Chapter 16: In Which Hermione Has Dinner with the Staff

Hermione knew what she wanted to be doing. She also knew what she would be doing. And she knew neither option would resemble the other in any way. What she wanted was to be at home, snuggled in her bed, catching up on the sleep she missed out on last night. What she would be doing was catch a quick nap on her sofa before heading to dinner in the Great Hall, and then grading papers between rounds. No rest until Sinistra took over from her at 1:00 AM.

An hour's nap later, she felt somewhat less like the title character in Day of the Living Dead.

Dinner was her least favourite meal at Hogwarts. Both Harry and Neville went home to eat with their families on nights they didn't have rounds. As this was one of those nights, she would be eating between Flitwick, not so bad, and Trelawney, awful. So, at the very best, she'd have dull conversation on one side and uncomfortable silence on the other. But tonight was not going to be the very best. Tonight was going to be the culmination of hours of speculation.

Lunch had been all right. She and Harry had sat at the end of the great table, and that had curtailed much of the conversation from the rest of the staff about how Professor Granger was looking quite tired after her date, and she had missed breakfast. Now it was just her, and the questions were bound to be flying.

She sat down, said hello to Flitwick and Trelawney, and before she had even gotten her first bite of food into her mouth Trelawney began: "You should stay away from Severus. Nothing good will come from him. The inner eye sees much, but with him, only heartache and tragedy. Long painful strife…"

She didn't have the patience for this. "Come off it Sybil, you just don't like him. I don't blame you…"

"I don't like him?" Sybil sounded affronted. "He's the one who never gave me a moment of kindness. He hated me on first sight. I've always thought he was jealous of my talents."

Hermione sighed. She wished Harry could have heard that.

"Yes, Sybil, I'm sure that's it. Snape always wanted to be a seer and was madly jealous of your skills with the inner eye." Flitwick, who had been listening, covered his laugh with a cough. Professor Sinistra, who was on Trelawney's other side, snickered.

Trelawney looked hurt. "You never did believe. But you watch: pain will be coming your way if you stay with Snape."

"Just like all ten thousand horrible deaths you predicted for Harry?" Hermione felt bad as soon as she said it. "I'm sorry Sybil; that was unkind."

Sybil glared at her. "Just you wait." She then began to eat quickly, leaving a few moments later.

Well, this is going bloody marvellous. She rubbed her temples.

"So, how was last night?" Flitwick looked curious. Hermione noticed that all the other teachers looked her way as soon as he spoke. Anything I say will be around the school in a matter of seconds.

"Better than anyone, myself included, expected. He made me a lemon tart."

"Snape cooks?" Flitwick appeared to be astounded by the idea.

"Apparently. He even knows how to carve a chicken."

"What's so hard about carving a chicken?" Poppy Pomfrey asked.

"With a knife."

"Oh. I usually rip them to shreds if I try like that."

Hermione nodded in agreement. "So does Harry, and for that matter anyone else I've seen try in the magical world."

"Well, he always made his own potions ingredients," Poppy mused, "so he would have to be good with a knife."

Slughorn took that moment to add to the conversation. "You should have seen him in potions class. Knife skills… You couldn't imagine. If the recipe wanted each piece of something a .04 centimetre hexagon, his would all be perfect and identical. And after class he and Lily would come up and ask me if it really needed to be a hexagon, wouldn't pentagons work better. Those two…"

Hermione decided to settle her curiosity; it had been bothering her for years. "Did you know Harry was using Snape's old Potions book?"

Slughorn looked surprised that she'd ask. "Of course! Who do you think gave it to me for him to use? You don't really think that book was just left sitting about in the back cupboard? Although it was as much Lily's book as his. I thought that was why he gave it to me to give to Harry. Something to link the two of them together."

Hermione stood up, took her plate, and walked over to Slughorn. She cleared a space and sat next to him. "What was Snape like when he was a student?"

Slughorn stayed quiet thinking for a moment. "He was very smart. He was a good flyer, played chaser on our Quiddich team. One of the worst Care of Magical Creatures students anyone had ever seen. I think most of the creatures could tell he saw them as potions ingredients. Besides Lily, I don't remember him having much in the way of friends. Not to say he didn't have a group of Slytherins he hung out with, but he wasn't nearly as comfortable, as close, to them." He looked up. Minerva McGonagall was glaring at him. "Come now, Minerva, I'm not telling tales out of school, nor am I breaking the rule about talking to a student about another teacher."

Minerva gestured elegantly to the dining room; several students were starting at the head table and listening intently. Slughorn looked chagrined.

He lowered his voice and continued. "Severus may not be the most famous member of our house, but I'm willing to say he was the greatest. He did everything we honour. He did an insanely dangerous job, and he did it extremely well. Besides Dumbledore and Harry he was the most important member of the Order. We value skill, cunning, ambition. He was all of those things, with more bravery than is often seen amongst us as well.

"Severus could have sat out the war. He could have made potions and spent the years comfortably in a lab, safely getting rich. But he had more drive than that. He could have been a Death Eater. I understand that once Lucius and Bellatrix lost favour, he was the Dark Lord's right hand man. He could have kept that position, and eventually been given control of Britain when the Dark Lord decided to expand into Europe. But he was too moral for that. Whatever else he is, and prickly is one of the words that spring to mind, he is a good man. A better man than most of us, and a much better man than most of your Gryffindor colleagues will give him credit for."

Hermione thought about it. "No, we didn't give him much credit, did we?" She quickly made her excuses and left the Great Hall for her office. She needed to write Severus, to apologize for barging in on him. She needed to start treating him like he deserved to be treated.

She sat with a quill in hand. They hadn't valued Snape. Beyond their distaste, they didn't even really notice him. How many times does a man have to save your life before you value him? She had been so wrapped up in the death of Sirius and the war being flushed into the open that it had barely occurred to her that Snape had saved them from death at the Ministry. He had told her and Ginny to look after Flitwick, keeping them out of much of the fighting when Draco got his cronies into Hogwarts. Not as clear cut as the time at the Ministry, but definitely a protective gesture. If any other professor had done that we would have loved him. Sirius and Lupin did less, and we adored them. She began to write.

Severus,

I should have behaved differently last night. It was rude of me to barge into your home. And ruder yet to demand your explanation. Your past is your own, and I have no right to it. Please forgive my impudence.

Hermione