Summary: More missed chances, and some friendly advice.
A/N: Thanks for reading, everyone! Hope you enjoy this one. They're not getting that date just yet!
Chapter 3
Severus grumbled to himself as he walked the halls. He'd been searching for Hermione for a while now, but couldn't find her. The woman was definitely hard to track down when he was determined to ask her out.
Going up the stairs, he turned the corner and found his quarry.
"Ah, Hermione, I was looking for you."
"Hi, Severus. I was looking for you, too."
At that point, there was a loud ringing sound. Hermione waved her wand and the sound stopped.
"Bugger. I'm sorry, Severus. I'm late for a detention. I'll get with you later, okay?"
She didn't even wait for an answer. She turned and was gone before he could even say a word. He sighed, shook his head, and headed back to his quarters. Being bold wasn't working for him, no matter how much his grandmother wanted it to.
oooOOOooo
Everyone was assembled for the weekly staff meeting. Severus stood once everyone had taken a seat.
"Good afternoon. There aren't any student issues to cover, thankfully. Being the beginning of December, we do need to discuss the Christmas Eve Ball."
He looked at each professor individually before continuing.
"As you all know, we traditionally have a ball the day before Christmas Eve for the students. We'll need someone to organize everything for the ball this year."
"I'll do it," Hermione said as she raised her hand.
Severus nodded. "Any ideas for Hermione on theme?"
"Reindeers," Hooch said.
"Father Christmas," Pomfrey said.
"Holly," Sprout called out.
Severus eyed the three of them. "Thank you, Professors, for your ideas." Looking over at Hermione, he gave her a commiserative look. "I'm sure Professor Granger will use all of those ideas for one thing or another. If any of you come up with anything else, then please let her know. The dance will start at six with Christmas dinner and go until midnight."
There were a few questions before Severus adjourned the meeting. Hermione came up to him as everyone else filed out.
"Do you have any ideas you'd like to see, Severus?"
"I loathe planning for large gatherings," he explained. "I'll just go along with the rest of you lot."
"All right. I'll figure it out."
oooOOOooo
"Hermione, how is your event planning going?" Severus asked as he caught up to Hermione in the hallway later that week.
"Good. I know how I'm going to decorate the Great Hall. I just need to get all the supplies."
"Well, I can accompany you to Hogsmeade today if you'd like."
Severus held his breath as he awaited her answer. Finally, he'd gotten out his invite.
"Oh! I would love that, really, but I was meeting Ginny to go shopping for James." She grimaced. "I'm sorry."
"No matter. Perhaps some other time."
Hermione nodded. "Yes, let's. I'll let you know."
Severus watched her walk away. He'd gotten a little farther in his request, but still, he had not achieved his goal. Back to the drawing board.
oooOOOooo
The next weekend, Hermione rushed up to Severus.
"Hey!" she said
"Hey," Severus mimicked.
"I have some time today, would you like to go to Hogsmeade to shop for decorations for the ball?"
Severus sighed and looked away.
"You don't know how much I would love to do that. Unfortunately, I have a meeting with the Board of Governors, and given past meetings, it will take all day."
She looked disappointed. "Oh. Okay. I'll just go myself, then. This is the only time before Christmas that I'll be available to go."
"Sorry. I'm sure you'll have a much better time shopping than I will at the meeting."
Hermione laughed. "Well, I'm sorry, then. I'll see you tonight at dinner."
"If I don't die of boredom first…"
Hermione turned as she laughed again.
I know, I'll ask if Filius wants to go, she thought.
In a matter of minutes, she had spoken to Filius, who was glad to accompany her and help her make decisions on the decorations. They chatted about classes as they walked to Hogsmeade, commiserating on the students' lack of interest in their studies and how some of the students just wanted to make trouble incessantly.
They made it to town in no time and got down to business in choosing the extras for the ball. They went straight to Dervish and Banges where Hermione was entranced by the ornaments in their window decorations.
"Look at these, Filius. They're perfect, don't you think?"
Filius looked at the glass balls that twinkled from within with small lights in different colors.
"Those are just what we need to liven up the trees."
They entered the shop and looked around, gathering several other decorations for the Great Hall and leaving with their arms full of bags. They made a quick stop at Honeydukes to get Peppermint candy cane sticks for the tables and were on their way back to Hogwarts.
"So…" Filius began as they moved back toward the castle. "I've noticed you and Severus seem close."
Hermione coughed in surprise and looked at him with wide eyes.
"We're friends… just like you and me."
"Ah, yes, but you and I don't spend large amounts of time at the dinner table discussing new research in our fields as you do with Severus."
"I… I…"
"It's all right, Hermione. You fancy him. He's got a lot to offer a young witch like yourself."
She scoffed. "He's not interested in me that way."
Filius looked at her quickly. "You're daft, right? Do you not see how he looks at you?"
She shrugged. "He looks at me like he looks at everyone."
Flitwick stopped and wrestled with his packages so he could point at Hermione.
"You can't be serious. That man's eyes light up the minute you walk into the room. He's got it bad for you."
"Oh, Filius, stop. He does not, nor will he ever have it bad for me."
Filius stepped closer to her. "You're wrong. Shall we make a little wager?"
"Like what?"
"I bet Severus will ask you on a date before the term ends."
Hermione laughed. "You are very sure of yourself; that's only a couple of weeks away."
"Take it or leave it?"
She arched an eyebrow. "You're on. Loser treats the winner to lunch at the Three Broomsticks when school resumes next year."
"Agreed."
Golden light surrounded them, confirming the wager. They grinned at one another before moving once again.
"I'll be looking forward to our lunch," Hermione said.
"Especially since you will be the one paying," Filius added, causing Hermione to guffaw.
oooOOOooo
Severus stirred some sugar in his tea and nodded as Minerva sat next to him.
"Good morning, Severus. Did you rest well?"
He nodded. "As well as usual. I still have issues sleeping."
"You know what would take care of that?" Minerva asked.
He gave her a curious look.
"You need a good shag."
Severus spluttered. "I beg your pardon?"
"And I know just the person, too. I've seen the way you've been looking at Hermione."
"Minerva!"
"Why haven't you asked her out yet? Didn't we have a similar conversation over a month ago? You said you were going to ask her to Hogsmeade back then."
He frowned. "That was when I thought it would be easy to track her down and ask her. Every time I try, there's something that gets in the way. She leaves for the weekend, she's got previous plans. Just yesterday she asked me to go to Hogsmeade, but I had that horrid meeting with the Board of Governors so I couldn't."
"Oh, how did that go?"
Severus huffed. "Lucius wants to supply new brooms for the Quidditch teams–the generous soul. He wants a small plaque on each one saying, Donated by the Malfoy Family. The others only wanted to berate me for having the Christmas Eve dance before Christmas Eve. I explained that it would be difficult to have a dance when the students would be on the train home, but that seemed to just get them more riled up. They're impossible."
"I'm sorry, Severus. They always have the most outrageous demands."
"I wish they would get some reasonable people on there."
"That will never happen. Now… back to the subject at hand. Just up and ask her."
Severus turned towards Minerva. "You don't understand. This is hard for me. Part of me feels she'll laugh in my face, and the other part of me says I'm not good enough for her, so to just forget it. I have to work myself up to asking her each time, and every single time, something happens where I can't ask her or she can't go."
Minerva reached out and squeezed his arm.
"Severus, my dear. You think too little of yourself. I see the way she lights up when you're around. I think she'd love to date you."
He shrugged. "I'll get around to it eventually. There has to be a time this year that we'll both be able to have a conversation at the same time, and be available to actually go do something."
"Sooner rather than later, my friend. Just do it."
"Yes, Mummy," he snarked.
"Now, now, you know I only say this because I want to see you happy."
"I know, I know. I just don't need to be badgered."
"All right. But do it soon."
He sighed. "I will."