It was a day before the students left for the holiday and Severus was patrolling the halls. Tomorrow the dunderheads would either have gotten on the Hogwarts express or stayed behind. It was something he was looking forward too. It wasn't the first time, but with the Dark Lord's resurrection approaching, it could be close to being the last.
He would only have to attend his head duties, some patrol, and the rest could be spent on himself. He normally used the free time on personal research, taking advantage of the library and his position to obtain more obscure literature. Being known as Hogwarts' Potions Master, allowed him a bit of leverage. It didn't hurt that there were still those who knew him as a previous death eater for the more questionable books. He had a solid reputation, but one that left him peacefully alone.
He could go wherever he wanted and was respected for the most part. He was left alone by previous students, who had an ingrained response to his presence. He had a secret side to him outside of Hogwarts, but being as he rarely left aside from the summer break…
He was following up on the sixth floor, pleased at having caught 18 couples snogging or at the worst, dry humping. He was always annoyed at teenager hormones, but amused at being able to see how wizarding teenagers behaved away from their family's eye. It was funny how someone from a strictly slytherin only family would be dating a hufflepuff, and actually care about them. It was nice to see interhouse relationships even if his ended poorly.
He was stalking forward silently, something he actually prided himself on. It saved his life in the past, and it helped him creep on unsuspecting students. It was something nice for himself whether in a serious situation or not.
He was turning when he caught the glimpse of a robe turning the corner. He followed quickly, unsure who he would find afterhours. They were curiously quiet for a student, so he assumed it must have been a sixth or seventh year girl, and from what he could tell they were alone, unless they were with another quiet girl.
He found the student in question standing at the bottom of the staircase that lead to the seventh floor. Instead of seeing the back of her head however, he saw her face.
It was Luna Lovegood.
He looked down and noticed that she had no shoes on her feet again and was probably locked out of her tower again. He was mean spirited and nasty most of the time, but he could never gather it around him with the sandy platinum blonde haired girl. Her eyes always seemed surprised, but her expression always as though she had been day-dreaming.
"Good evening, Professor," she said calmly, as though she wasn't out of bounds.
"Miss Lovegood," he acknowledged while trying to think of a way on how to handle her this time. He couldn't very well be mad at her for being bullied or being locked out of her common room… He wasn't Dumbledore, he couldn't overlook it because of his prejudices. Longbottom was a different story, if only because he wasn't bullied by most of his own house.
"Hermione Granger will be coming down the stairs soon," she said dreamily to him.
He raised his eye brows curiously, he learned during her earlier years that Luna had an uncanny ability to know things that others didn't. She might seem barmy, especially to the rest of the school, but she was more clairvoyant than barmy. So he didn't roll his eyes at her the way the rest of the school did, he was aware that she wasn't crazy.
It wasn't unheard of for Miss Granger to be out of bounds after hours. Usually it was with either Potter or Weasley though, but Miss Lovegood hadn't mentioned them. If it was the trio together it meant that they were up to no good or sticking their nose in something they weren't supposed to if it wasn't a blasted test for Harry bloody Potter.
"You should disillusion yourself, Professor," she suggested with a small smile.
Severus couldn't help the small sneer that appeared on his face, but nonetheless did as the young witch suggested. She had been quite helpful, and he didn't want to alienate the already alienated younger witch. He was sure that he was one of the very few who didn't call her Loony.
As soon as he was no longer visible to the normal eye Hermione Granger was indeed coming down the stairs looking extremely tired. Her eyes were red from the lack of sleep, her hair had more frizz than it had since she started caring for it around Yule, and her shoulders were slumped. He noticed she didn't have her bag with her, but saw that her infamous cat was trotting next to her.
He was more of a dog than a cat in his opinion. The potions master had caught the ginger menace in the act more than a few times with his slytherin's familiars. He had also caught the little monster beating up the other felines. He would always win and then he would look the potions master in the eye, flick his tail, and walk away calmly.
If students could lose points or earn detentions for their familiars, Miss Hermione Granger would have had a detention once every two or three days and a loss of 50-70 points a week.
Miss Granger, although tired, straightened up when she saw Luna, her poise was elite pureblood perfect. He wondered how he had missed it before. Was it her bushy hair? Her heavy bag that seemed to be half her weight in books?
She had just reached the landing when Miss Lovegood had decided to speak.
"Hello, Miss Granger. Is the elf you've been seeing doing better now?"
Miss Granger seemed taken aback for a moment. Her body pose switch to defensive. Her right foot swished in a small semi-circle behind her and stayed firm. It reminded him that she was a dancer, but also reminded him of a cat. Her ginger cat seemed unbothered with the dirty blond. Miss Granger seemed to have noticed this and calmed down. Her hair seemed to have risen in defense. He hadn't caught it until it lowered.
"She's doing much better now. Thank you for asking. Are you interested in the elvish welfare… Miss Lovegood?"
Miss Lovegood smiled at the older witch.
"Yes. I'm glad you've changed tactics, the way you were going about it before would have made you their least favorite person. Helga Hufflepuff would be proud of you."
The curly haired witch smiled softly, the edges around her eyes seemed to soften.
How had he failed to notice these small telling details before? Miss Granger was wound up, that he always knew, he didn't recognize that she was always on edge.
"I've been told as much recently. Shouldn't you be in your common room?"
"Oh yes. I've seemed to have misplaced my shoes though and my tower is locked," Miss Lovegood said easily.
Miss Granger tilted her head a bit.
"Accio Luna Lovegood's shoes," unlike Potter she didn't shout her spell, and she held her hand up patiently. A few seconds later, sure enough, Miss Lovegood's red shoes were in Miss Granger's hands. She noticed they were a bit ratty, "Reparo," she tapped the shoes with her wand.
The younger witch's grey eyes twinkled happily, "Thank you ever so much, Miss Granger."
"You're welcome. Doesn't the Ravenclaw tower have a riddle based entry?"
"They do. But every time I answer, someone seems to shut the door before I can open it."
The older witch's hair poofed up, surprisingly enough.
"Thimi."
A house elf appeared. Instead of a ratty looking tea towel or even the Hogwarts' uniform, she seemed to be well dressed.
"Please escort Miss Lovegood here directly to her room in Ravenclaw tower. She seems to be having some difficulties and I would like her to have a good sleep."
"I would be ever so grateful Miss Thimi."
"Thimi is doing now Missy Lovegood," with that she grabbed the ravenclaw's hand and disappeared the way that elves do.
Miss Granger smiled at where the house elf and ravenclaw were. She turned over to her ginger haired familiar, "Luna Lovegood is a good person, isn't she, Crooks?"
Her large cat closed his eyes and purred a moment before opening them again.
"Maybe she's not as loony as people say, something that might have to be looked into. She's eccentric, that's for sure though. But can you believe that she's being bullied!? Maybe we can do something about that… When we come back from holiday, would you mind terribly taking up another shift before bed?"
The ginger menace meowed sweetly at his mistress.
Curiously she crouched down to his level.
"Thank you, sir Crookshanks. The most regale handsome ruler of the castle," she crooned and pet him.
The half-kneazle purred under her attention.
Who would have figured that Hermione Granger baby talked the ginger haired menace, and he liked it. No one would have guessed that she would call upon a house elf for help with anything. She obviously wasn't with someone on the seventh floor nor had she seemed to be arguing.
She stood up and twisted left and right with her elbows lifted.
"Oh Crooks, these stretches are killer. Not really, but you understand what I mean."
She had been stretching? Aside from the quidditch players, no one in the castle exercised. Keeping their magical cores fit in class helped keep their bodies fit. It was for reasons like that, that Crabbe and Goyle were as thick as they were. They had the magic, and sometimes they showed aptitude, but they didn't exercise their magic enough for their bodies to be fit.
'What would she need to stretch for? And where does she think she's going at this time of night?'
The petite witch turned and continued to make her way to her down the stairs. He followed silently, even though the cat seemed to know where he was since he looked at him as soon as his mistress started walking and he knew she wasn't looking behind.
That cat was really something.
He followed them until she reached the kitchens.
"Missy Hermy is here!"
"Missy Hermione!"
"Where is Thimi to be helping!?"
"Is Missy not calling on Thimi?"
"I had Thimi do something else for me. Now. Being as I just did a lot of work I was hoping for a cup of tea, with some lemon in it. Nothing fattening, please. So no cake, but I could do with some celery and dressing if you have any."
Here he was being revealed that Miss Hermione Granger leader of the S.P.E.W campaign, had a close relationship with a house elf named Thimi.
He never bothered to learn all the names of the house elves, he just remembered his assigned house elf's name: Maga.
Maga had been with him a number a years, and had finally been taught how to speak properly, at least in front of him. She also developed enough backbone to nag him. She made sure he ate and cooked what she thought was best for him. Sometimes when he was sick she would magic the food so he would only be able to eat what she cooked for him. It was annoying, but he appreciated it. He even appreciated that she no longer cried when he yelled at her or growled at her, and instead sassed him.
Maga was also wonderful at being quiet and minding her own business with the solid knowledge that he was spy. She was one of his few friends, Minerva, Poppy, and Hooch being the others in the castle. He respected most of his other colleagues and they were acquaintances, but he didn't like them enough to consider them a friend.
Hagrid was a good man but too loose lipped, Pamona mothered too much, there was nothing wrong with Septima, but they didn't have enough in common to talk a lot, Filius was nice, but again they didn't have that connection, Sibyll… he wanted nothing to do with that witch, even if it was obvious she had eyes for him. He was glad that the witch opted to take most meals in her room. Aurora was nice, but got along more with Septima, Charity he avoided if only because she taught muggle studies and always tried to pick his brain for his childhood, of which he was extremely uncomfortable with.
He waited until Miss Granger left after her tea and snack, and followed her to the second floor before noticing that she was taking a secret passageway. They arrived on the sixth floor, she walked to the staircase and he finite the spell after walking to a corner as though he was there the whole time.
"Miss Granger, out of bounds after hours."
He almost laughed at the small 'eep' she made.
She turned and faced him, her hands fiddling with the hem of her shirt.
"5 points from Gryffindor for being out after hours. Now hurry, Miss Granger."
"Yes, sir. Happy holidays," she said as she ran up the stairs with her blasted feline at her heels.
Later that night he would wonder why he only took 5 points. He had wanted to pick apart her brain, but also didn't want her to know that he had followed her and learned a few new tidbits on her. He was sure that some of it would come in handy in the future. He was also… thankful that someone had helped Miss Lovegood, and had given Gryffindor 10 points for helping a fellow student in a moment of need.
Thimi had brought the bright dirty blonde haired witch to her ravenclaw tower, next to her bed. She couldn't help but notice that the witch's dormmates were already asleep and not one of them cared that she had been missing.
"Thank you, Miss Thimi. Don't worry, I won't tell anybody about you and your mistress. Just start leaving her editions of the Quibbler for me? I can give them to you after they're printed, free of charge. It would be nice to be friends with her, maybe next year," she said to the small elf.
"You is welcome Missy Lovegood. Your silence and gift is much appreciated. You is getting good night sleep now."
"Oh, yes. Good night Miss Thimi." Luna said as she got into her bed.
"Good night," she patted the witch's leg and left the room.
Hermione didn't say anything to anyone, letting them all assume she was getting some last minute reading in. As directed, she had been stretching, but in the Room of Requirement, and hadn't expected to be as hungry as she had been afterwards. She was stretching muscles she knew she had, but hadn't felt before. It was a bit painful being so sore. She almost wanted to ask for a paste or a potion, but decided that she liked the small ache. It was like a reminder that she had earned it.
She hadn't expected to be caught and let off so easy by Professor Snape of all people. The petite witch was sure there was something else, but it could have been just a bit better because she wasn't caught with one of the boys or snogging someone in an alcove like most of the students tonight. Walking back from the kitchen must have been the tamest thing he had to deal with all night and had decided to let her off with point loss instead of detention.
She continued up to her room since everyone was already asleep, and she was thankful of that. She had waited until after the boys went up to bed before going about her own business, she had Crookshanks scouting out for her to let her know when they went to bed before coming to get her in the library.
She hated lying to them, so if she could honestly say she had been in the library when they went off to bed, it wasn't necessarily a lie, since she had been there, but wasn't there the whole night. It made her feel a bit better.
Tomorrow she would be going home on the Hogwarts express and then most likely catching the plane to France with her parents. She had received a response letter from her father, it wasn't signed by both of them letting her know that her mom wasn't aware and would be surprised last minute. Her father was always prompt with things like that, and it was something she appreciated that she got from him. If her mother had known about it first, she would have dragged it out for as long as possible. They didn't have that kind of time.
She told her professor and Moody that they should be ready within two days of holiday, and told them to meet her at the Roman temple in Nimes. She also told them to dress inconspicuously, and transfigured them both acceptable muggle outfits so they wouldn't stand out. Moody would be given polyjuice with Crouch Jr.'s hair, and they would show up as twins. They both agreed that would be for the best and congratulated her on her forward thinking. Moody would be able to use his passport to Wizarding France, and Crouch would be under the invisibility cloak, then once they were in Muggle France they could proceed.
She was nervous and excited. She knew her father would accept it all in stride, especially with knowing that she was but a year away from being an actual adult, it was her mother that would need her father to help calm her down. Knowing her father he would tell her mother that it was a spur of the moment decision to go visit his maman. She would be in for a shock, but at least after a cup of tea spiked with a calming draught she would be fine.
It would be a long holiday, hopefully it would at least be somewhat fun.
Maman - Mom