"Oh, stop whining, silly girl. It was just a bit of levitation," he replied with a snort.
"The pervy next door neighbor saw me with my skirt round my ears! I just got that complete creeper to stop staring at me and now you've gone and ruined it all!"
"I dunno, he didn't look to bad to me. All he really needs is a tooth straightening spell or two...and maybe a formal introduction to a bar of soap..."
Maeve fumed. "Well, in any case, he's too young for me."
"Maeve, he's a year and a half older than you!"
"Exactly," she sniffed, "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to freshen up before we go to the shops."
"The shops?" asked Severus, "Who ever said anything about the shops?"
"Well, me, obviously. Just now. And I'm sure someone somewhere in the universe has said something about the shops before. Otherwise how would they have come to be? Now, come off it, Sev. When have you ever said no to a short trip to the bookshop?"
Severus knew Maeve well enough to know that her definition of a 'short trip to the bookshop' was the farthest thing from any sane person's definition. He sighed and rubbed his temples. Flourish and Blotts had better be well-stocked or Severus just might not survive.
An hour later Severus was trudging along the main avenue of Diagon Alley at little more than a snail's pace, his arms loaded with more parcels than anyone would think possible for one man to carry and an impatient Maeve skipping ahead of him.
"Oh, do hurry up, Sev! Madame Malkin's will close in a few minutes and I need to pick up the dress robes I have on hold there!" she exclaimed.
"Ungh...there's only...grunt...so much...gasp...one man...can carry," Severus grunted.
Maeve sighed dramatically and said something under her breath that sounded like, "giant bat baby," or something along those lines. She then flicked her wrist irritatedly at the parcels Severus was carrying and they immediately shrunk and stuffed themselves neatly into one of his pockets.
Severus looked at Maeve, dumbfounded. "Maeve, you do realize that you just performed an extremely difficult bit of wandless magic as if you were just swatting a fly and all in the name of shopping?"
"Well you were being much too slow and I really need those dress robes!"
With that, Maeve turned and dashed through the crowd so as to catch Madame Malkin before she closed up shop for the night. Severus rolled his eyes. That girl could take over the world if she wanted. Only, she wouldn't want to unless the world suddenly turned into a dress shop. Severus sighed and began meandering once again towards Madame Malkin's.
"...and then all of a sudden he was on top of me, and I was like - Oh! Sev! Finally!"
That was all Severus heard when he stepped into the dress shop before he was grabbed by his tiny-but-strong half-sister. "There's someone I want you to meet! She's ever so funny and she said she's into potions just like you!"
Severus looked up at the woman his sister was gesturing at. She was of medium height with a pretty nice figure, looked to be about thirty with brown curly hair. When Severus looked at her eyes, however, was when he recognized her.
"Miss Granger!" he exclaimed.
"Professor Snape!" she said, looking just as shocked as he was. "When Maeve told me her brother was with her, I thought..."
"Of someone younger," Severus finished for her.
Hermione blushed and just looked from sibling to sibling. Damn! she thought to herself. It's been ten years and I still act a fool whenever I'm around the stupid sod. You think I would've realized because of the nose, but-
Hermione's rambling thoughts were cut short when Maeve spoke up with a glint in her eye, "Oh! You know eache other! Well, then you simply must go and catch up while I get these robes altered. Who knows how long that would take and you two just have so much to say to each other! Bye!"
As Maeve was talking at record speed she'd managed to push Hermione and Severus through the door so subtly that they didn't realize what had happened until well after she'd slammed it in their faces.
"Well that was rather rude, dear," scolded Madame Malkin.
"Oh, definitely not! Did you see the look in her eyes? They're positively made for each other, I'm sure of it."
Madame Malkin just pursed her lips and began measuring Maeve. She'd seen Maeve set up enough of the girls in her shop and seen enough of those girls come back for wedding robes to know to leave Maeve to her schemes.
"Erm," stuttered Severus as he shot a surprised look to the woman beside him. "Maeve, she, uhm, does that sometimes."
Hermione just nodded slowly. Hermione needed to go to Madame Malkin's for robes often enough to have witnessed Maeve's almost supernatural ability at matchmaking and Hermione also knew how to take a hint.
But Snape? Hermione knew that Maeve certainly had a talent for this sort of thing, but maybe this time she was a bit off-target.
Hermione surreptitiously glanced at the man beside her, assessing how he had changed over the years. His hair was streaked with grey and looked much less greasy than when she had seen him last. His skin, also, looked less pasty and pallid and more ivory and healthy. His nose was...well, maybe that particular feature wouldn't ever change for the better.
Snape cleared his throat. "So, er, I suppose she'll be a shile. Do you, er-"
"How about we get some ice cream?" Hermione suggested, mostly so he would stop stuttering so.
Snape smiled a little, relieved that she had taken the initiative. Hermione noticed then that his teeth were improved also. They were still a little crooked in some places, but had become noticeably whiter. He would never star in a Crest advert, but it was an improvement.
"Uh, shall we?" asked Severus, holding his arm out.
Hermione smiled at the antiquity and chivalry shown in the gesture. As soon as they began to walk, however, she immediately noticed the limp that now took away his formerly impeccable grace.
"Oh! Your leg, I'd nearly forgotten. How is it?" she asked.
Severus grimaced at being reminded of the injury, but responded politely enough, "Not so bad now. It's a bit like having one constantly sore muscle."
Hermione nodded. "We did try to help you as quickly as we could, but there were just so many and-"
"If we didn't rehash old war stories," Severus interrupted, "I wouldn't be disappointed. Maeve said you have a job involving potions?"
And so the old potions master and his student sat at a cafe table outside Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor talking of books, work and, of course, potions.