Chapter Eight: Professor Snape

Chapter Eight: Professor Snape

As Ginny returned to the table, Draco's expression changed yet again, though to one she could not read. She took his hand as she sat down, but Draco let go of her hand and reached for his mug of butterbeer.

"What is it?" Ginny asked.

"Professor Snape just came in with McGonagall...Gareth, not the Headmistress," Draco said softly.

Ginny's brow furrowed. "I thought Snape wasn't coming into Hogsmeade today," she whispered.

"Apparently there was a change in his plans."

"Yeah, but I heard that it's because he's a target and..."

"Okay, you two, whispering luvvy endearments can wait till you're somewhere else," Chip said. "Time to order dessert. What does everyone want?"

There was a greater selection of desserts available than usual, and Niamh speculated it was to keep Hogsmeade weekend patrons from leaving the Three Broomsticks to have their dessert at Madam Puddifoot's.

"Mr Newman, when you have a moment, I would like to speak with you."

Draco looked up at Professor Snape, who had appeared silently beside him. He nodded. "Yes, sir."

Snape went back to the short rectangular table he was sharing with McGonagall by the wall on the other side of the pub. When he was more-or-less out of earshot, Chip said, "Ooo, what've you done this time, Newman?" He laughed.

Draco shook his head. "I don't know. Gin, could you order me something...surprise me...and I'll be back in a minute." Despite the wording of Snape's summons, Draco recognised it as just that, a summons. No delay would be justifiable, particularly not the mere task of ordering dessert.

Draco crossed the crowded pub to where Professor Snape and McGonagall sat. Gareth had a pint in front of him, and Snape was drinking water with a lime wedge, but their food had not arrived yet.

"Good afternoon, Mr...er, Professor McGonagall," Draco said, remembering that as Gareth had taken an apprentice, he should properly be addressed as "Professor," although the young wizard didn't seem to care either way. "You wished to see me, Professor Snape?"

Snape nodded. He looked around, saw a free chair, and flicked his wand to draw it over to the end of the table. "Sit."

Draco sat.

Gareth smiled at him. "No need for the formality...'Gareth' is quite all right, if your Head of House has no objections."

Snape snorted and seemed to roll his eyes in derision, but he didn't say anything in response. "I just saw Ronald Weasley leaving." Severus glanced at Gareth, then continued, "McGonagall tells me that you and Miss Weasley encountered him earlier."

"Yes, sir. We ran into him at the Quidditch supply shop, and he and Luna just had lunch with us."

Snape's left eyebrow rose. "I see no evidence of mayhem."

Draco gave a crooked grin. "No, sir. We just ate lunch and talked about Quidditch. That is, everyone did. Ron and I didn't really interact."

"It is good that you didn't," Snape replied, "as I would have been too late if there had been a problem."

Draco flushed. "I can take care of myself, sir."

"I have no doubts, and neither does McGonagall. We were simply . . . considering the question of whether Mr Weasley had . . . overtaxed his own self-control and challenged yours."

Draco blinked, interpreting what Snape had said. "No. I think that Ron didn't want to upset Ginny or Luna."

McGonagall grinned. "That may be the best we can hope for at the moment." He looked at Professor Snape. "Sorry to have dragged you down here for nothing, Snape. But when Ron left the house, I wasn't sure of his mood, and Luna said something about meeting everyone in the Broomsticks."

"You can buy my lunch, then, McGonagall, and it won't have been for nothing," Snape said.

"I didn't want you to have any trouble that you might prefer to avoid, Draco," Gareth said. "Sometimes a man is pushed into a corner and has to react. I just didn't want to see you come out of that corner with any difficulties waiting for you in my aunt's office, if you know what I mean. But I'm glad to hear that Ron behaved like a gentleman, more or less, and that your lunch was peaceful."

Draco nodded, assuaged by the unambiguous explanation the Ravenclaw gave. Sometimes even when Snape was being clear, there was some cryptic underlying motivation or message to be read, and Draco didn't want to spend any time trying to figure out why Snape felt moved to come into Hogsmeade when he hadn't planned to, or why he had specifically wanted to talk to him.

"Don't forget yourself, Newman," Severus said. As an afterthought, he added, "And enjoy the rest of your afternoon."

Taking that as a dismissal, Draco nodded and rose. "Thank you, sir. I hope you both enjoy your lunch."

He tried to look relaxed and not hurry as he returned to his own table. Ginny had ordered some chocolate cake that was practically black, it was so dark, and there were two forks. Draco suppressed his smirk. It was a very large piece of cake, and he supposed that girls found it romantic to share a dessert with their date. He gave her a crooked grin as he sat down and picked up one of the forks. He supposed he should actually find this a flattering and positive gesture.

"Cake looks good, Gin."

"I waited till you were back to try it...I hope it tastes as good as it looks!"

Draco let Ginny take the first bite, then he cut into it with his fork, getting just a bit of icing with the cake. Seeing the expression of bliss cross Ginny's face, he smiled and tried his own piece. He nodded. It was very good, and certainly the sort of chocolate that witches seemed to swoon over.

Chip had a slice of apple pie, and Niamh had a bowl of fresh berries with whipped cream on top and a ginger newt on the side. She gave her ginger newt to Chip and spooned most of her whipped cream onto his slice of pie.

"Don't you like whipped cream?" Draco asked, thinking that the berries and cream looked even more tempting than the chocolate cake...though he'd not tell Ginny that, and he was enjoying the cake.

"I'm trying to diet," Niamh said with a sigh. "I should have asked them to leave off the whipped cream. It's so much easier to avoid it if I don't see it."

"You are just perfect as you are, light-of-my-life," Chip said, squeezing her thigh.

Niamh smiled radiantly. "Well, I want to stay that way, don't I, Chipper?"

Draco suppressed his grimace. He hoped he didn't start talking that way to Ginny...at least not in public. Sharing cake was one thing, using silly endearments within the hearing of others was quite another. He hoped that Ginny didn't expect that of him. Her parents had always seemed to be ready to coo over each other regardless of the company they were in. His own parents were much more restrained in public...and even in private, their gestures of affection were muted, though Draco knew that they were devoted to each other, or at least, that his mother was devoted to his father and his father needed his mother.

Draco glanced over at Ginny. Losing her mother had been a terrible blow, and not just to her. Ginny had told him that without her mother, it seemed that the family had lost its centre and was fragmenting without her. He thought that was improving, and from what Ginny had told him, the entire family was working harder at maintaining their ties...and at helping Arthur Weasley. Apparently, the man had been quietly falling apart with no one noticing, not even his grown sons, and Ginny credited Professor Snape with noticing and for instigating Arthur to seek help, much as Snape had done for her.

Draco felt a warm sense of pride in his Head of House. Being a catalyst for change was as important as being the instrument of change, and Professor Snape had helped Ginny begin changing her life to try to find some happiness again, and he had made sure that her father had not continued his downward slide. Professor Snape might not be the most outwardly warm and caring individual Draco had ever met, and Snape's sarcasm and rather jaded view of life would be evident to almost anyone within a short time of meeting him, but despite his somewhat sharp and acidic nature, he still could be a positive force in the lives of others, and Draco had no doubt at all that his Head of House cared about him.

Draco glanced over at the corner table where Snape and McGonagall sat talking and eating. McGonagall was animated, and whatever he was telling Snape, it must have been amusing, since the corners of Snape's eyes crinkled and one side of his mouth turned up in a slight smile. Draco smiled, himself. It was good to see his Head of House relaxed enough to enjoy his own life.

"So, what did Snape want?" Chip asked.

Draco twitched one shoulder. He couldn't very well say that it was prefect business, since Thackery was the senior prefect.

"He probably saw Ron leaving," Niamh said perspicaciously, "and wanted to make sure no blood was shed."

"Something like that," Draco replied.

"Professor Snape cares a lot more about us...us students...than he seems to, I think," Ginny said.

"Yah, I'd say so," Chip said, his brow puckering. "He did nearly die for us, after all."

"I meant . . . caring in an ordinary way, not just heroically," Ginny said. "They're both important."

Niamh looked across the room where the two wizards sat talking, and now looking at a parchment spread on the table between their plates. "I never used to think he did...especially if you weren't a Slytherin...but he's been different this year."

"For obvious reasons," Draco said.

"I think McGonagall's been a good Headmistress, too," Chip said. "I always liked old Dumbledore, but McGonagall, let's face it, she's younger and more innovative."

Ginny shrugged. "I think she's doing great, too, but I bet that when Dumbledore became Headmaster, people said the same thing about him. I hear that Dippet was a real stick in the mud, and kind of weak, too. A pushover when it came to the Board of Governors."

"Probably," Niamh said, "but McGonagall's just different in a lot of ways. She's more approachable than Dumbledore was, and I feel like you can have a real conversation with her, too. It always felt . . . stilted or something when I talked to Dumbledore."

"That's probably at least partly because she was our teacher," Draco said. "We knew her before she was Headmistress. But you're right. She's doing a good job. So did Dumbledore. But I think that anyone who thought she'd be weak and ineffective following Dumbledore has been proven wrong, and not just because she defended the school so well last year. She's a real force herself. A lot of people underestimated her."

"Dumbledore was a hard act to follow," Ginny agreed, "but we Gryffindors always had faith in McGonagall."

"I think it said a lot that she kept Snape on as her Deputy even after Riddle was dead and the war's over," Chip said. "I know that some people were saying that she'd probably pick someone else now that he wasn't needed as a spy."

"They did, but she kept him, and she knows what she's doing," Niamh said with a nod.

"It was good for Slytherin House, too," Draco said. "I don't know whether I would have come back, NEWTs or no NEWTs, if he weren't kept as Deputy and Head of House. Unless he'd decided not to teach anymore, of course."

"There were some people who thought it might be better if he didn't, I heard," Niamh replied. "You have to admit, Snape's never been popular."

"Popularity isn't everything," Ginny said defensively. "And as you say, the Headmistress knows what she's doing, and he works for her. She obviously respects him, and he respects her, too. I think they're a good team and they're good for the school."

"Yeah, they're both all right," Niamh agreed. "So, what do you all want to do next?"

Author's Note: In the next chapter, Ron pays Harry a visit at Grimmauld Place.