The Yule Ball: Part One

Many thanks to the awesome Madbrilliant, who has continued to beta for me, and WriterMerrin, who continues to be awesome at picking up our leftover mistakes.

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Chapter 4 - The Yule Ball: Part One

It had been one of the longest weeks of her life, but it was finally ready, and everything would go smoothly.

Hermione had been marking exams, planning the Yule Ball, as well as assigning different tasks to all of her fellow colleagues in accordance with their skill. Hagrid, Argus Filch, and Filius had been assigned the task of decorating the castle with Christmas trees and decorations. Rolanda Hootch had been given the task of acquiring and setting up the fireworks display for the Ball to be lit from the Quidditch Pitch. Remus and Tonks were going to help with the decoration of the Great Hall; Angelina was organizing the entertainment for the night; while Sprout, Vector, and Sinistra were doing odd jobs with everyone else.

She and Severus, being the Heads of the school, obviously had the most important task of charming the ceiling together. She had seen very little of Severus this past week. Arthur had been constantly summoning him to the Ministry on business with other countries, and he had been leaving early and returning very late. She had to admit that she missed him, in a way – she had grown used to his company due to their close working proximity to one another. Some days she was positive that he felt the same way.

Hermione had been left in charge while he was away, and together, she and Filius had been helping to ease the buildup of work Severus would have missed due to his business in London. It was with that thought that she returned her mind to the task.

"Filius, I can't thank you enough for all of this," she said as they began tidying the mess they had made in the school registry.

"It isn't a problem, my dear," Filius replied as they moved the files back into the cabinets and chests. "I think this is all that can be done for today, don't you?"

"Hmmm, Severus should be pleased that we managed to do half of this for him," she answered, locking everything with a charm.

"Arthur does have him busy, yes?" Filius agreed, nodding his head as he hobbled out the registry with Hermione following him.

"I doubt he's too happy about it," she mused.

They headed to dinner then, taking their usual seats, and soon the students entered, filing inside normally. Hermione announced dinner that night as she had the last five and then began eating hungrily herself. She had been so busy all day with classes and planning and jobs for Severus that she had managed to skip all of her meals unintentionally. Remus pulled up a chair between her and Filius from behind and smiled.

"Good evening, Hermione," he said pleasantly.

"How was your day, Remus?" she asked with more than just a hint of a smile.

"Eventless. Dora and I have marked all of our exams, and the classes have been quite slow and tired. I think we're all ready for a break," Remus said with a sigh. "So, is everything set for the Ball tomorrow night?"

"Yes, and I will meet you and Tonks in the Great Hall straight after classes and decorate while the students are getting ready and packing for the holiday," she answered promptly. "I assume all of the guest invitations were sent?"

"Yes, Pomona and Sinistra wrote them and Sylia sent them," Remus nodded.

"Excellent," Hermione said, relief filling her. She was so glad that everything was on track and that the Ball would finally come and go, and then she could enjoy her few days of Holiday freedom. It was the time of year she looked forward to the most when she could spend time with her friends. "Ron wrote me and said that he, Harry, Ginny, and Julia were coming. Fred and George are going to baby-sit."

"Now that I would pay to see," Remus said with a chuckle.

"Hmmm... Severus was laughing when I told him too," Hermione said which made Remus sober and give her a questioning look. "What?"

"I have never once seen him truly laugh," he commented plainly. "You've done something to him, Hermione. Hiring you was one of the best decisions he has ever made for this school, and for himself."

"I doubt he was thinking about himself when he hired me, Remus," Hermione said, feeling her pulse quicken a little at the possibility.

"He may not have been, but you have been good for him. I have not seen him so open and relaxed in a long time; although I am not saying that he is even that open right now," he replied.

"Remus is right, Hermione. You have changed him," Filius squeaked. "Never once, in my time as his colleague, had I seen him tease someone in a friendly way, or smile until you came here."

Hermione blushed a little, clearing her throat uncomfortably. She cared about Severus, as one cares about a friend, but over the last few months, as they became more comfortable with each other, her pulse would speed up whenever he said something complimentary or if someone mentioned them together favorably. She liked the thought of people accepting that they were friends and equals. Perhaps she liked him a little more than she had thought?

"I'd like to think that maybe my being here would make his life easier," she said, willing away the blush.

Filius smiled and tucked into his dinner while Remus nodded at her with a knowing twinkle in his eyes. "We may have to have a talk some time, Hermione," he said in a low voice before getting up, replacing the chair, and going back to eat dinner beside his loving wife.

Am I that transparent? she thought, absently picking at her own food.

After dinner, she headed down to her office and walked inside, shrugging out of her teaching robes and casting a wandless charm to lock and ward the door behind her. She was so relieved that she didn't have hall duty that night, so she could take a nice long bath and go to sleep before all of her work the next day.

"If I had been a student, you would be dressed improperly right about now," drawled a voice from behind her – an all-too-familiar silky voice.

Hermione spun around and faced where it came from just in time to see Severus step out from the shadows with his arms folded across his chest. "What I am wearing is perfectly proper," she replied tartly in defense of her grey slacks, white blouse, and navy-coloured sweater.

He chuckled darkly with his wonderfully plumy voice. "How was your day?" he asked, sitting down on the corner of her desk smoothly.

"Exhausting, although Filius and I did manage to get halfway through the Registry for you after classes today," she answered.

"Thank you for that, although it was not necessary," he replied.

"We figured you'd be quite tired and sick of work by the time you finished at the Ministry this week, so we took it upon ourselves to do some for you," she said tiredly. "But you do the rest yourself tomorrow."

"Am I keeping you from something?" he asked her.

"My bath and sleep, but who needs to sleep?" she teased gently, making one side of his mouth quirk up in a slightly lopsided smile.

She felt her lungs expand as she sucked in a breath when he smiled like that. He was quite dashing when he did that. He stood back up straight and brushed some invisible dust from his robes. That was obviously his cue to leave, and he was beginning to get hungry. He would stop by the kitchens and get a meal before returning to his own rooms for a shower, shave, and sleep.

"Well, I should be going," he said, making his way across the office. "Would you be so kind?" he asked, pointing at the door.

Hermione smiled gratefully and unlocked the door for him. "Goodnight, Severus," she said as he walked out.

"Goodnight," he said, before the door closed and locked behind him as he went out into the cold dungeon hallway.

Severus breathed out the breath that he had not even realized he had been holding and leaned his back against the wall for a moment to steady himself. That had been quite an experience for him. Hermione, although no different to how she usually looked, seemed different to him just then. She often saw him on weekends or late at night while she was not wearing her teaching robes, and he had seen them all before. Tonight, in the dim lighting of her office, her smile had been beautiful. He had always thought that she was uniquely attractive, but had never contemplated on that beauty before.

He sighed and began to head towards the portrait that concealed the kitchens, tickling the pear and stepping through the archway that it revealed. He was still startled by this revelation and frowned when a house elf bumped into him as he walked along to find Dobby – the reliable, yet totally crazy one.

"Headmaster Snape, sir. What is you doing down here?" Dobby asked with a wide grin, blinking up with his golf ball-sized eyes.

"I missed dinner while I was in London. Could I trouble you for something to eat?" he asked with a certain amount of courtesy towards the creature.

"Wait right here – Winky will help Dobby get you something!" he exclaimed excitedly, scampering through the kitchens to find his "assistant" and wife elf.

Severus had initially thought that the marriage between house elves was absurd, but after a while, he warmed up to the idea and didn't grimace every time the two elves were mentioned in his presence. Not long after, Dobby returned with Winky in tow, holding out a basket of food for the Headmaster to take with him up to his office from there. Nodding, he accepted it.

"Thank you," he said pleasantly.

"It is an honor to be of service to you, Headmaster Sir," Winky said reverently with a small bow as Dobby did the same beside her.

"Goodnight," Severus said, grabbing some Floo Powder and Flooing to his office from the kitchen fire.

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