What was that? Severus thought, watching as Miss Granger turned back to her friends at the Gryffindor table. He had noticed the student the moment she had entered the Great Hall, appearing slightly melancholy in contrast to the other students who were surrounding her, laughing and chattering. She looked different... perhaps older, certainly more serious. His curiosity piqued, he was just wondering exactly what she was thinking when a timid voice pulled him from his observations. And since then, there he had sat, listening to the insipid thoughts and hopes for the future of a certain Professor Littleton... the school obviously didn't believe serious defence against the dark arts lessons were still necessary, Severus thought, smiling to himself. He hadn't done that in a while... He looked towards the Gryffindor table again, only to see Miss Granger shaking her head with a pretty, red colour in her cheeks. That was when she turned towards him, her eyes meeting his, her deep, brown eyes... almost the colour of chocolate, he thought. They were sucking him in, pulling him out of the irritating conversation he was in and for the first time, perhaps ever, he completely forgot his surroundings. His heart rate sped up and his hand trembled slightly - how was this possible? Hiding his emotions had been vital as a double agent, yet now all it took was a slight flush and the beautiful eyes of a student to render him speechless.
And then the stupid Weasley boy had grabbed her arm, causing her to jump and break eye contact with Severus, releasing him from her spell. He felt a surprising jolt of anger and jealousy at Weasley's actions, how dare he touch her? But when Miss Granger turned from him, Severus was already shaking his head at the emotions that had raced through him, over a student for Merlin's sake! What was that?
Severus quickly turned back to Professor Littleton, hoping she hadn't noticed his momentary distraction, but she was still prattling on about something or other, and Severus nodded politely, trying not to sneer. He tried to dismiss what had just happened with Miss Granger, he must have imagined it, it was so unlike him to forget where he was, to physically react to a mere look from a student. But, Merlin, her eyes... and she had seemed so sad when she had come into the hall. Severus was confused by his sudden concern for the girl, he hadn't felt anything at all in so long.
Merlin, this was preposterous! Voldemort was dead, he no longer had to care about Potter and his dunderheaded cronies, no longer had to look out for them. And he especially didn't have to think about the know it all who had always made his life so much more difficult with her intelligence, sharp eyes and insightful ideas. She wasn't a dunderhead like the others - wait, where had that come from? She was a know it all, an insufferable know it all who was just as irritating as Potter! Severus refused to look at her again for the rest of the evening, surprised at the amount of effort it took not to look at the Gryffindor table. He breathed a sigh of relief when finally, finally, the dinner was over and he leaped up, startling a certain new professor who seemed enamoured with the dark hero she had been sitting next to, and strode down the main aisle of the hall, his cloak billowing out behind him. He couldn't help but look in her direction again and found her already watching him, her chocolate eyes somehow darker than they'd seemed before... Ugh! He had to snap out of it! He glowered at her for distracting him once again and left the hall, leaving the doors swinging behind him, strangely ruing the look of hurt that had flashed through her eyes at the sneer on his face directed at her.