One

JKR's, not mine.

Many thanks to Melusin and Pyjama Pants for the beta.

31 March 2007

'We're missing something.' With a frown, Hermione pulled the thick volume towards her, leafing through it for the fifth time in as many minutes.

'No, we aren't. Even your inquisitive mind won't find any more defensive spells that should be included in the pre-O.W.L. curriculum, Miss Granger,' Snape said, reviewing the list of spells they'd drawn up over the last weeks again.

'Ha! I knew it.' Hermione shoved the book towards him, her index finger tapping the line in question.

Snape glanced at the page. 'It's merely a variant of the simple shield spell we've noted down for the third years.'

'But wouldn't it be important to teach the variations of spells as well?'

'It's evident you haven't been teaching for long. We'll be lucky if the majority of dunderheads can even remember one of the basic spells by the time they get to O.W.L. level...let alone varieties of any kind.'

Hermione narrowed her eyes. 'This may only be my second year teaching, but the majority of my students passed this year's exams with at least an acceptable.'

Snape opened his mouth, then closed it again, obviously reconsidering.

'Yes?'

'Sheer dumb luck.'

'We'll see.'

'I suppose we will. Now, can we get on with the list before not only Easter but Christmas will have passed as well?' Snape indicated the piece of parchment that lay between them.

Hermione nodded, then glanced at her watch and jumped up. 'Bugger. I'm supposed to meet Ron at my place in ten minutes. Can we finish this tomorrow?'

She noticed Snape's scowling expression with interest and continued quickly, 'He said he wanted to talk about something, but I suppose he'll just try to drag me down the Leaky.'

Snape was still scowling. Recently, she had started to wonder if he had a life beyond the school. He definitely deserved it after the war and everything. From what she could tell though, he seemed to have only his work and the occasional meeting with one of the staff. Maybe she should invite him along to the pub?

'I wasn't aware you were planning to grace these meagre halls with your presence tomorrow,' Snape said archly.

Maybe not. 'I thought we should get this done quickly, so that we can pass it on to Minerva and the board.' That didn't sound right, either. Now he probably thought that she wanted to get rid of him as quickly as possible.

'Hasn't Minerva given you leave to spend your holiday buried in the wizarding branch of the British library?'

Was there a note of envy in his voice? 'Yes. Which is good, as the deadline for the manuscript is in four weeks, and there's still so much I need to cross-reference. Grenier and Thompson constantly contradict each other, and then there's Belkins to consider, not to mention that I really need to reread the latest edition of Viridian, and I haven't even managed to locate Wenlock's scrolls, yet. The thing is, I disagree with all of them. I think there's more to magic then just counting and dissecting spells, charms and curses, but for some reason, neither of them takes the nature of magic itself into account.'

'Back to the foundations of magical theory?' he asked. 'Rather an ambitious project. Have you thought about consulting Agrippa?'

'Agrippa?' Hermione very nearly wrinkled her nose. 'I'm interested in facts, not wild speculations.'

'More projects fail because of the researcher's arrogance than their actual ignorance. In case you hadn't noticed, magic, in most cases, doesn't exactly deal with precise facts.' Snape looked down his long nose at her.

'I'm perfectly aware of that, thank you very much,' Hermione replied. 'However, there is a difference between being merely obscure and esoteric babble.'

'And you'd draw the line precisely where?'

Hermione thought for a moment. 'I'd draw a line if there doesn't seem to be any hint that what is described in the text could have any reference to actual magic in whichever form,' she clarified.

'In which case, the Agrippa would be an important source for you,' Snape pointed out. 'As you know, the Muggles of his time were on to him, thinking him evil, so he had to try and hide what he was truly saying from them. Write in code.'

'If you're right that would open up a whole new avenue of research. If his obscurity is deliberate that would mean to look first at which sort of "code" he was using, and then to sort out what he was actually saying about the connections between magic, alchemy, astrology...' Hermione had drawn the parchment towards her and was busy scribbling down notes and drawing up charts. 'Hm, there could also be connections to early theories of numerology and the Kabbalah, all of which did influence the development of Arithmancy, and if one would draw a line here and assume that there might be a connection there...'

Hermione stopped, suddenly becoming aware that Snape was still sitting opposite her. To her surprise, he was looking at her with an expression of keen interest. She hesitated, then ploughed ahead. 'Would you be interested in discussing this further? I mean, I'd really value your opinion.'

'That would be acceptable.'

'Really?' Snape wasn't exactly the polite type, which left the conclusion that he really was interested in her research. 'That would be brilliant. Tomorrow?'

'Tomorrow is fine.'

'We could go for lunch at the Hog's Head,' Hermione suggested before she had time to reconsider. 'I hear the new landlord has completely revamped the place.'

Snape didn't say anything, his eyes fixed on her face.

'And Minerva says their food is really good.' Hermione locked eyes with him.

More silence until, finally, Snape seemed to come to a conclusion. 'Fine. The Hog's Head. Lunch. Tomorrow. After we finish the list.'

'Right. Good. Tomorrow, then.' Hermione nodded before she practically ran from the room.

~*~*~*~*~

Back in her quarters, she hesitated before she quickly sorted through the stacks of books and parchments on her table. Much better to stay at home overnight and come back tomorrow morning. She hadn't seen Harry and Ron in months. She added a vial of Hangover Potion to her bag.

She quickly brushed her hair, applied fresh lipstick, and, on the spur of a moment, decided to secure her hair with two silver-coloured clips. Looking at her reflection in the mirror, she paused. So, Snape and she would be having lunch together tomorrow. What had started as an impulse because he seemed so...well, lonely wasn't quite the word for it, but it seemed that he could do with some company...now caused a feeling of bubbly happiness to spread through her. She ignored the nagging little voice that suggested she was rather enjoying his company.

'Very nice, dear,' her mirror said.

She shrunk and packed the most important books, only a dozen plus one or two into her bag. At the last minute, she decided to pick up crisps and some booze, so she quickly discarded her robes and pulled on a pair of jeans and a jumper over her t-shirt before she Apparated to Diagon Alley and then took the tube to Holloway Road. Two plastic bags with drinks and nibbles from Holloway supermarket in hand, she flagged down a cab and let it take her to Barnsbury.

Hermione pretended to rummage through her bag for her keys while she waited for the cab to drive away. It seemed to take forever before she heard the sound of the exhaust disappearing in the distance.

She turned around when she heard footsteps coming down the road and spotted Ron's distinctive hair approaching quickly. Ron ran to her, Harry in tow, and pulled her into a bear hug. 'Hermione! Where've you been? Good to see you.'

'Hermione. Oh, good. We were starting to get worried about you,' Harry hugged her, too.

'Sorry. Severus and I were working on next year's curriculum. We–'

'What's in the bags? Beer?' Ron asked.

'Yes, but...'

'Excellent.' Ron pulled out a bottle, opened it, and took a long swig.

'As I was saying, we were researching defensive spells for next year's curriculum. We think it would be a good idea to teach some things in Defence as well as Charms,' Hermione said pointedly while she opened the door and let the boys into the kitchen.

Harry was right on her heels. 'That makes sense, especially as the same spell can be used in different ways.'

'Exactly, and there are a number of almost forgotten spells that could be really useful. So we're going through the old spellbooks in the library to make a list of them and suggest for which year they'd be appropriate,' Hermione continued. 'And it all still has to be approved by the board of governors, so we really have to get on with it if we want to teach the new curriculum next year.' Hermione put two bottles on the kitchen counter before storing the remaining beers in the fridge and fetching glasses.

'I still can't believe Lucius Malfoy managed to get re-elected as a school governor,' Harry said, taking the glasses from her and setting them on the table while Hermione took two bowls for the crisps out of a cupboard.

'Barking, the lot of them.' Ron plonked himself onto a kitchen chair and took another swig from his bottle before he pulled one of the crisp packets towards him and tore it open.

Harry pushed a glass in Ron's direction. 'Threats and bribery is more like it.'

'Actually, Minerva and Severus asked him to be on it,' Hermione said, tipping the crisps from the open bag into one of the bowls.

'What?' Ron asked around a mouthful of crisps while Harry stared, open-mouthed, at Hermione.

'They both thought it would be good to have a member of one of the old pure-blood families on the board again. And there aren't many left that aren't either dead or in Azkaban.' Hermione had put more crisps into the second bowl and gone to dump the empty packets in the bin.

'They could've asked dad.' Ignoring the glass and Harry's pointed looks, Ron kept drinking from his bottle.

'Yeah, but as Minister, he's got other things to do.' Harry was inspecting the now empty crisp bowl.

'Or Percy.'

'I think the idea was to help build bridges to the... more traditional families,' Hermione said, taking the glass of beer Harry had poured for her. 'And I actually agree with that. I don't think we can afford to alienate any group within our society. Not if we want to prevent another Dark Lord.'

'Fair enough. But why Malfoy of all people?' Ron shook the remaining crumbs out of the second bowl.

'If you think about it, he's the obvious choice. He's a member of one of the oldest pure-blood families and, despite his past, he's done his best to redeem himself after the war.'

'Yeah, bet it's all an act until the next Dark Lord comes along.' Giving up on finding the non-existent crumbs, Ron drank down the rest of his beer in one gulp.

'I don't think so. I mean, he sort of did change sides right at the end and, judging from his trial, the last year with Voldemort must have been hell for him and his family. And don't forget that he lost his wife shortly afterwards,' Hermione pointed out.

'Honestly, Hermione. We're talking about Lucius Malfoy here. He should be rotting where the sun don't shine, not be on any board. You almost seem to like him.'

Hermione shrugged. 'He's definitely one of the more co-operative board members. Another?'

Ron and Harry nodded, and she went to the fridge.

Inspecting its contents, her thoughts wandered off to the conversation she'd just had with the boys. She could see Ron's point. She'd wondered for a while if the new Lucius Malfoy was just an act, as well. He'd been pleasant to her at all the board meetings she'd attended in the last year, even flirting with her a bit, and he was one of the few who actually listened to what she had to say. This didn't have to mean anything, but Severus had not only suggested him as a board member, he had practically vouched for him. That if nothing else proved that Lucius's Death Eater days were long over.

Severus. His face when she'd asked him to have lunch with her had been priceless. Hermione smiled at the memory. He was definitely the most interesting of all her colleagues. There was the nagging little voice again, whispering in her ear that he had the potential to be a lot more than just a colleague–

'Oi, Hermione!' Ron's voice brought her back to the kitchen.

'Sorry. Be right with you.' She stood up with the beers and retrieved two more bags of crisps, ready-salted and salt'n vinegar, from the goodies cupboard.

~*~*~*~*~

'She's a right tart, that one.' Ron was saying as Hermione came back to the table.

'Who is?' She put the drinks and nibbles down.

Ron flinched slightly when he heard Hermione's voice.

Despite Harry's frantic hand waving, he said, 'The new shop girl. Has a new bloke every week.'

Hermione's eyes narrowed. 'And how exactly does that make her a tart? As opposed to someone, say, who's gone out with most of his sister's teammates by now?'

'It's different for a bloke,' he mumbled. 'Those are really pretty slides, Hermione.'

Hermione couldn't help but grin at his obvious attempt to avoid the familiar discussion. 'Thank you. Luna gave them to me. She brought them back when she and Draco went to Greece.'

Harry shook his head. 'I still don't know what I find more bizarre. That you and Luna are sharing a house or that Luna is going out with Draco.'

'Luna's all right. And she and Draco seem to be perfectly happy together,' Hermione said with a stern look at Harry.

'The ferret.' Having finally taken Harry's hint and poured his beer into a glass, Ron took a long draught. 'Erm, Hermione? There's something I need to tell you. And you're not going to like it.'

What had he done now? And why did he still need to tell her these things? An all too familiar mixture of anticipation, amusement, and annoyance spread through her. 'What is it?'

'Erm, you know how I like cars?' Ron was toying with his now empty glass.

'Uh-huh.'

'And you know, I really like to take some of the cars that end up in dad's shed out for a spin? And usually that's fine and nobody's the wiser?' Ron's eyes didn't quite meet hers.

'Uh-huh.'

'Yes, well... you see... There was this really cool Bentley that dad had...' Ron looked at Harry, but there was no assistance coming from that direction. 'It didn't go all right this time. I dunno. At some point, the car wouldn't respond to my spells any more.'

'And?' This couldn't be good.

'And there were these roadworks; they came out of nowhere, really. I mean, I'd been on the same street the day before, and there was nothing, and a day later, there was suddenly this massive construction thingy, right in the middle of the road, and I couldn't get the car to brake, and I sort of ran into it.'

'You sort of ran into it?'

'Yes, well, I ended up right in it.' Obviously, Ron had mustered the courage to look at her by now as he was staring at her, eyes all round and apologetic.

'Oh, Merlin. Are you all right?'

'Yes, I'm fine.'

'And the car?'

'The car's a total write-off. But that's not all,' he mumbled.

The relief that he was unhurt quickly evaporated, leaving her with irritation. 'What else?'

Ron had gone back to staring at the table top. Apparently, he was finding it more forgiving than Hermione. 'Erm, the police were there real quick and... well, you know that I sort of never got around to getting a proper driving licence, so I Confunded them and showed them a flyer for the next Harpies match, but I couldn't get them not to notice the wrecked car. And I couldn't very well say that the car was dad's. With him being Minister, and all. I mean, the police wouldn't know that, but it would be very awkward.' He took a deep breath. 'So I said the car was yours. And the police might wanna talk to you.'

'You. Did. What?' Hermione had to fight down the urge to use some of the more creative hexes she knew on Ron.

'I told the police the car was yours. I mean, you're Muggle-born. Nobody would find it strange if you had a car, see?'

'And it never occurred to you that it might get me into trouble if anything happened to the car you were driving? Without a driving licence? I'm a Hogwarts teacher, for Merlin's sake. Did you even consider for a second what it would do to my reputation? Honestly, Ron.'

'I'm sorry.' Ron looked like a chastised puppy.

'Bit late for that, don't you think?'

'Erm, Hermione?' Harry tugged at her sleeve.

'What?' she snapped.

Wordlessly, he pointed at the glasses on the table that were spinning wildly, one of them dangerously close to the table's edge. Hermione took a couple of deep breaths and concentrated on quelling her fury and getting her magic back under control. Within seconds, the glasses stopped spinning.

'Right. I think it's time for you to go home,' she said.

'Hermione, can we talk about it?'

'Not now. I'm having trouble keeping from hexing your bits off as it is.'

Ron visibly paled. 'I'm really sorry.'

'Harry, I'll be here doing research from Tuesday. I'll Floo you. Sorry, but I really need some time to cool off, now. Say "hi" to Ginny.'

Harry nodded, his face showing a mixture of relief and discomfort as he stood up. 'Will do. See you, Hermione.

'Come on, mate.' He firmly grabbed Ron's arm and steered him outside.

Hermione managed not to explode anything in the kitchen, but she definitely needed some fresh air. Outside, she paused briefly, but Harry and Ron had disappeared, probably to go and get pissed at the Leaky. She hoped Ron would have the hangover from hell tomorrow and no Hangover Potion. She marched off at a brisk pace, not stopping until she had walked for a while and was back at her doorstep. She paused. A glance at her watch confirmed that it was still early. She'd thought she'd be up late, drinking and chatting with the boys. Which, thanks to that blithering idiot, that complete fuckwit, hadn't happened. What on earth had he been thinking? Probably, he hadn't been thinking, which was precisely the problem. The air around her started to fizz with uncontrolled magic again. Brilliant. Just brilliant. She hadn't had any uncontrolled outbursts of magic since she and Ron had split up seven years ago. Once again, she fought to get both her anger and her magic back under control. 'Hexing would have been too good,' she mumbled. Kicking his sorry little arse would have been much more satisfying.

She could still Apparate back to Scotland tonight. Quieten down with a hot bath and snuggle down on the cosy sofa in her rooms with a good book and hot chocolate. Have a lie-in tomorrow before meeting Severus. It sounded very tempting. Or she could stay home and hope that Luna would be in later. A little bit of girly solidarity would be nice, especially the Luna-specific brand of solidarity. She was still fuming as she entered the smallish terraced house...only to nearly bump into her housemate, who was standing right behind the door.

'As you didn't come in, I thought I'd meet you outside instead,' Luna greeted her in her usual dreamy voice.

Hermione smiled. 'It's good to see you, Luna.'

'You look ghastly. Tea?'

'Yes, please. I'll just put my stuff upstairs. I'll be right down,' Hermione said, grabbing the bag she'd dumped in the corridor earlier and trotting up the staircase.

Upstairs, she threw her bag onto her bed and changed into a pair of joggers, a well-worn cardigan that had once been blue, and fluffy, purple socks. When she arrived in the living room, a steaming mug of tea...splash of milk, no sugar...was already waiting for her. A plate with Honeyduke's Fruit and Nut Chunkies on it sat in the middle of the coffee table. Luna sat cross-legged on the sofa, her head barely visible behind the latest edition of the Quibbler.

Hermione sank into an armchair and took a sip of her tea. As the warm liquid ran down her throat, she felt her anger evaporate slowly and calm spread through her.

The effect lasted until Luna asked from behind her newspaper. 'What happened?'

'Ron's what happened,' Hermione said, setting down her mug with a thud. A bit of tea sloshed over the rim and onto the tabletop.

Luna carefully folded her Quibbler and put it down next to her. Then, she leant back and just looked at Hermione with round eyes.

'Sorry,' Hermione mumbled, pulled her wand from her sleeve and vanished the puddle of tea. 'It's just Ron's a blithering idiot. Can you believe that he's still nicking the cars his dad stashes away in that shed of his? And he still can't be bothered to get a proper driving licence.' Her finger had started to draw little circles on the table top. 'I mean, if he loves Muggle culture so much, why can't he do things properly?'

'It's another form of contempt, but they're not aware of it. I've seen it with other wizards when I was travelling. Even if they like Muggles, they think there's no need to learn their ways because magic can fix everything.' With a flick of her finger, Luna levitated a biscuit towards her.

'That's a good point. I should mention this to Penelope; she's lobbying to have Muggle studies made into a compulsory subject.' Hermione snatched a biscuit as well.

'Ron can be a bit inconsiderate sometimes,' Luna said.

Hermione snorted. 'Daft git is more like it. Not only is he thick enough to crash a car, he has to pretend it's mine.' She felt another wave of anger surge through her. 'And guess who the Muggle authorities will want to talk to? Me, of course. About a car I've never seen and about an accident I didn't know anything about until a few hours ago. Never mind that I don't have a driving licence, either. You'd think by know he'd know to leave me well out of his stupid affairs.'

'I can see why you're angry. What are you going to do?'

'Tell the police the truth. I've never seen that car. I've had it with sorting out Ron's messes. Not this time.' The biscuit had become a heap of tiny crumbs while she was talking.

Luna nodded. 'Maybe he'll learn.'

'Or he'll find another daft bint to help him out.' Hermione said. She glanced at the newspaper that lay next to Luna and remembered something. 'Aren't you supposed to be in Iceland?'

'I came back a day early. Draco's going to Paris on Tuesday, and I wanted to see him before that.'

'So, it's still going well.'

'Oh, yes. You know he's really adorable when he wakes up in the morning and his hair is all soft like a Puffskein's. He likes it when I make him hum.' A dreamy smile spread over Luna's face.

That was more than Hermione really wanted to know about Draco, but Luna's obvious happiness still made her smile, too. 'I'm so glad for you two.'

'What about you and Snape?' Luna asked.

'Me and Severus???' Hermione said, sitting upright and ignoring the little skip of her heart.

'Oh, I just thought you might like him.' As usual, Luna offered no further explanation.

'Yes. I mean... No. Maybe. I don't know.' Hermione's heart insisted on continuing to beat a bit faster.

'You'd be well suited, like two fwoopers.'

'I'm having lunch with him in Hogsmeade tomorrow.' Suddenly that didn't sound as innocent as it had a few hours ago.

'See.'

'It's just lunch.'

'You have to start somewhere. Maybe you should take a good-luck charm with you.'

'I'll remember that.' Hermione yawned. 'I'm off. See you tomorrow morning?'

'Draco has promised to bring white wine for tonight.'

'Maybe not, then. Have a good time. Night, hon.' Hermione stood up and picked up her mug.

'Sweet dreams, Hermione.'

~*~*~*~*~

Hermione stretched and snuggled back into her pillow. Just as she was drifting off to sleep again, her alarm clock started to beep.

She fumbled to switch it off, but it wasn't where it was supposed to be. Hermione sat up, blinking, and realised that she was at home, not in her rooms at Hogwarts. This time, she found the "off" button and the noise ceased. A glance out of the window showed a clear, sunny sky. Excellent.

A bit of digging through her wardrobe got her fresh underwear, a clean t-shirt, a light jacket and a pair of joggers that looked decidedly less worn than those from last night. The house was quiet, and a knock at Luna's door confirmed that she was at Draco's.

Downstairs, Hermione chugged down a glass of orange juice, skipped into her trainers, and set off for a run.

Familiar streets and houses greeted her as she ran down Ripplevale Grove, enjoying the sunshine, even though it was a bit more chilly than expected. As she was crossing Thornhill Square, two men approached her. 'Ms Granger?'

They were of average height and build, clean shaven, short hair, nothing remarkable about the way they were dressed. In fact, they were so inconspicuous that several bells at once went off in Hermione's head, and she checked for the familiar feel of her wand tucked into her sleeve before she answered. 'Yes?'

The shorter of the two flashed a badge at her. 'CID. We'd like to ask you a few questions about a car accident that happened last Thursday on the B3212 near Bakers Hill.'