Hermione stretched her back after spending a few hours hunched over books at her desk.
It had been many hours since lunchtime, and even though it had been a big meal she was getting peckish. She assumed Snape ate dinner at some point and perhaps she could invite herself. She had a few ideas to run by him.
Hermione put the books away and headed out into the corridor. She had no idea where to find him though so after heading downstairs and not seeing him anywhere she called out for Wiggly.
With a soft pop the elf appeared before her.
"Yes Missus, what can Wiggly do for Missus?"
Hermione smiled and leaned down.
"Do you know where your master is Wiggly? I was starting to feel like dinner and wondered if he would agree to me joining him for his."
Wiggly shook his head.
"Master is no eating well. He is working and forgets to eat and when I try to give he says no. He had lunchies, but that was not much."
Hermione stood up straighter and thought for a second.
"Wiggly, do you think I could make myself a plate of sandwiches and then point me in the direction to your masters workroom. Then I might be able to make him share one or two sandwiches with me."
Wigglys ears started to move as usual and a big smile lit up his face.
"Yes Missus, but I fix, you sit and I have plate ready in a blink of an elf's eye."
With that he was gone and Hermione took a second to look around in the gloomy parlor she had somehow ended up in. It was as dark as the other rooms. It did not feel like a joyous place to grow up in, perhaps after she had been here for a while she could take it up with Snape.
She still felt intimidated by him, he was a truly intimidating man. But in a different way that when she had been a child. Then it had been tinged by fear for her part, but now it was more awe. She knew how much he had gone through for years. To be able to maintain his secrets for so long and still live what looked like a normal, albeit reclusive life was impressive. To think of it, that was the right way to describe him Hermione thought, the man was impressive, in so many ways. And in all of the doom and gloom that was still partly there in him, he was a deeply caring and sensitive man. Any lesser person would have lost all faith in wizardingkind or even humanity after all he had been put through. But here he was, wanting the very best for a child he did not even know existed a short while ago.
After just a few minutes Wiggly appeared with a large plate of sandwiches, a pot of tea and two cups.
"This way Missus. We must go down to basement workroom. It is dark and we must be quiet, sometimes Master is not happy when I come in and be interrupting."
Wiggly led the way through several rooms and then down very dark stairs to a basement. It did not smell like a basement, and seemed extremely clean though compared to the rest of the house, but Hermione assumed someone like Snape would never work anywhere less immaculate.
There were several rooms that seemed to be mainly storage for a lab. Hermione assumed that he was making potions again, it did make sense in rooms like these where light or climate could not interfere.
After going through a wide corridor there was a large door at the end that Wiggly pointed at.
"Master is in there, do make quiet when you come in."
Hermione patted the elf's head and smiled.
"Don´t worry Wiggly, I have seen him in action in his potions classroom. I know not to wake the rage of this particular potioneer. Give me the food and tea and then you can head up keep Celia company. Tell her I will start with some easy lessons tomorrow, nothing magical though, just her ABC´s and numbers."
"Yes Missus"
And with that Wiggly was gone.
Hermione balanced the tray on one hand and gently knocked on the door. She heard a low but not too stern "Come in" and she opened the door and walked in to the room.
It was massive with many desks filled with different potions brewing on most of them. It was rather humid from all the steam rising from the cauldrons, but the air had a pleasant scent to it.
Over at the largest desk Snape was standing facing away from her stirring a pot with a hand that had done the same movements thousands of times it seemed. Because of the heat Snape had removed his jacket and now had a white crisp shirt on that had its sleeves folded up to the elbow. Hermione found herself entranced by the muscles moving in his arms as he kept on stirring. She had to consciously pull her eyes away, not that it helped. Her eyes now looked in to his dark ones. He had probably seen her staring and Hermione felt a blush creeping up her neck.
"To what do I owe the pleasure Miss Granger?"
Snape said with what could possibly be a faint smile on his lips.
Hermione held out the tray to show him what she had brought.
"Wiggly told me you are not eating as much as you perhaps should, and since I was already going to eat I thought I might as well share the massive plate Wiggly gave me."
Snapes smile got even more apparent.
"I swear that little elf is more worried about me than both my parents combined ever were. But I owe him so I guess I might as well have a quick bite."
Hermione went to the only table that was nearly empty and set the tray down.
"Do you mean you owe him for helping you with Celia?" Hermione asked. It was not common that wizards felt any true gratitude towards their elfs and Hermione was glad that he of all people did.
Snape put his ladle down on the table next to him and walked over to where Hermione had just transformed her usual matches into chairs for them to sit. As Snape took a seat he sighed a little.
"I wish that was all, I am thankful for that too though. No I have treated him very poorly, without actually knowing it, but still. When the house was left for me I never went here since I was supposed to be dead. Minerva helped with a bit of paperwork-magic that made sure it stayed in my ownership though. What I never considered, but really should have, was that someone was living here. Wiggly. He felt that he still had an owner and therefore could not leave the house. He stayed here for years by himself just waiting for his Master to come home. I am not sure how he stayed as friendly as he has, I do not deserve it. He was abandoned for so long. I try to make his life as easy as possible now, but he is happiest when he gets to serve, so I try to let him. He gets on my nerves at times, but I owe him."
Hermione put a hand on Snapes left one that he had resting on his leg.
"You could not know he was here, and for what ever it is worth he seems to adore both you and Celia. How ever the years alone were, he seems to be very happy now. And to make him even happier, perhaps you can eat a sandwich or two."
The last part Hermione said with a cheeky smile that made it impossible for Snape not to smile back slightly.
Hermione poured the tea and they both dug into the sandwiches after that. As usual Wiggly had made far too much, but they were delicious.
As they were eating Hermione sat there looking at all the equipment that there was in the room. It was a potioneers dream to have what he did. Everything was of best quality and in perfect condition.
As she was looking away Snape looked at her. She was far too pale, most likely from staying indoors too much he assumed. But she had a glow to her that seemed to warm up the already warm room. He had seen her looking at his hands and forearms as she came in and thought that since she had taken the liberty to stare at him, he might as well return the favor.
She had grown into a beautiful young woman, and even though he tried not to think about that, it was just too evident. He tried to say to himself that she had been his student, and that he would not turn into one of those middle aged men looking at young girls. But a voice in the back of his head said that she was no ones student anymore. Realizing he had been staring at her far too long he lowered his eyes and tried to focus on something else.
"I assume you wanted something more than just dinner when you came down here. Is there anything I can help you with?"
Hermione almost jumped a little, she had been looking at the bookshelves filled with books that took up a whole wall in the room.
"Yes, I almost forgot. Books will do that to a girl, well, this girl at least." She said with a smile.
"This is nothing though, I will show you the library tomorrow, I assume it is the perfect place to shove you off to if I start to find you annoying." Snape said with a raised eyebrow, but with a twinkle in his eye.
"Oh yes please do, I would love that"
Hermione shone with delight, and Snape suddenly felt rather pleased with himself.
"What I wanted to ask you about though, is Celia's room. It is rather gloomy and she has none of the things a young girl usually does. Would it be possible to get her some toys and other things?"
Snapes face fell a little.
"Off course, I don´t know why I did not think of it. I have told her she can ask for what ever she wants, but I know that she most likely would not, not to me anyway. I am not even sure she had anything that was her own before she came here."
Hermione looked at Snape with sympathetic eyes.
"Don´t worry, it is not like you have had to take care of a young girl before, how could you know what they need or want. I saw that she has more clothes than she could ever use in her wardrobe so you are off to a good start. I have an idea though. Since she is still scared of magic we should probably only get her non-magical things to begin with.
When I was a child my parents used to get a Hamley´s catalog before my birthday or before Christmas and ask me to put a ring around the things I wished for. I always loved dreaming of they splendid toys and arts and crafts that were in there. I usually only ended up getting one or two little things from what I had wished for, but it was enough. Choosing was part of the fun. If we can get her one of those she can look at it and wish for things without having to speak to us. It might make it easier on her."
Snape smiled.
"That is an excellent idea. I will order a catalog at once as soon as I have finished my potions."
With that he stood up and walked over to a potion that had just gotten a purple tint to it.
Hermione put what was rest of their dinner on the tray and walked over to where he stood.
"What is that potion, I am not sure I recognize it?"
As Snape was stirring he looked over at Hermione briefly.
"I know you don´t do well with not knowing everything, so when you bring us dinner tomorrow around the same time as today, I will tell you all about them."
With that he turned back to his potion and a very delighted Hermione took the tray and left the room with what appeared to be a slight skip in her step.
