The Conference Room

Disclaimer: The characters and settings in this story are lovingly borrowed from J.K. Rowling.

Special thanks to DreamyDragon_73 and AnnieTalbot for their incredible beta work. This story originally posted at the sshg_exchange. I'll be posting new chapters every three days or so.

Harry,

P.S. Stop laughing! The poor boy's unconscious!

~*~

After another trip to the chamber to sketch the patterns on the walls, Hermione made the trek back to the conference room in Snape's office to find a note on the table from him. She was free to store her books on shelves he'd cleared, and Mosey would be popping in at eleven to inquire about lunch.

Setting up camp at the far end of the conference table, she unloaded the box of books from her handbag and began sorting the volumes. Bless Snape for clearing the bookshelves. One shelf for texts of last resort. Another for tomes she likely wouldn't need for several days. She stacked the remainder on the table in front of her, resolving to spend a few minutes prioritising which of the remaining texts would yield the most information. Another five books on the shelf, and she was finally ready to begin digging through the volumes.

Pulling out her sketches from the chamber, she noted several questions for investigation and opened Runes Through the Ages. Her quill scribbled the occasional note, but the search was, not surprisingly, slow going. However, one thing was increasingly clear. It was uncommon, indeed, for someone to invoke this level of power. One had to be desperate or obsessed to go to these lengths.

She heard Snape coming and going several times during the morning and was frankly surprised that he left her alone. Every time she heard footsteps, she half expected him to loom over whatever source she was reading, pointing out something or other that she'd missed. She tried to tell herself she wasn't disappointed.

She was noting a promising resource regarding runic spell layering in Aztec burial crypts when Mosey interrupted, asking what Hermione would like for lunch. Lunch ordered, she returned to the text with a smile. She could get used to this. All the joy of research without having to stop for pesky things like leaving the office for lunch with colleagues or enduring the chatter of the tea cart witch. 

Mosey delivered her salad, and Hermione munched while flipping back through the morning's notes, fishing a highlighting quill from her bag. There were several leads to track down. Hopefully the intern would arrive in the next day or so. There was a good bit more than she could cover on her own. As appealing as the idea of non-stop research was, she just didn't have the stamina any longer. Scorpius's condition notwithstanding, there wasn't any immediate threat. The chamber was warded. Theoretically, the students were safe. So there really wasn't cause for marathon research sessions.

After lunch, she settled into reading again. She finished Runes Through the Ages. She read the entirety of Baker's unbelievably dry and boring Ancient Runes for Death and Destruction. She skimmed over another three texts and then settled into Burlingson's Rites with Runes.

She looked up again when the sconces flared to life, the sun beginning to sink behind the canopy of the Forbidden Forest. At some point, Mosey must have cleared her lunch plate and left tea. Thank Merlin for Warming Charms. It was a bit late for tea, but she really wanted to finish the text before she stopped for the day. The tea and scones would keep her until she stopped for a late dinner.

She'd skimmed through the relevant chapters in two more texts when Snape entered the room. She looked up to find him smirking at her.

Taking in the line of books and parchment that arced around her, he said, "Somehow, I suspect you'd have neglected meals entirely if I hadn't scheduled Mosey to stop by."

She made to protest, but Snape waved away her objection. "Mosey is accustomed to serving me for precisely the same reason. Are you ready to stop for dinner? I promised Draco an update on your progress tomorrow morning. If there is anything you require, he has offered to provide any texts contained in the Malfoy library, or failing that, the funds to procure any necessary volume."

"Dinner sounds good. I think I'm at a stopping point for the day." Besides, if she didn't stop now, she'd still be sitting here at midnight, wondering how the time had gone by so quickly.

"Any dinner requests?" Snape asked.

She shook her head. "Whatever the students are having is fine. I'm not picky at the moment."

Snape summoned Mosey, and Hermione watched the interaction between them. Now that she was paying attention, Hermione could see Mosey's affection towards Snape. It wasn't anything obvious – Snape certainly wouldn't tolerate the obsequious devotion shown by most house-elves. But the warmth in Mosey's eyes was unmistakeable, and Snape responded to each of her questions with courteousness, making Hermione wonder how many many humans had experienced the same from him. It seemed Mosey knew how to interpret Snape's gruff dismissal and left the room, beaming, to retrieve their meal.

With Mosey gone, Hermione realised she had no reason to be staring at Snape and shifted her gaze to the conference table. It could do with a bit of tidying, and she set about sorting her parchments and moving the books she'd already reviewed to the bookshelves. Snape had left the room when she next glanced up, and once she returned her research materials to a state one might be able to call orderly, she left the conference room to join him in his office.

He sat at the same table that had been set up the night before. This time, two matching plates of lamb roast, green beans, and roasted potatoes sat at each place. Hermione took her spot, smiling. Nothing could quite compare to a house-elf prepared roast. Even her Mum's wasn't as good.

Tonight Snape was far more talkative during their meal, and he seemed to have entirely recovered from his snit the night before. Either his day had put him in high spirits or he was challenging himself to ask her something every time she put a forkful of food into her mouth. Right. Time to take up the offensive and send questions his direction if she wanted to eat without zapping her food with Warming Charms.

"So, Severus, what keeps you busy aside from your Headmaster's duties and your teaching?" she asked as Severus took a bite of roast. She innocently followed suit as Severus chewed.

"What makes you think that doesn't keep me busy enough?" he replied, reaching for his water glass.

"Severus, for years you brewed Potions, published research, taught all seven years, and spied for the Order. Simply running a school can hardly be enough to keep you occupied."

She watched as he cut his green beans into identical slices while answering, "I review submissions for Potions Quarterly, and I'm serving on the Council for Development of Higher Wizarding Education."

Snape as editor. Did any research succeed in making it to publication? Lucky for her there was little, if any, crossover between runes and potions. Publishing academic papers was difficult enough without someone as picky as Snape involved. Although, now that she thought of it, Dedalus Stewart, editor-in-chief of Symbology Subsidia might be even worse.

There'd been a time in her fourth year when she'd been rather enamoured with semicolons. Snape had seemingly made it his mission to break her habit of overusing them. After catching her sniffling over Snape's margin comment that only pretentious swots used semicolons when a period would suffice, Ron had teased her mercilessly for being upset about punctuation, asking if she was going to start the Society for the Protection of Utterly Ridiculous Things.

Dedalus Stewart was on a similar crusade against the em dash. Her colleagues had a theory that using an em dash was a guaranteed rejection.

Perhaps the Council was a safer topic.

"And how many decades will it be until we have an institution of higher learning on British soil?" Whoops. Perhaps her question had been a bit too sarcastic given that Snape worked on the Council.

"Actually, I have hope that we'll break ground on a facility in my lifetime. We'll be accepting our first year of students next autumn, utilising the former Middleton estates as our temporary facilities," Snape replied, his smug grin swallowed by his next bite of lamb.

She nearly dropped her utensils. "You're joking. And everyone has agreed to recognise the program?"

"There are still some individual masters who refuse to participate. The pure-bloods' resistance to change is nothing compared to the apprenticeship system."

"So, what has finally pushed the issue?"

"They can no longer keep up with the demands of the population increase," Severus said, pausing to cast a Refilling Charm on his water glass. "Also, I believe the Minister was unhappy with the seven-year waiting list for a Charms apprenticeship for his granddaughter."

Hermione shook her head, concealing her grin. "And that was pure coincidence, of course."

"Why would you suspect otherwise?" Severus asked, his innocent smile looking anything but.

"A seven-year waiting list? How did you even manage that?"

"I'm quite sure I don't know what you're talking about. It's perfectly natural for Potions candidates to seek co-mastery in charms," Severus said as he turned his knife towards dissecting his roast.

Hermione laughed. "Won't it be rather obvious when enrolment numbers in the Charms program don't support your little ruse?"

"Actually, it seems the long wait for apprenticeship programs has discouraged applications across the board. The university was at capacity within three weeks of announcing our autumn schedule."

Hermione wondered what other, world-changing news she'd missed in the past year. It was hard to believe something this significant had escaped her notice. She took a drink of water to dislodge the lump in her throat. "Congratulations, Severus, that's an amazing accomplishment for the council."

"Thank you," he replied with a nod.

They lapsed into silence for several minutes, Hermione thinking wistfully about how much easier it might have been to attend university. An apprenticeship had been hard to sell to her parents. It had taken ages to convince her father that apprenticeship didn't mean she was going into a trade of some sort. He'd accepted that as her choice, of course, but she could see his relief three years later when she'd shown him her certificate of mastery and the immediate job offer from the Department of Mysteries. Not that working for the government had gone over much better than the thought of his daughter working in magical construction. Comparisons to Scully and Mulder had finally managed to stop him grousing about it.

Hermione finished the last of her dinner and broke the silence. "Thank you again for the use of the conference room and the shelves."

"It was no trouble. Besides, it's to everyone's benefit that you work as efficiently as possible."

She stifled a grin as she recalled Harry's translation guide. It was entirely possible Snape had just proposed marriage. Or perhaps that was Snapish for 'I'm horribly lonely and require your company to rescue me from a pit of doom.' She couldn't quite recall.

"And how is your research progressing?" Snape inquired.

"Well, I covered a good bit of ground today, but I don't have all that much to report yet. I believe I've narrowed it down to three alphabets in use between the ninth and eleventh centuries. Since the runes were still evolving at that time, it can be a challenge to pinpoint the precise alphabet used. While it's too early to say for certain, I think this evidence points towards involvement by one of the Founders or their immediate successors."

"The Founders? Interesting, though I suppose not altogether surprising. And have you heard back from Mr Potter yet?"

Hermione wondered if she'd ever heard Snape say Harry's name with less vitriol. It almost sounded... pleasant. "Harry's meeting me for lunch on Saturday, and we'll explore the Chamber of Secrets after that."

A question seemed to hover on the tip of Snape's tongue.

"Yes?" she asked.

Snape seemed to be considering his words carefully. Hermione wondered if she ought to be afraid. "I'm surprised you haven't taken a meal with Rose or Hugo yet."

"I'm trying not to interfere with their lives here. Having your mum around at school isn't the height of cool. And I overheard murmurings about Rose having something to do with Scorpius being in the Hospital Wing. I suppose they have enough to worry about without having to keep their mum company. Or making people wonder why I'm around."

Snape smirked. "Ah. So their cold shoulder when you confronted them was effective."

Hermione glared at him. "It's not that. It's.... I wasn't sure it was allowed," she finished weakly.

"Nonsense. Invite them to tea, if you don't wish to distract them from their schedules. I believe the Gryffindor team holds practices on Saturday, so they should both be free on Sunday."

"I'll do that..." she trailed off, wondering why Snape was intervening. "Well, I really need to begin tackling the mountain of paperwork I brought with me from the office."

Snape stared at her in disbelief. "You have research to do, and you're wasting time on administrative drivel?"

"Busy work, Snape. It's very freeing to the mind. Did you abandon brewing during the war?" she asked, her eyebrow arching.

"I concede your point. Well, let yourself out when you're finished."

Hermione returned to the conference room, setting her parchment and books to the side and withdrawing her box of paperwork and inbox. The rhythm of reviewing patent applications, spell mishaps, and the other miscellaneous reports that meandered into her office was a familiar balm. Mr Klandestin had tried to delegate this task to the interns, but Hermione fought to keep it. It hardly made sense to most, but some of her best ideas over the years had come to her during the routine task. Sometimes, just the freedom to let her mind wander without constraints was the key. Other times, text leapt off a form and sparked a line of thinking she'd never have considered otherwise. 

Tonight, however, the mundane task saw her mind wandering to Snape. He was... different than she'd expected. Not that she'd walked into the situation with specific expectations. Oh, he still maintained walls about him, but it seemed as if he'd scaled back the defensiveness considerably. A wall and a moat remained rather than trip wards, anti-Apparition wards, and a ring of Devil's Snare. 

Two hours of chipping away at the stack of yellow and maroon forms made a smallish dent in the pile of parchments. And her mind was sufficiently muddled. Time to call it a night. She tidied the paperwork, setting it to the side of the room, and scrawled some notes to pursue in the morning. She doused the sconces and left the room.

Snape was sitting at his desk when she left the room, his feet propped up and a book in hand. He didn't look up as she left, and she ignored the tiny sting of disappointment that they'd spent the evening a room apart. As she descended the staircase, she tried to shake off the frown that settled onto her features. 

"Goodnight," she muttered under her breath as she stepped off the last stair, nearly crashing into someone. "Minerva!"

"Hermione, Severus mentioned you were here during this morning's staff meeting. I'd hoped I might run into you. Will you walk with me? It's my night for curfew patrol."

Hermione nodded and together they began walking the corridors. "It's been ages since I've seen you. How is Hogwarts treating you these days?"

Minerva gestured for them to take a right at the next corridor before replying, "As well as it always has. Though I'm starting to slow down a bit, I'm afraid. It's my first year without Head of House duties."

"I can't believe you maintained that post for as long as you did, especially with your Deputy Headmistress duties."

Minerva laughed. "Well, my duties as a deputy have lightened considerably with Severus at the helm of the school. As much as I loved Albus, he wasn't exactly well organised."

"I'm certain that's an understatement," Hermione said, wondering what the man's office must have looked like when he couldn't coordinate his wardrobe. "And how is it, working for Headmaster Snape? Weren't you rivals when you were both were teachers?"

"Severus and I get along rather well. And he tolerates me being an insubordinate subordinate at times, especially when he tries to get my hackles up with empty threats to relocate Gryffindor dormitories to the Forbidden Forest or similar rot."

Hermione smiled, thinking that such teasing sounded quite familiar.

"Severus has been wonderful for the school. I simply wouldn't have the skill or patience to navigate the politics like he does."

Hermione laughed. "I don't believe I would have ever used the word 'patient' to describe him."

Minerva directed them down the corridor that led in the direction of the Ravenclaw dormitories. "Oh, he still gets a bit touchy in most situations. Thank Merlin he's not teaching the younger students any longer. But he really is in his element when managing the demands of the Board of Governors or the Ministry. All that Slytherin cunning and ambition, you know."

"I don't believe I've ever had the pleasure of seeing him employ that skill of managing demands. I've only seen its ugly second cousin 'refusing helpful suggestions'," Hermione said, trying to keep the bitterness out of her words.

Minerva pursed her lips then frowned at Hermione in that unmistakeable manner that left any Gryffindor ducking their head in chagrin. "Never allow him to make you think that, Hermione. He'd never admit it, but he's valued your input a great deal. There have been significant changes to both the History of Magic and Muggle Studies curricula since you've become involved."

Hermione had just swallowed her disbelief and begun to reply when Minerva cut her off.

"One moment, Hermione." Minerva cleared her throat. "Mister McLaggen. I believe the Headmaster told you that if you were caught out past curfew again, there would be serious consequences."

The boy mumbled something unintelligible.

"One hundred points from Gryffindor and a month's detention with Professor Longbottom. If you're out past curfew again, you'll lose your spot on the Quidditch team and Hogsmeade privileges for the rest of the year. Now back to your dormitory."

"Yes, Professor McGonagall," he muttered before departing.

Minerva's expression remained stern until the boy was out of sight when she broke into a grin. "That never grows old."

Hermione laughed. "And here I thought Snape was the only one who made sport of finding students out of bounds."

"That was before he became Headmaster and made an annual contest out of which staff could nab the most students. McLaggen just put me ahead of Professor Longbottom."

"Minerva! I'm shocked that you would rub your victory in Neville's face like that."

"Oh, you quite misunderstand, Hermione. Neville's got a crop of corpse flowers in greenhouse three that are due to bloom next week. He'll appreciate having a student to tend them. Sometimes even a Bubblehead Charm isn't enough."

Hermione chuckled. Her aunt had once taken her to the botanical gardens in Kew Gardens when its corpse flower was in bloom. The smell was so foul, she wouldn't have been surprised if you could see Thestrals afterwards. Neville was lucky Minerva had netted him a minion for the task.

They continued walking the corridors, discussing the shortcomings of the current Ministry administration, the latest in Transfiguration research, and Minerva's continued campaign to increase the number of students pursing Animagus training. Eventually, their route took them past the Room of Requirement.

Hermione stopped Minerva, asking, "Could we stop here for a moment?"

"Certainly, Hermione. You know, it hasn't worked since the war. You can still gain access if you concentrate on seeing the room, but the magic is gone. It's rather heartbreaking. This was always such a special part of the castle."

Hermione searched the wall across from the door, finding the runes she knew would be there. She sketched the runes and tucked her parchment into her bag. "This is fascinating, Minerva. I believe the power behind the room lies in a series of runic inscriptions."

"Is that what you have discovered in the dungeons?"

She nodded. "It is. It's strange. There's nothing published on these rooms at Hogwarts. The Room of Requirement gets a passing mention in Hogwarts: a History, but it seems no one has researched them in depth."

"The school has always guarded its secrets, Hermione."

Despite herself, Hermione shivered. "Do you mind if we go inside, Minerva? Will I be keeping you from your rounds?"

"Not at all. I've finished most of my patrol already."

Hermione paced in the corridor, thinking about the room. At length the door opened.

The room was barren. Nothing Minerva could have said would have adequately prepared her. There had always been something here. To see the room empty... it cut in ways she couldn't express in words. A swath of new stonework cut through the southern wall like a fresh gash.

Hermione sighed. She needed to put her nostalgia aside and observe the room for what it was today and examine the evidence that had been preserved.

Except where the middle section of the southern wall had collapsed, runes were carved into the bottom two stones around the perimeter of the room. Hermione raised her wand to visually trace the path they took. Unless the pattern changed significantly in the chunk that was missing, the two strands of runes formed a Möbius strip. The power behind that unending chain perhaps explained why the room was able to accomplish so much with so little rune carving.

Hermione pulled some parchment from her ubiquitous handbag and sketched a sample of the runes. At least upon initial examination, the alphabet looked similar. But the simplicity of the runes was striking compared to the complexity of the chamber in the dungeons. She shook her head. These two strands of runes were able to execute something as complex as the Room of Requirement. That hardly boded well for whatever lurked in the rune-covered chamber in the dungeons.

Minerva stood by the doorway in silence, observing Hermione as she recorded the information. Hermione decided to cut her information gathering short. She could come back later if she needed. There was no reason to keep Minerva waiting.

Hermione stuffed her parchment back into her bag. "Thank you, Minerva. I think I've gathered enough."

They left the room and began walking the remainder of Minerva's patrol. Hermione tried to map out their location in the castle relative to her rooms. She sighed. It had been too long since she'd walked these halls. Thank Merlin Harry was bringing the map tomorrow.

"Why is it that the staff still relies on foot patrols? I'm surprised you haven't duplicated Harry's map."

Minerva smiled. "For that matter, we could simply charm the portraits not to admit or release students after curfew or place Tracking Charms on their wands. However, one of our roles is to teach students responsibility and the consequences of their actions. This requires offering them the freedom to make poor judgements and face the outcome. They wouldn't take the risk if we caught them all the time."

"I suppose that's quite true. Though the threat of capture never seemed to be enough to dissuade Harry. Nor the threat of censure by his house mates." Hermione sighed. "Or mortal peril. Hopefully the students don't give you as much grief as we did."

Minerva's laughter echoed through the corridor. "No one has managed to give us as much grief as the three of you. That lack of consequences for Mr Potter's after-hours escapades used to frustrate Severus immensely. He would berate Albus endlessly about the importance of teaching responsibility to someone with Mr Potter's levels of power and influence. It's rather fortunate that Mr Potter seemed to pick up those lessons elsewhere."

Hermione fumbled for an adequate response, but their route soon deposited them outside Hermione's room.

Minerva embraced Hermione. "It was wonderful to catch up with you, Hermione. Perhaps we can take tea together while you're here."

They said their good nights, and Hermione turned to find a stack of parchment at the foot of her bed. She sighed. Things at the castle were easier in many respects, but she was beginning to miss the routine of home.

She'd have to tell Mosey to deliver the post to the conference room. She flipped through the letters, checking to see if there was anything personal. Reading work correspondence immediately before bed required Heartburn and Headache Potions she'd not thought to pack with her. Especially if the correspondence involved Hendrickson. Idiot intra-office politics from the Slytherin contingent. 

She pulled a note from her mother from the stack, shoving the rest into her bag for the morning. She grinned at her mother's excitement as Spring took a firmer hold. Ah, and there it was, the invitation to bring the kids to Australia for the Christmas hols. Before dousing the lights, she scribbled notes to Rose and Hugo, inviting them to Sunday tea.