lyn_f – Gravity Keeper

Team Notes: This chapter was written by lyn_f and betaed by Soul Bound.

Hermione was glad for the long breaks in the symposium schedule as she soaked in the small tub filled with fragrant soap bubbles. Certainly, the hotel's baths were not as luxurious as those found in Hogwarts' Prefect's bathrooms, but still, she thought these tubs were adequate for her needs.

She scrubbed her wrist hard at the memory of the objectionable Dwight Umber's clammy hand, hoping to remove any trace of that man's touch upon her. She shuddered even more at the prospect of having to meet the man in his room later that afternoon.

After she dried and dressed herself, she sighed as she re-examined the list of talks scheduled for the afternoon. None of the abstracts really interested her, and she wondered again why she even bothered coming to this symposium. This one was certainly nothing like the conferences she attended whilst reading for her Potions degree at Uni. She never thought the Potioneers whose work she followed avidly in the literature would exhibit such gaucheries as she noticed at this symposium. It was almost painful trying to interact with them.

As she went down to the foyer, she noticed Snape sitting alone in an overstuffed wingback chair, hiding behind a large newspaper. As she approached him, she noticed he put down his paper and greeted her with what appeared to be, for him, a smile.

"Skiving off the afternoon sessions, Severus?" she asked playfully.

Severus snorted. "As if there were any talks that would be worth attending," he said disdainfully. "Are you in the mood for sweets?"

Hermione was taken aback, and she frowned. "You? Sweets? I would have never thought you owned a sweet tooth."

Severus glared at Hermione. "I have a friend who owns a sweets shop not far from here. I assure you his sweets are top-notch, and people come from all over the country to sample them."

Hermione shrugged. "If you insist."

Severus stood and offered her his arm. "I do," he said.

They went to the shop, which had an interesting aroma of nuts, sweet syrup, and rosewater. Hermione marvelled at the Indian-style décor in the shop.

"Where is the owner from?" Hermione asked.

Severus's eyes brightened at the sight of his friend. "Bangladesh," he murmured.

A small, slight, dark-skinned man smiled broadly as he approached them and shook Severus' hand.

"Severus-bhai!" he exclaimed with a very thick Bengali accent. "When I heard the Potions Academia symposium was being held here, I was hoping I would see you again!"

Severus nodded. "It is a pleasure," he said softly. He gestured towards Hermione. "Masum, this is my colleague, Professor Hermione Granger."

Masum bowed his head slightly towards Hermione. "A pleasure, Professor Granger," he said. "Come. Sit in my café. I will bring you nice English sweets."

Hermione smiled at Masum's exuberance. "That would be wonderful...thanks so much," she said brightly.

Moments later, a nice spread of cakes, fudges, and puddings were placed on their table as well as a large, pot-bellied teapot containing fragrant Bengali-style milk tea.

"Harry always loved treacle fudge," Hermione said. "Any time it appeared on the menu at Hogwarts, he'd skip over the meal and go straight to dessert."

Severus scowled at the mention of Potter's name. "Indeed," he said, sniffing disdainfully.

Hermione frowned at Severus. "Surely you don't still hold any animosity towards Harry," she said. "After all, he does hold you as a role model to his own children. His second son is even named after you!"

Severus' scowl deepened at the thought of a Potter bearing his name. "Over-sentimental Gryffindors," he grumbled without any heat.

Hermione stared at Severus for a moment, but his face had such a mask of indifference that she could not determine whether or not his apparent animosity towards one of her best friends was genuine. Shrugging, she took another dainty forkful of the fudge. "I've never been very keen on treacle fudge," she said. "I'd always found it to be too sweet. But I will admit your friend really does make wonderful fudge."

Severus nodded. "I shall pass your compliments to the chef," he said.

Hermione smiled. "Thank you," she said. Sipping her tea, she frowned as more memories of Hogwarts came to her mind. "Severus, may I ask you a question?"

Severus sighed. "When do you not ask a question?" He raised his hand in the air and started waving it wildly, making Hermione blush hotly with mortification.

"Was I really that bad back then?" she whispered.

Severus snorted. "You were certainly over-eager," he replied. "To be honest with you, I had often wished I had a classroom full of students like you, as opposed to utterly incompetent students like Longbottom, Crabbe, and Goyle. Having more students like you would have made my teaching experience... less objectionable."

Hermione frowned. His assessment of her intellect and her work as a student surprised her, as he had always been chary of his praise... at least towards non-Slytherin students. She certainly did not expect him to refer to two of his Slytherin students in such a manner.

"You are an intelligent young woman, Granger," Severus said when he saw Hermione's expression. "I am certain you can work out for yourself why I had to publicly behave the way I did towards you and your two adolescent shadows."

Hermione sighed. "I see that now," she said as she sipped her tea. "I didn't see it back then." She smirked. "Harry, Ron, and I really hated you back then. We were very willing to think the worst of you. Our actions certainly did reflect that as well."

Severus raised an eyebrow. "I have not forgotten that a set of my warmest robes were set afire during a certain Quidditch match, nor have I forgotten a pair of raids on my potions storeroom."

"Well, one of those raids could be directly attributed to me," Hermione retorted. "I don't know about the other one, but I know it certainly was not me."

Severus shrugged. "Bloody Albus and his 'Greater Good'," he mumbled. "He would have said if the ends justified the means... There weren't many second-year students who could have brewed a successful Polyjuice potion."

Hermione chuckled. "Now I know the world has come to an end," she said mirthfully. "You've just praised me twice in one sitting."

Severus sat straighter in his chair. "So I did," he said. Looking intently into her eyes, he placed his hand over hers. "You are certainly one of the less-objectionable people I've met here. To be honest with you, you're the only reason why I haven't left this symposium yet."

Hermione, feeling Snape's warm hand over hers, felt an uncomfortable flip-flop in her stomach. It was as if the world had tilted on its axis and stopped spinning as she noticed the intensity of his dark eyes. She wasn't sure what she saw, but his eyes were certainly not the cold, endless tunnels she remembered in her youth.

Any response she may have made was stilled when Masum came to their table. When Severus withdrew his hand, she felt bereft because of the absence of his warmth. Plastering a smile on her face, she nodded in acknowledgement as the teapot was replenished with freshly-made milk tea.

"I trust you are enjoying your sweets?" he asked.

"Excellent, as usual," Severus said. "Masum, I believe we are ready for the bill."

"No need, no need! I am very happy to see you again, Severus-bhai. This is my hospitality for you. Stay for as long as you wish, dear friend."

Severus nodded in acknowledgement as Masum withdrew from their table. He looked at Hermione once again. "I, for one, intend on skipping the rest of the sessions today, as nothing piques my interest."

"To be honest, I was really disappointed to see there were no poster sessions," Hermione said. "I suppose the organisers don't solicit submissions from students or apprentices?"

"Not to this particular symposium," Severus said. "They invite only those who they consider to be the best Potions masters and mistresses in the world to submit abstracts for their talks, and even then, they go on forever and ever, as no time limit is set upon them."

Hermione snorted. "That's how the foofaraw over work like Bellamy's spellotape adhesives, Stoyanov's cauldron thicknesses or Umber's so-called Super-Serum is allowed to happen." Shaking her head, she continued. "I never thought attending a conference with all these big names in the Potions field would be so disappointing."

"You have always been an idealistic young lady," Severus said. "You will have to shatter those illusions with this lot." He stood up and offered his arm. "Shall we?"

Hermione stood and smiled as she threaded her hand through his elbow. "Yes," she breathed as they swept out of the café.

In the shadows, a rotund man smirked as he observed Hermione and Severus leaving the café together. This should be a very interesting next couple of days, the man thought gleefully.

End Notes: This week, the prompt words were:

1. Gaucherie

2. Prefect's bathroom

3. Storeroom

4. Spellotape

5. Foofaraw

6. Chary

7. Treacle fudge

All seven of them were used! We hope you are having a good time following our story. It's certainly been a blast to plot, scheme, and write together. Soul Bound is up next, so stick around!