AN: I don't know if I'll be able to post on Thursday. I'll be traveling and don't know how much energy I'll have once I reach my destination. Still, updates will become more regular next week, or so I hope.
Thank you for all the support! It is very deeply appreciated!
"She really thought you were reading your life away?" Hermione's eyes glistened as she set her menu on the table.
"Indeed, she believed I should spend more time outside and not living in my own head," Severus relaxed as he felt the ache from his overworked muscles began to subside. Most pain relieving potions only targeted pain associated with injuries or magical overexertion. None focused on reducing inflammation. Perhaps an anti-inflammation potion should be next on his list of things to create.
"She sounds like half the Gryffindor House," Hermione snorted as she scooted her walker away from a patron who was walking to the table behind her. "If I had a galleon for every time Lavender and Parvati complained I needed to get my head out of a book, I would be the richest woman in Britain."
"The Slytherins were no better to me. Everyone had some type of comment to make about the loner more interested in reading a book than in conversing with them. Even Lily thought I should spend less time reading and more time playing in the sun. Then," his voice grew softer, "there was my father. He never liked it when I read."
"Oh," Her eyes softened. "Being around Wren must have brought back some of that trauma."
"I did not think about him until you mentioned him, though in retrospect he was in the back of my mind as she ranted against my love of reading."
"I didn't mean to make you think of him."
"You didn't," he stretched his legs. "Part of me thinks of him every time someone mocks me for reading."
"I'm sorry anyone behaved as he did and insulted your love of reading. No one should treat you that way, especially someone who claims to care about you."
"There's no need to apologize. It isn't your fault she hated that I read, or that she reminded me of my father."
"I wish I hadn't laughed at your experience."
"Why?" He shrugged. "The story is amusing enough."
"Yes, but I don't want to invoke your father and bring on such negative memories."
"Do not worry. I do not associate anything negative with you."
She blinked, unsure of the veracity of his words.
"I mean it," he reached over and gazed into her eyes. "You are the one person who makes me happy regardless of the circumstance. Always remember that."
"I will," she replied. "Or at least I'll try not to."
"If you fail, I will give you a troll on your next flying lesson."
"A troll?" She asked in mock horror, the humor returning to her eyes.
"Indeed," he answered with a smirk. "You could fly two kilometers in the air and fly all the way to Paris, and I will still mark you as a troll because you think that I associate anything negative with you."
"But I've never gotten a troll on anything."
"There is a first time for everything."
"Then I will do my best to think positive thoughts about myself."
"Think realistically. That is much healthier."
"Agreed," She leaned on the table. "If I hear the words, 'just think positively,' or 'look on the bright side' one more time, I will get in my wheelchair and slam myself into a wall."
"Sometimes there is not much positive to be found in a situation."
"Agreed, which brings me to my next question," she shook her head. "What was Minerva thinking trying to put you with someone who loves the outdoors and only wants to hike?"
"It sounds as if my illustrious date had a case of hero worship and wanted to know what it would be like to spend an afternoon with the infamous Snarly Severus Snape."
"Of course," She huffed. "It isn't as if she couldn't join a hiking club and find a nice man there."
"I cannot fully blame Wren for going on the date with me. Minerva thinks I should leave the castle more," he stretched his legs again. "She's complained for some time that my complexion is too light, and I should enjoy the nice weather more. All she needed to do was bribe Wren, and I'm stuck on another terrible date."
"My complexion is as light as yours, but she never says the same thing to me. Come to think of it, Minerva has never been bothered that I spend so much time inside," she mused aloud.
"When you read it is studious and proof you can live as anyone else can. When I read, I am wasting my life away."
"I assure you that you are not wasting your life away, at least not anymore than I am."
"Perhaps we'll waste our lives away together then."
"There are worse people to waste away with."
"Agreed."
"I'm surprised you two aren't wasting away from hunger."
Both of them turned to Rosmerta who stood over them with a notepad. "Can I get you two anything to drink and eat?"
"I would like a Swott Malt Whisky and a roast hog," Hermione ordered.
"Ooh, getting fancy," Rosmerta wrote down the order.
"It's the perfect night to be fancy."
"Why? Are you celebrating saving his life from the hike of doom?"
"There's that, but more importantly, I'm celebrating getting an interview for the Defense Against Dark Arts professor position."
"You're interviewing for that?" Rosmerta glanced up.
"I am," Hermione replied with a grin.
"Huh, well congratulations. You'll do amazing if you get the job."
"Do you think so?"
Rosmerta pretended to examine her. "Yeah, I think the person who helped save the Wizarding World is up to the task of teaching the next generation how not to kill themselves."
"Thank you," Hermione answered. "Right now, I'm trying to schedule an interview with Minerva. We're looking at the second week in November, though that could change if our schedules get too hectic."
"Not much time to prepare then."
"It's almost too much time," she exhaled. "I want to be prepared, but I didn't get my current job with a typical interview. All I did was plead for any kind of employment, and I obtained it. Now, I don't know how to prepare, which is already causing some anxiety."
"I know the questions they typically ask during these interviews," Severus cut in.
"You would, wouldn't you," Rosmerta answered.
"I applied enough times anyway," he frowned before his expression lightened. "During our next lesson, I can give you some practice questions."
"I'd like that," Hermione's smile returned.
"Time out," Rosmerta interrupted. "You're teaching her to fly?"
"Yes," Severus answered.
"And you're spending time with her one on one now?"
"Of course we're one on one. I didn't think he'd want to celebrate with Harry, and Neville was too busy to join us," Hermione cut in. "I'll have dinner with Harry and Neville on Thursday."
"Fine," Rosmerta turned to Severus. "But Minerva had you date someone who loved hiking?"
"Unfortunately," Severus flexed his hand.
"And you don't think I need to save you from this celebration?"
"Why in Merlin's name would I think that? Hermione is pleasurable to be around, so long as she does not prattle on about how many points I've deducted from Gryffindor that day."
"Excuse me, but you do deduct too many points."
"I wouldn't deduct so many points if they would stop running through the halls," he argued.
"They wouldn't run through the halls if you would stop scaring them with your scowl."
"It is not my fault they're afraid of my usual expression."
"You aren't always scowling, at least not around me."
"Yes, but you are the exception not rule."
Rosmerta took one look at Hermione, then at Severus.
"If I ever ceased scowling, the world would think I have gone soft," he argued.
"We can't have such a misconception circulating, now can we?" Hermione answered.
Rosmerta's eyes darted between them.
"No, it would cause people to question their views of reality," Severus answered.
"One question I have is what you would like to order," Rosmerta cut in.
Severus and Hermione paused and glanced at her.
"I don't mean to intrude on your playful moment, but I'm sure at some point you would like to eat."
"True," Severus replied. "I'll take the steak and kidney pie with a fire whiskey."
"Done," Rosmerta jotted down his order. Then, gave them both a parting glance before leaving.
"Why was she looking at us like that?" Hermione asked.
"I don't have the foggiest clue." His muscles relaxed. "I have made a resolution not to attempt to decipher what women are thinking. When I try to do so, I am always wrong."
"I don't know. You can decipher what I am thinking well enough."
"Yes, but you are an exception. Most women as too complex to comprehend."
"We're not all complicated beyond comprehension."
"Women are all complicated, save you."
"I wouldn't call myself a simple person, but I do not like to play games with others."
"Which why I hold you in such high esteem."
"Thank you. I feel the same about you, which is odd given how we began," she cracked a smile.
"You've grown from that obnoxious know-it-all I had as a first year," he replied. "I would be a fool not to acknowledge that."
"Indeed, you would be a fool not to notice I've grown a few centimeters since we first met. Instead of an obnoxious know-it-all first year, now I'm your obnoxious know-it-all colleague who must ride to the rescue to save you from your terrible dates."
"I wouldn't say you saved me from the date itself," he stretched again. "Though I appreciate the muggle medication."
"I'm glad, though," she scratched her chin, "why haven't wizards come up with such great potions for muscle aches?"
"My reasoning is I never thought I'd need to go on a thirty kilometer hike. If one never needs a potion, it slips their minds."
"Yes, but Ibuprofen is an anti-inflammatory drug. Why can't the Wizarding World invest in one of those?"
"I do not know. It would be quite the breakthrough if someone did so."
"I know we don't have all the time in the world," Hermione drawled. "But I wouldn't mind reviewing some literature with you on the matter."
"I do not know if that is advisable given everything else you're doing."
"I will admit, I'm giving the Defense Against Dark Arts position my full attention, but my Muggle Studies class runs itself now. I have spare time to research with you."
"Yes, but would I be interrupting your time with Jane Austen?"
"Trust me, I can spend my weekends with her and do this."
"If you feel you can handle the increased workload, we can look into it. Still, the job interview should be your first priority."
"It is," she answered. "But when I'm lying down during a rainstorm cursing the day I ever laid eyes on Bellatrix Lestrange, hoping the drugs kick in, well, it's a little personal for me as to why I'd want something stronger than what the Wizarding World has to offer."
"Then I suppose you're motivated, which is always the first step of good research," he answered.
"Yes, and I've been reading up on how Ibuprofen works. If you have any ideas on other potions…"
"I do actually," he sat up straighter. "Now, a regular pain potion targets the pain receptors, but not the inflammation."
"And that only masks the problem, so the pain inevitably either breaks through, or returns."
"Exactly."
Neither Severus nor Hermione noticed Rosmerta staring at them from across the room, wondering how those professors at Hogwarts could be so brilliant, yet so dense at the same time.