Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Severus sat in the faculty meeting, thinking about Hermione, counting the days until she would leave, when Minerva McGonagall said something that grabbed his attention. "... and I'm pleased to report that Miss Granger has agreed to stay on with that understanding."

"What do you mean, Miss Granger is staying on?" Severus asked, so shocked that he didn't even think to keep the horror from sounding in his voice. The entire faculty turned to look at him questioningly, and he couldn't help wishing that someone had warned him about this ahead of time.

"Well, what do you think I mean?" Minerva snapped. "As anyone who was actually paying attention to what I just said can tell you, Miss Granger has agreed to my offer to apprentice her, with an eye toward having her become the new professor of Transfigurations when I retire."

"But that's years away," Severus protested, perhaps a touch too vehemently. "There's no need to take on a new apprentice yet." His obsession with Hermione Granger seemed to have displaced his good sense and his tendency to keep his own counsel.

Minerva rolled her eyes. "Of course there is. Miss Granger is the best student we've had in years, and I'll be retiring long before we see another of anywhere near her caliber. I cannot imagine a better choice to succeed me. And since she will succeed me, it can only be a benefit to all of us if I take the time to prepare her thoroughly for the challenges of the position."

He couldn't resist one more try, with an argument targeted more toward something Minerva might accept. "But is it fair to keep her here, when she could do so much good elsewhere?"

"Where could be better than here to 'do good'? Here, she will have the opportunity to shape young minds and influence an entire generation of witches and wizards. What could be more important than that?"

Severus forced himself to stop arguing. Some of the other faculty members were shifting in their chairs, and Minerva was looking at him through narrowed eyes. "Well, what's done is done," he said, and then fell silent. The discussion moved on to other items on the agenda, and he tuned it out in favor of trying to figure out exactly how he was going to deal with his obsession now that she wasn't actually leaving.

Much to his chagrin, his obsession with her hadn't abated even a little bit. If anything, he had grown more attracted to her than ever, because as he had watched her so closely in the last several weeks, he had realized that she was smart, sexy, loyal, kind, strong, and even funny. In short, with the obvious exception of her dubious taste in friends, she was the perfect woman. The more he knew, the more he wanted to know. The more he wanted.

He had been counting on time and distance to relieve him of these intense feelings – this weakness. He had finally stopped kidding himself. No spell could be as strong as his will to break it, and he had certainly tried every counterspell he could think of.

No, this wasn't a spell anyone had cast. This was lust, pure and simple. If she weren't a student, if she were some random witch he had met anywhere else, he would consider just giving in to it, in hopes that it would go away once satisfied. In his experience, lust never lasted long. Of course in his experience, it was never this intense, either, so he had never been forced to resort to 'just giving in' to make it go away.

It couldn't be that other 'L' word. He wouldn't allow it. He didn't believe in love – had only thought himself 'in love' once, and that had not ended well. He simply would not go there again, not even had he believed love did exist – which he absolutely didn't.

He forced himself to return his attention to the meeting. It finally ended ten long minutes later, and he stood to leave. Unfortunately, Minerva's voice rang out with the authority her position as Deputy Headmistress gave her. "Severus? A word, if you please."

He didn't please, but he didn't see that he had much choice in the matter. "Yes, certainly, Minerva."

She waited until the rest of the faculty had left the room before speaking again. She got right to the point. "What is your problem with Miss Granger?"

He had anticipated this as soon as she had asked him to wait; the delay had given him time to come up with an acceptable answer. "The same problem I have with all the dunderheads I am forced to put up with," he replied smoothly. "She's arrogant, thinks she knows everything, and is constantly getting into trouble with her friends – trouble that I wind up having to get them out of."

"She's not a dunderhead – she's very intelligent and she will be an outstanding addition to the faculty. As for the rest of it, I expect that, like most teenagers, she's discovering that some trouble is worth avoiding, and as she matures, I'm sure you'll find that she won't need rescuing anymore."

"She has horrid friends," he replied, sounding lame even to his own ears.

Minerva replied smoothly, "Well, her friends are leaving, so they won't be your concern anymore." She narrowed her eyes again. "You seem awfully familiar with Miss Granger's activities, Severus."

"She's an annoying know-it-all, who can't be ignored even when one would prefer it," Severus insisted.

"If you say so," Minerva said, sounding doubtful.

"I do," he replied firmly, then raised an eyebrow. "If that's all?"

"Yes, yes, go," she said testily. Still, he could feel her questioning gaze on him as he left.

It was never good when Minerva McGonagall got curious.

"Miss Granger, would you mind staying a moment after class?" Professor McGonagall asked, in a tone that said quite clearly that it didn't really matter if she minded or not.

"Certainly, Professor," Hermione replied politely. She half-hoped that the faculty had decided to deny her the apprenticeship that Professor Mcgonagall had dropped in her lap last week. She had been so counting on getting away from Professor Snape – it seemed like that was her only hope for ever getting a good night's sleep again. But the opportunity to apprentice in Transfigurations – to eventually replace Professor McGonagall as Professor of Transfigurations – was simply too good to pass up.

She was seriously considering seeking out a spell to help her get over this ridiculous infatuation with Professor Snape.

When class ended, Professor McGonagall said in a kinder-than-usual tone, "Hermione, dear, why don't we go have some tea in my office?"

"Of course, Professor," she replied, suddenly certain that the offer of apprenticeship was about to be withdrawn and contrarily disappointed that she would have to leave Hogwarts, after all.

When they reached the Professor's office, she waited while the Professor made tea. She took a sip, and then, unable to contain herself another minute, she asked, "Did the faculty not approve me to be your apprentice?"

"What?" Professor McGonagall looked startled. "No, no, it's nothing like that. The faculty, as a whole, is delighted that you will be staying with us. We feel that you'll make a fine addition to Hogwarts. That's not why I asked you here."

"Oh?" Hermione asked, relieved and curious. "Why did you, then?"

Professor McGonagall sighed. "It's just – well, Professor Snape seemed rather – well – Hermione, is there something I don't know about going on between you and Professor Snape?"

"Wh – what?" Hermione stammered. "G - going on? L-like what?" She could feel herself blushing deeply and hoped fervently that the dim light didn't reveal that to the Professor.

"Is there some reason why he might dislike you?"

Relieved, Hermione said, "Well, I think he doesn't like my choice of friends – he positively hates Harry and Ron and Neville, as far as I can tell, so he probably just dislikes me by association. I don't think there's anything new or different that I've done to anger him lately." She paused, then added, "At least, he hasn't taken any points away from Gryffindor because of me in the last few weeks." Come to think of it, that seemed a little odd, didn't it?

She would have to think about that later.

She sipped her tea, trying to appear unconcerned. Professor McGonagall said, "Well, it's no matter, anyway. The rest of the faculty is thrilled, and you'll have limited contact with Professor Snape, at least at first." Hermione tried to suppress the sinking feeling that comment elicited. Professor McGonagall continued, "Perhaps, once he gets to know you as a colleague, rather than a student, he'll see you as the rest of us do."

Hermione now tried to suppress the hope that flared to life at that statement. "That would be lovely, Professor, but I'm not counting on it. Professor Snape doesn't really seem to like anyone, does he?"

"Perhaps not," Professor McGonagall allowed. "However, he did seem unusually vocal in his opposition to your apprenticeship, especially considering it's not anything that directly affects him, one way or another."

Desperate to change the topic without giving away how desperate she was, Hermione said, "But then, who knows what Professor Snape thinks? He certainly hasn't said anything to me about – well, anything, really. As far as I can tell, he doesn't like me, but that's nothing new. So, I guess we'll just have to avoid each other as much as possible and each go about our own business, right?"

"Right," Professor McGonagall agreed. "Now, let's talk about your apprenticeship. It would probably be good for you to plan to return about two weeks before the students do – that way, we can start preparing you for your new role. Is that going to be a problem for you?"

"No, of course not. I'm eager to get started – I'll even stay the summer if you like."

"No, no, that won't be necessary," Professor McGonagall assured her. "I plan to take most of the summer off myself. However, I will give you a reading list. Nothing too onerous, just a few primers on teaching theory to assist you in learning to think like a teacher rather than merely a student – although the latter point of view should never be abandoned entirely. If you do, you risk boring your students."

"Like Professor Binns," Hermione murmured, then blushed again. "Sorry. I shouldn't say negative things about professors."

"Just between you and me, I was thinking of Professor Trelawney," Professor McGonagall smiled. "But Binns will work just as well. However, I would never say that to any student who was not about to become an apprentice," she added more seriously. "And I expect that you will keep this type of information confidential."

Hermione smiled. "I will, of course, Professor." She couldn't help herself, though, and grinned. "I don't think it's any secret among the students that certain classes aren't quite as exciting as certain others, and that this may be due, at least a little, to the relative skills of the teachers involved."

Fortunately, the professor laughed with her.

They discussed plans for the apprenticeship while they finished their tea.

After Hermione left, Minerva considered what could possibly be going on between Severus and Hermione. Oh, they both insisted it was Severus's general antipathy toward Harry Potter and everyone close to him, but that didn't ring true. Severus got too smooth, and Hermione too flustered, when she asked them about each other.

So there was something more than either one was admitting, but she had no idea what it was. And, despite her assurances to Hermione, Minerva wasn't entirely sure that Severus wouldn't treat Hermione badly enough to make her want to leave Hogwarts. It would be one thing if he just disliked her because of her friendships or because she was a student – he would get over those once the friends were gone and Hermione was a colleague. It would also be fine if he just disliked her the way he disliked most people – his general moody rudeness wouldn't get to someone as strong and determined as Hermione.

But if he held a personal grudge against her, then he could be downright nasty, and even Hermione might not be able to withstand that kind of pressure. Since it was in the school's best interest to have someone of Hermione's character and intelligence on faculty, Minerva would simply have to ensure that whatever was going on between them didn't ruin that.

Therefore, she would have to keep observing them both closely until she figured it out.