Delivering Bad Tidings

Chapter 5 – Delivering Bad Tidings

Snape sat under the weary scrutiny of the older wizard in the armchair directly across from him. He was absolutely sure that the twinkling blue eyes were not over concern for the news he had to bear, but more over the progress of a certain know-it-all head girl and his so-called growing attachment to her.

An attachment that he denied to himself and Dumbledore. He looked straight into the blue eyes with his hard ones and opened his mouth to speak.

'Albus, you do want to know what the summoning was for, do you not?' he questioned through clenched teeth.

Dumbledore chuckled a little at the strain in Snape's tone and gave the younger man a quelling look. 'Severus, I am all ears,' he replied with an insincere smile.

Snape raised a dark eyebrow and shook his head. 'The Dark Lord seems to be happy at this time. There are very few plans of "celebration" for this Christmas. Just the usual--plunder, rape, torture. His main target is a wealthy Muggle family on the border, near the Scottish Highlands,' he listed on his long fingers, trying not to seem appalled at the discussion, but not being able to help himself.

'I see. And what is your proposed plan of action?' asked the older man, serious now.

'I do not know the exact location, so it might be productive to secure the location before the event takes place on Christmas day,' he suggested with a brow furrowed in thought. 'Although, I am sure that the Order will be able to come up with a subtle and appropriate course of action after that?'

Dumbledore nodded his consent. 'Fair point. I will call a meeting tonight,' he said thoughtfully. 'Although I suggest you do attend.'

'I am sure that it will not be a problem for me to attend. Miss Granger will simply have to attend also, and I am sure that you will have some way of ensuring that Potter and Weasley will be there to keep her company?' Snape said dryly.

'Of course, that can certainly be arranged, and it is a commendable thought,' Dumbledore praised. Although it was unwanted and not responded to in kind.

'I am sure Miss Granger will want to see her... friends, no doubt,' he replied as evenly as he could.

'Then I will see you at the meeting this evening at 9 o' clock,' Dumbledore said, getting up from his seat and moving towards the fire.

Severus stood up also and saw the headmaster to the fireplace, watching as the man disappeared into the green flames. Once he had the room to himself once more, he slumped over, grateful for the silence, into a chair again. He closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose with one hand and massaging his temples with the other.

'Professor?' Hermione's sweet voice floated to his ears from the door. There was no sound more comforting at that moment.

'Yes, Miss Granger?' he found himself asking.

'Professor Dumbledore is gone then?' she murmured quietly.

'Yes, he is. And there is an Order meeting that must be attended this evening. You will be coming with me, and Potter and Weasley will also be attending in order to keep you in familiar company,' he repeated to her as he had suggested it to the unknowing headmaster.

'Harry and Ron, you mean?' she asked, moving closer towards him.

'That is what I said, was it not?' he drawled uncaringly, hurting inside at having to treat her this way.

'Yes, I suppose you did,' she said with a smile.

The room went silent, and Snape finally opened his eyes and looked around to see that Hermione had not moved. She seemed almost lost in thought or something of a like description. 'Miss Granger, have you become a statue?' he teased lightly.

Hermione came to her senses and looked at him. 'No, I don't think I'm quite as bad as Ronald yet,' she replied.

Snape barked a laugh out quietly, smiling a little in spite of himself and what his spy self tried to say. Hermione smirked at having gotten her professor to laugh at something she had said. She walked straight over to him while he was distracted momentarily and lowered her head to peck him on the cheek.

'Thank you for your thoughtfulness, Professor,' she said to a very startled Snape.

He hadn't even mentioned to her that it was his suggestion, and yet she knew. And what's more is that the girl had the nerve to actually kiss him. Why did she do such an absurd thing to him? 'I don't think I mentioned telling you that I had requested the two dunderheads to be at the Order meeting,' he said when he managed to find his voice.

'You didn't have to,' Hermione replied with a genuine smile before walking out of the room, leaving a very shocked Snape behind with a look of mild outrage on his face.

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Snape watched as Hermione seated herself between her two idiot best friends, hugging each of them in turn, smiling. The treacherous part of him wished that he was Potter, and pointedly Potter because it was better than being a Weasley any day. But the sensible spy and professor in him protested to those thoughts loudly.

Apparently, though, the thought of being Potter in those few moments was winning out against all odds. 'Dammit, Snape! Keep focused on the situation at hand!' his internal voice this yelled.

He forced his eyes away from Hermione and concentrated on the door through which many of the Order member's were entering.

'Ah, Severus. As prompt as ever!' the headmaster intoned. And not a moment too soon, for his eyes had started to stray towards the curly-haired beauty on their own accord once more.

'Albus,' Snape drawled, nodding at the old man.

'We shall begin in ten minutes as soon as everyone is settled,' Dumbledore said in a tone that seemed a lot more serious than that of earlier in the day.

Snape nodded and waited, keeping his eyes trained on the floor for the next ten minutes that would pass.

Hermione, however, was on the opposite side of the room, talking quite happily with her friends that she had not seen in almost a week. 'Oh, Harry. Ron. I have missed you both so much!' she exclaimed just as enthusiastically as they expected of her.

'Yeah, we missed you too, 'Mione,' Harry replied, hugging her tightly. 'Ron and I have been able to see each other every other day. You must feel like rubbish, holed-up with Snape day in and day out.'

Hermione wanted to tell them that it was actually quite pleasant but decided on the neutral path. 'It is a little lonely, but you get used to it. Better than spending my entire time around Professor Snape, though,' she said thoughtfully.

Ron agreed to the second part while Harry eyed her curiously for a moment before forgetting about it and moving on. 'So what have you been up to?' Hermione asked, changing the subject.

'Well, me and Ron practice Quidditch with Ginny and the twins during the day, and I go back home with Remus in London at night, and we just hang about, really,' Harry said.

Ron pretty much had the same answer. 'What do you do, Hermione?' Ron asked without bothering to listen for an answer.

Harry, however, did listen, and that made her feel a little better. 'Well, I study and read, and sometimes I talk to Professor Snape, but other than that there is really not much else to do. Although I did play a couple of games of wizard chess with him,' she said nonchalantly.

Harry opened his mouth to ask another question when Dumbledore called the meeting to order and began discussing the most recent issue. He did a very detailed analysis of what Snape had said to him earlier, spoke of how they had searched and discovered the whereabouts of the family and had received numerous suggestions on a course of action since.

Hermione listened carefully, drinking everything slowly, and, with each word that Dumbledore said, became more angry with Snape for not telling her this the night before. In the end, it was decided that a few skilled Aurors would go to this place, take the family away, and replace them with fake beings.

Hermione returned to Spinner's End with Snape in a bad mood and went off to her room without saying a word to him, slamming the door as she went.

Snape knew why she was upset and let it go this time. Next time, however, when she chose to slam one of his doors and ignore him, she would get what was coming to her...