phoenix feathers but it's just not working."

Luna simply looked at her. "Not choosing is also a choice, you know. You know what to do in your heart, if you don't act on it you'll end up hurting everyone."

Hermione gave up. Luna knew, somehow. How?

"I don't want to hurt Ron," she mumbled. "Everyone's expecting so much, I don't want to make all of them disappointed in me. They practically see me married to him already."

"Hermione, you can't live your life to please others. You know this, deep down. Just imagine what life would be if you married Ron. And what about Professor Snape?"

Hermione looked up sharply, she hadn't told Luna who it was. Not that she'd told the other girl anything else either, of course. Still, there was no point in denying it. She shook her head slowly. "He doesn't want a relationship. He said so himself."

Luna sighed and sipped her tea. "You don't think he said that to protect himself from heartbreak? He's not exactly someone with a lot of relationship experience, from what we've seen. Perhaps he just thinks you'll break up with him anyway so he tries to get around that by claiming to not want a relationship?"

Hermione nodded slowly and bit her lower lip. Yes, that much was true. He must have been terribly lonely, all those years at Hogwarts. Unless he'd hooked up with some other teacher? There had been no rumours about him while at school but of course it might have been possible … but then again, most teachers were not very likely to be attracted to him, either due to age differences or just his rather peculiar personality. Still, he had been quite clear, saying he wasn't looking for a relationship, that he'd meet her when possible. If she was completely honest with herself she rather liked having him a secret, away from prying eyes, questions and complaints. Telling the world she was dating Professor Snape would get messy.

"What about yourself? How are you, really?" When Hermione looked closer, her friend didn't look well. She had dark circles under her eyes, her hair had lost most of its shine and she appeared to have lost some weight.

"Neville and I broke up a week ago." Luna seemed to shrink in on herself, fading into the cushions.

"Oh no Luna, I'm sorry!"

Luna tried to smile but didn't quite make it. Hermione handed her a tissue, and Crookshanks came padding over to them, settling in between them with his back against Luna. Sometimes the half-Kneazle knew just what was needed, and Luna was clearly one of the ones he thought worthy of being in his collection of people.

"It's just hard, you know? I miss Neville. I thought I could give him up but I keep running into him with Hannah at the Leaky Cauldron and it just hurts to see them together. I keep getting flashbacks to when I saw him with her."

Hermione gasped. "Oh, I'm so sorry Luna! I didn't know he'd cheated on you."

Luna sighed. "No, he didn't quite do that, but we were planning to have lunch at the Three Broomsticks one Sunday and when she came in to greet us I just … knew. It was obvious that they wanted to be with each other, although I don't think it will last very long. I can see it, I'm just wanting for him to realise it. Or maybe she will know first."

"Do you want him back?"

Luna shook her head and drank some more tea. "No, I don't want him back but I miss what we had. There's someone else out there for me but the time isn't right yet."

"I'm still sorry, Luna."

The two friends decided on a walk since the weather was cooperating, and Apparated to Kew Gardens where Luna perked up among the trees and flowers, pointing out several magical varieties mingled with the Muggle ones as well as several invisible creatures. All in all a rather nice day, Hermione thought, trying to silence the nagging voice saying that Luna was right as usual.

~o~o~o~o~o~

A little over a week later, she decided on a whim to go see Harry immediately after work. She chose to Apparate rather than Floo to Grimmauld, since Harry usually kept his Floo closed and not very clean. She arrived at the park just outside Grimmauld Place just as night started to fall in the neighbourhood, casting the park in a blue gloom.

"Hello?" she called from the hallway. She could hear voices in the dining room so someone was home at least, and tried to work out who it could be as she walked closer.

"I just don' understand, Harry," a male voice was saying. It didn't sound like Ron. "I thought we were happy together but she just … you know, dumped me?"

"Yeah, you looked really happy together last time I saw you but that was, what, last December?" Harry commented. "Did Luna say anything to you?"

Someone drained a pint of beer by the sound of it. She had stopped right outside the door to the dining room. Was that Neville?

"She said something about me 'n' Hannah being right for each other and she didn't want to get in the way? I don't get it, sure Hannah's nice if you know what I mean but I hadn't even thought about her that way before!"

Harry snorted. "Yeah, she's got a nice rack. But you're seeing her now?"

Hermione winced quietly. Guys.

"Yes but I'd rather be with Luna. I thought we had something special, you know?"

Hermione shook her head, trying to clear it. Before Harry could get suspicious she knocked once on the kitchen door and then entered. "Hi Harry, I just thought I should stop by for once. Hi Neville, um should I leave you two to it?"

Neville sniffled into a handkerchief but Harry rose to hug her before handing her a beer. "No no, come on in, it's good to see you. Luna broke up with Neville, did you hear?"

"Oh, I'm sorry Neville," she said and settled on the kitchen sofa bench next to her former classmate. "I'd heard something from Luna, I thought it was…" Actually, she didn't know what to think, now that she thought about it. Hadn't Luna sounded so certain Neville wanted to ditch her for Hannah?

"Thanks," Neville mumbled indistinctly. "How are you anyway, Hermione?"

She smiled faintly. "Oh, it's alright, just frustrated with my research at the moment. Nothing does what I want it to. What about you, otherwise?"

It seemed he cheered up a bit when she asked about his Herbology research. He was planning a tour with Pomona Sprout that summer to study magical plants in various countries, and to collect specimens for the greenhouses. Kreacher popped in with a tray full of cheese and crackers, which also helped with the mood. It felt nice to sit and chat with friends, not worrying about much else. Almost like old times. She carefully shut aside all thoughts of Severus Snape and instead focused on her friends.

"Did you get the invite to the ball?" Harry asked her. "Kingsley came by to discuss it earlier, he said he was hoping that it would help build unity and so on. I don't know about that but I promised him we'd go, I hope you can make it? Ginny and Ron have already confirmed."

She nodded. "I got it, yes. I think I can make it. Is Ginny in tonight?"

"Not yet, she's playing Quidditch tonight, a training match. She'll be home late."

Ron walked in. He lit up when he saw her, kissed her quickly and settled beside Harry with a beer. She hadn't known he was in the house, and apparently he thought the same.

"I didn't know you were coming?"

She shrugged. "I decided just before I left. How's work?"

He dragged a hand through his hair. "Fine, I guess. We're probably going out on a field assignment in June, I'm finally going to be out hunting bad guys."

"Oh, really? Isn't that dangerous?"

"Shut up, Ron!" Harry said. "We're not supposed to talk about it. We'll be gone for two weeks or more with no communication."

They spent the evening talking about other things. Harry was apparently being given more responsibility already, despite his young age. He seemed to fit in well with the teams and really enjoyed the work, even if he couldn't talk about it. He told her about changes they were trying to implement in the wake of the war, and how deep the issues went in some departments. Still, Kingsley had done a good job trying to clean up the worst of the corruption. Hermione was happy for him, hearing how he apparently had found his niche already, doing what he was good at and enjoyed.

She ended up staying the night. It wasn't too bad when she closed her eyes.

When she hadn't fallen asleep half an hour later she snuck out of bed, got dressed and padded down to the kitchen. Ginny was there with a cup of tea and some sandwiches but the others had left or gone to bed.

"Hey," Ginny said. "Just got back from training, need some time to wind down before I go to bed or I can't sleep anyway."

Hermione nodded. "Hi, I was just…"

"It's alright. Tea?"

Hermione shrugged. "Sure."

Ginny poured her a cup with a tap of her wand, the charm undoubtedly learned from Molly Weasley. Hermione accepted the cup gratefully and settled in the kitchen sofa, pulling her feet up.

"You seem different now," Ginny said, looking directly at her friend. "More confident, I'd say, but you also seem worse when you're with Ron. What's going on? Did anything happen?"

Hermione froze. What would she tell Ginny? She took a sip from her mug to gain some time. "I've been busy with work. I miss my parents, you know? I really want to bring them back if I can."

Ginny winced. "Yes, I understand that. Still no closer to a solution, are you?"

Hermione shook her head. "No, I have no idea what to do."

"You didn't get any good contacts you could ask for advice during that conference you were at, what was it, SNIFFLES?"

"HICCUP, if you would." Hermione glared at her friend who just giggled at her. "Well, maybe, but I want to sort it out myself, you know."

Ginny nodded and they lapsed into silence for a while. The tea was nice, and the shared stillness helped soothe a nerve or two.

"You know, I never quite thought you were well matched with my brother. I know Mum keeps pushing you but honestly? You'd be better off with someone else, and him too. I think he wants someone like Mum and sorry, Hermione, but you'll never be Molly Weasley."

"Yes, I know," Hermione admitted. "I just don't want to hurt anyone."

"How is he in bed? He can be quite selfish otherwise, you know?" Ginny asked, always keen on details.

Hermione glared at her friend over her cup of tea. "Ginny, I don't want to discuss my sex life with you, especially not when it relates to your brother, you know."

Ginny shrugged. "It's just that I've never seen you look at him the way I look at Harry. You are having sex, aren't you?"

"Ginny!"

Her friend just smirked at her.

~o~o~o~o~o~

Ginny had talked her into getting ready together, at Grimmauld. Luckily she had a few dress robes to choose from after her shopping trip earlier that year, for the conference. The one she liked best was out of the question, unfortunately. Ron would never accept seeing her in emerald dress robes. He'd start shouting something about Slytherins and ask who had corrupted her, and she'd rather not go down that route. Besides, it would just be a too forceful reminder of the time she had worn it, at the conference dinner. Instead she picked a rich burgundy dress with lace sleeves and a rather modest neckline that Lucy had found for her.

The ball was held at an estate belonging to one of the older Wizarding families, Marchbanks, and they'd all been given a Portkey with the invite that could be activated during the course of the ball. All of them activated theirs at the same time, and they arrived in front of the doors to a modest-looking manor house, the whole garden decorated with floating lanterns, sculptures and fountains.

Harry and Ginny walked up first towards the doors, to the applause of the press gathered by the entrance. Ginny was as radiant as ever in a bright white dress with golden brocade details, but Hermione could see how Harry strained to keep up the polite mask in the face of all the cameras. She felt the same when it was their turn.

The evening passed in a daze. Kingsley came up to greet them right at the entrance to the lavish ballroom, making sure to be caught on camera. Most of the prominent people of Wizarding Britain were there, along with several of their friends and acquaintances. Hermione spotted a few teachers from Hogwarts, and some Aurors she recognised. Luna was there, and Neville, carefully avoiding each other. Neville was with Hannah, but Hermione wondered a bit about them when she saw them dancing. They just seemed wrong, somehow, as if both of them were settling for someone while waiting for something else. A live band was playing already and Charmed trays with food and drinks were floating around the perimeter of the large room.

She danced with Ron, trying not to get her toes stepped on, and with Harry who was slightly better after Ginny had forced him to take some dance lessons. Kingsley breezed by for a dance, leading her expertly around the floor. He danced well but there was no spark with him, not at all like dancing with Severus. Draco asked for a dance when Ron was off to get drinks for himself. At least the blond Slytherin could dance, she mused.

"Having fun, Granger?" he asked as he steered them expertly across the floor.

"Oh yes, loads," she agreed. "At least you dance well. What about you?"

He chuckled. "I actually agree, on all counts. You dance better than I'd expected, and I'd rather be anywhere else tonight."

She smirked at him and nodded.

Ron chose that moment to return and physically pull her out of Draco's hold, spilling Firewhisky down the side of her dress in the process.

"May the Fourth be with you, Granger," Draco called out to her sarcastically as he sauntered off somewhere else.

The reference caught her completely off-guard, why would Draco know…? Still, she had more urgent issues to handle, and she dragged Ron off to a dark corner in order to avoid attention. She couldn't spell the dress dry unless she wanted it to catch fire.

"Thanks so much, Ron," she hissed. "Why did you have to do that?"

"You can't dance with him!" her boyfriend told her. He was standing slightly too close and had probably had a good start already with the drinks.

"And whyever not? And now my dress is all soaked in Firewhisky!"

"He's Slytherin!" Ron argued, waving his Firewhisky about. Some more splashed onto the skirt of her dress before she quickly stepped aside.

Hermione deflated. There was simply no point. "I'm leaving, Ron. If you want to stay that's fine with me."

"Thought we were staying at Grimmauld tonight?" Ron frowned but at least he had calmed down a little.

"After this? No, Ron. Look, I see Lavender over there, go say hi to her."

Said witch was staring in their direction, frowning, undoubtedly having seen the whole scene. Hermione gave her a tight smile, pecked Ron on the cheek and left.

~o~o~o~o~o~

May flew by without her noticing, she was so immersed in work. She barely managed to see her friends, only when they practically dragged her from her office to ply her with food and drinks somewhere. She did meet up with Severus a few times but he also seemed distracted, especially the first time they met up after the Ministry ball. The Daily Prophet had of course been full of pictures from the ball the next day, and she had appeared in several, together with Ron but also from her dance with Kingsley. Severus had sneered something about media attention but seemed to mellow when she talked about dancing with Draco. Apparently Draco had made some new friends at work who had introduced him to Star Wars, which explained that mystery at least.

~o~o~o~o~o~

Healer Trout came by to see her one afternoon after Lucy had sent him an emergency memo when her usual strategy of tea hadn't worked. She'd even broken out the tin of Scottish shortbread to no effect. When he entered, Hermione had her head on her desk and was talking to one of the memos while Lucy was patting her shoulder, trying to be supportive.

"I'm a complete failure, I won't ever make it, I should just resign right away, I'll never get my parents back!"

He surveyed the situation and quickly summoned some tea for them. From a pocket of his robes he dug out a bottle of brandy, and added a liberal splash to Hermione's cup. The unexpected addition made her cough when she took a first sip, but soon she managed to calm down enough to tell him a bit more about her lack of results. Meanwhile, he'd settled in Lucy's chair, having sent the younger witch off somewhere else.

"I see. So you've identified the need for a new or improved potion but have no leads yet on how to make it work?"

"Yes," she said glumly. "I have no idea where to even start."

He tapped his teacup with a long finger and appeared to think about something. "There's nothing wrong with reaching out to others in the community, you know, although you run the risk of them publishing results before you, of course. Had that happen to me myself when I was doing my Apprenticeship, I needed some input on a tricky problem in Charms and next I knew the results were published by the wizard I consulted. I never forgave Ivor Dillonsby for that."

Hermione laughed. "You basically answered your own question then, didn't you? About me reaching out, I mean. What were you trying to research?"

Healer Trout chuckled as well. "Looks like it. Well, my research wasn't as ambitious as yours, I was looking at wart removal. Dillonsby published a paper on using dragon's blood for it which worked much better than what I had tried. Anyway, in that case, have you looked at all existing research in depth and analysed the workings of the current potions related to memories?"

That caught her interest. "Dragon's blood? Wasn't Professor Dumbledore the one who discovered the twelve uses for it?"

Healer Trout winced. "He got credit for it, yes, but Ivor always claimed that Albus stole his notes, not that I know one way or the other. I can't claim any ownership of the dragon's blood idea, I was looking in other directions myself." He eyed her sternly but the crinkles at the corner of his eyes betrayed his amusement. "Now, enough about me. It is time to call in some favours. Do you want to contact Professor Snape yourself or do you want me to do it? I'd love to meet him again, he is one of the brightest researchers I know."

"What?"

"Nevermind, I'll do it." Without further ado, Healer Trout rose and activated Hermione's office Floo. He threw in some powder, casting the room in the green glow of a Floo call. "Severus Snape's office, Hogwarts!"

"No, wait!" Hermione protested.

"Yes?" Severus' rich baritone echoed through the flames.

"Severus? This is Desmond Trout at St Mungo's research. Have you a moment?"

"A moment, yes," came the answer. Hermione couldn't see his face from where she sat. She wanted to sink through the floor. The shame of needing to ask for help coupled with the fact that the last time she'd seen one Professor Snape he'd been naked in her bed, and then the whole mess of having Healer Trout initiating a request for help instead of leaving it to her.

"I have an Apprentice whom I have reason to believe you've met," Healer Trout explained. "Miss Granger. Did you happen to talk about her research in Prague? She's stuck on a potions problem."

"No, please, stop!" Hermione tried again.

"Is that so?" Severus answered. "Yes, I have heard of it. She may write me if she has any questions, although it doesn't sound as if she's too keen on it?"

"No!"

"Excellent," Healer Trout exclaimed. "I had hoped to lure you here to discuss research at some point, Severus."

"I must leave, Desmond. Until later." Severus closed the connection, and Healer Trout stepped back from the flames.

He turned towards her. "I know you want to go at it alone, Hermione, but this time as your mentor I must request that you ask him for help. Set up a meeting and try to get him to come here at some point. He's the absolute best Potions Master in Britain, probably in Europe."

"Yes, Healer Trout," she answered dully. The brandy must have worn off already.

"It's Desmond, as you well know," he admonished with a smile and rose to leave.

~o~o~o~o~o~

That evening she sent Iris off to Hogwarts.

Dear Severus

I'm sorry for my outburst, I'm so incredibly frustrated by this research. I'll try harder.

- Hermione

Iris returned that same evening, she must have flown back without a break.

I think I know how to make you relax. Come see me at Hogwarts next Friday evening at seven sharp, my office. Wear your school uniform. Do not be seen. The safe word is Time Team.

-SS

Confusion, embarrassment and a mounting excitement were warring for attention. What was he planning? And what did he mean, safe word?