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Chapter 37: Back to the Grindstone
Life in the castle quickly turned back to the normal routine. January the 9th passed quietly for the students but for those in the teaching lounge it was a different story. Minerva McGonagall had struck. They were having a Birthday shing ding for Severus with or without him. It was an interesting Sunday morning for Hermione as she was woken by the sheer number of door openings of the teacher's lounge doorway and the main entrance to the teacher's wing that in the end she went to investigate what was going on. Hermione promptly found that she was put to work blowing up green, black and white balloons by Pansy who was deputising as Minerva's decorator.
There was already a gift table set up and it appeared that most of Slytherin House had sent a gift to the Headmaster that explained the frequent usage of the doors as individuals each arranged their delivery of their parcels. Somehow Minerva had got Marcus Turner to man the top table for lunch and then delegated to Narcissa Malfoy the planning of Severus' birthday luncheon with the castle elves that were quiet keen to thank the Headmaster for his generosity at Christmas.
Pansy had let slip during the Christmas break that the Headmaster's birthday was in early January so Hermione had not been unprepared. One of the group excursions during the holidays was to the Old Spitalfields Market and it was there that Hermione found a lovely antique Naturalist Field guide for the United Kingdom which had hand coloured lithographs in top condition. Seeing the Field guide and remembering the love of nature that Severus mother had given him she felt it was a highly appropriate gift. People would tend to give him potion related gifts but this was about another interest rather than one everyone associated with the Headmaster.
Hermione knew about everyone having a one track mind about an individual and how it got boring pretty quickly gift wise. Everyone associated books with her and most of the time it was book vouchers or the latest best seller that was given to her. That was one of the reasons why she was so touched by the range of gifts she had received at Christmas. Now that she knew more about the man she wanted to give him a gift that would be well received.
Minerva dragged the birthday boy into the Teachers Lounge with the aid of Poppy Pomfrey and when he saw the birthday's greeting sign Hermione could see that he wanted to flee. She gave him a nod of understanding sympathy. The luncheon was not over the top but the former spy really did not like the attention. After calling Slinky to start a thank you list Severus knuckled down to the opening of his gifts. There was much appreciation for the gifts when they were opened in a show and tell production. When Severus opened Hermione's gift there was a look from the man that made her take a startled breath. In the post luncheon haze Hermione managed to disappear from the lounge and found herself wondering what the look meant. Had she offended him with her book? She had thought he would like it. The witch could not understand why he had given her that strange look.
Hermione had started her distance and flexible learning course in the third week of January so she really did not have much time to dwell on the birthday gift but she still felt a little disconcerted in the presence of the Headmaster. Severus Snape had written her a particularly nice thank you note but it gave her no clue about what that look was about.
The salon atmosphere of the teachers lounge helped to increase the number of academic papers generated by Hogwarts. Besides the individual papers the cross skilling had resulted in more interrelated subject papers being generated and the school had started to rebuild its international reputation.
Thanks to the success of Hogwarts' financial committee through projects like MAZE the schools finances were improving and further spending for the rebuilding of the school could be undertaken. The Joint venture with Lovegood Publishing was starting to see a greater sharing of information as well as providing more resources for the students, the school and the wider community. The laptop scheme was generating a good income to support the school infrastructure developments.
Headmaster Severus Snape Grand Plan was starting to provide benefits for the school and the wider community. The fields that were put back into production last June had helped with the schools cash flow problems. The additional greenhouse production had ensured that the potions labs were all well stocked and where possible additional production was sold into the open market. The next big project for the Academic Salon was the generation of ideas for the selection of crops before the start of Spring. The rebuilding of the school would have to be in phases but it was a case of what could be done, would be done when the funds were available. An example of this was the school infirmary renovation being completed over the Christmas break.
The Goblin refurbishment of the Slytherin Chamber of Secrets had finally been completed. The refurbishment had produced an indoor health and fitness complex that included a thermally heated Olympic size swimming pool. There was a sauna room but also importantly was a SAD light room. Living in a Scottish Castle for nine months a year it should be expected that there are going to be some mood problems and hormonal teenagers are bad enough to deal with at the best of times but depressed hormonal teenagers don't go there. It was in the budget to get a treatment room up and running as soon as possible as it would have an impact on the school infirmary budget.
The Trainee Healer program had been going so successfully that when the January checks on students occurred it was a well-run smooth operation in the new medical facilities. Students' health and well being care had certainly improved under the current Headmaster. The additional time on Poppy Pomfrey hands resulted in her doing more external consultations further expanding the Hogwarts reputation. The cooperation with St Mungo's along with the trust she had with parents of current students saw the trainees start to see a wider example of illnesses in the School's infirmary as they now had a public clinic that ran specific hours. There was cross training where the junior heelers went on placement in the community with former alumni who had private practices and to St Mungo's.
Bonnie Thompson when she visited the castle to see her husband would always take the time to visit with Hermione and discuss her latest knitting project. Hermione wanted to get something underway for the pea in the pod that was Baby 2 for the Lupins, so in January she asked for help from the kindly grandmother in doing a layette for the future sprog that was growing quiet well. According to Tonks this baby was way more active than Teddy so it must be going to be a footballer especially since it appeared to like dancing on her bladder all the time. Since Tonks had a bump that was getting in the way her mother Andy was visiting the castle quite frequently and providing additional defence lessons and practice for Hermione. Hermione was introduced to a new set of hexes from the Black family knowledge.
February arrived wet and windy. Fortunately for Severus Snape he was able to keep his staff well occupied in the Salon environment he was encouraging to develop in the Teachers lounge. The new recreational facilities also helped combat boredom with both the student and staff populations.
The night school program was going extremely well and there seemed to be a great deal of demand for the new Muggle subjects along with the traditional skills subjects. It seemed that Hogwarts Evening Class schedule was now the in fashion activity for the magical community to participate in. The Adult Education Centre in Hogsmeade had had to expand its footprint and the number of staff it had involved just to cope with the demand. There had been a benefit to the rest of the Village it had a bit of an economic revival. New storefronts opened and there was a new housing development underway thanks to the popularity of the area. The Weasley Twins had opened up a new storefront in the Village for the joke shop and there were additional premises for the maintenance and support of their laptop and IT equipment business. The goblins reopened the Hogsmeade branch of Gringotts after it had been closed for over 200 years thanks to the amount of business the village now generated.
Madam Rosemarta had brought out Abe Dumbledore from the Hogs Head pub and both her premises had been fully remodelled. The Three Broomsticks was now a high-end gastro pub and did very well during the week thanks to its specials for the students attending the Adult Education Centre. The Hogs Head was refurbished into a family friendly local village pub. Some of Abe's old customers may have complained but as Rosie pointed out they just took up space that paying customers wanted so they could all go and take the far queue. To help cater for the younger students Rosie opened an American style diner. Severus Snape now allowed the students out into the village more than one or two weekends a year and this helped with the school morale. It also helped with the financial stability of the village.
The Goblin account manager that Hermione had been dealing with had been very good at turning her small nest egg into a profitable account. Clinchknot had organised the household clearance of Hermione's childhood home and the boxes from both this house and her parents' last residence in Australia were waiting for her at Grimmauld Place. Hermione was waiting for the summer to go through them, as she knew it would be highly emotional. The Crawley house was currently getting touched up thanks to an elf redecorating team and then it would be dressed for selling before putting it on the market. Hopefully the house would sell fairly quickly in the Spring.
Since the birthday party in January it was noticed by many on the Slytherin table that Hermione was frequently placed near the Headmaster during the weekday meals. Pansy wrote to Narcissa about her suspicions that Severus was actively interested in Hermione. There was an urgent missive to Pansy to stop her from interfering. Nope for those two they would all have to hang tough and gut it out cause it was going to be a long wait.
oOoOo
Hermione personal interest and her dedication to being the best helped in her assignment tasks for her distance education program. She had some weekends during the academic year when she was required to go down to London for inset sessions. Many of the staff noticed that Severus was highly distracted the weekends Hermione was away.
The romance between Luna and Harry was still going strong. The boy who lived had finished all the NEWT exams before Easter and Luna had been particularly impressed with his marks providing him with a well-earned reward.
The end of April came in with a flurry of panic thanks to the late night arrival of Elizabeth Marie Lupin at an ungodly hour of the night one Saturday night. Hermione was in London with her course yet Harry was spending the night up at the castle, as Hermione had wanted to make sure that a suitable babysitter was available for Teddy when Tonks went into labour.