Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Hermione was a bit surprised she didn't hear from Severus immediately after she had spelled the calendar not to allow deletion of their appointments. She supposed he must not have looked at it again, but she had also charmed it to ring ten minutes before their appointment this afternoon – and to keep ringing until someone turned it off. Hermione hadn't taught Severus the schedule's alarm charms, so she suspected he'd have to show up to have her do it for him. She just hoped he wouldn't be too angry with her.

Shrugging the thought away, she noted that it was finally time to leave to meet him. Picking up her beaded bag, she made her way down to Severus's potions lab in the dungeons, where he had long since set the wards to admit her whenever she liked. Pulling out her latest calculations, she reviewed them quickly before heading to the storeroom to gather the ingredients they would need for today's variation.

Twenty minutes later, she had all the ingredients laid out in a neat row. She had already finished skinning the shrivelfigs and had begun cubing them, when Severus swept in carrying a ringing parchment between two fingers, holding it away from his body as though it were something particularly foul. Hermione stifled a laugh at the very disgruntled look on his face, but she couldn't quite keep the mirth out of her voice when she greeted him. "Hello, Severus. How are you this afternoon?"

He glared at her. "Will you stop this infernal ringing?"

"Now, Severus, where are your manners?"

His glare became a glower as he said mock patiently, "Hermione, would you please shut this thing off before I hex something?"

"Why, certainly, Severus, I'd be happy to." Hermione ignored his tone and kept her voice light. He was here, which was the point of the exercise, after all. As she had planned, she behaved as though everything was completely normal. "Perhaps you'd like to take over the shrivelfigs whilst I do that?"

He muttered something under his breath that she decided it was just as well she had missed, but he picked up the knife she had put down to take the schedule from him and started working. With a quick flick and swish of her wand, the ringing ceased.

"What did you hope to accomplish by that little display?" Severus asked.

"You're here, aren't you?" She began sorting the scarab beetles according to size. "I know you can't be thrilled at what was in the Prophet today, but I thought stopping our research over it was just silly."

"I am not silly," Severus ground out. Though he said it under his breath, Hermione still managed to just hear it.

"I didn't say you were silly. I said stopping our research because of a bit of gossip would be silly. Obviously, you're here and we're continuing, so you must agree with me," she concluded logically, silently challenging him to disagree with her.

Severus huffed, but didn't say anything. Fortunately, he kept working. Hermione smiled to herself as she, too, continued her work.

Silly, indeed, Severus thought irritably. I'll show her just how serious I am, given half a chance. And how dare she look so fresh and pretty in her work robes? Stop it, Severus! Focus on the shrivelfigs ...

Lost in thought, he responded automatically to numerous attempts at conversation as he prepared ingredients for the potion by rote. He hadn't mentioned the dinner invitation Lucius had tossed at him on the way out of his office, and he was trying to convince himself not to bother. Surely she would think it was too much like a ... date, he thought, sneering mentally at the word.

Part of him wanted to keep alive whatever minute hope there might be that Lucius was right and she might be interested in him, but it was at war with the other, larger, part of him that was certain his hopes would be crushed the moment she realised the track his thoughts were taking. Of course, it would be smarter to get the thing over with, deal with his disappointment and hurt feelings and move on.

Disappointment? Hurt feelings? No, anger. I meant anger. Nothing so weak as disappointment or hurt feelings. I am a battle-hardened, heartless bastard. My feelings don't get hurt ... Actually, I don't even have feelings ...

There, that was better. Smirking to himself, Severus returned his attention to what he was doing, only to discover that he had shredded the Boomslang skin rather than slicing it. Damn.

Scowling, he said abruptly, "Lucius has invited us to dinner this evening. We probably ought to stop for the evening if we're to go. It's formal."

Hermione looked at him oddly, and he realised he must have interrupted her. She didn't scold him, though. Instead, she said mildly, "Are you sure you want to go? You don't seem to be feeling very social this evening."

"I'm fine," he said tersely. "Do you want to go or not?" Really, is it such a difficult question to answer?

She looked at him sceptically. "Do you want me to go? You might be more comfortable without me there."

I knew Lucius was mistaken. She's trying to politely wriggle her way out of coming! "I wouldn't have asked if I didn't want you to go," he replied, only just managing to bite back the sharpness in his voice. "If you don't want to, just say so, please, and I'll leave you to it." He certainly wasn't going to tell her he was only invited if she came, too – he didn't want her pity, after all.

She studied him for a moment, and he avoided her gaze by picking up the aconite and beginning to grind it into a fine powder. Not that it would matter, of course, without the sliced Boomslang skin, but at least he didn't have to see the discomfort she must be feeling when she turned him down. Really, she was much too soft-hearted for her own good. He had always found it far kinder in the long run to just yank the plaster off the wound all at once, rather than peeling it bit by bit as she seemed wont to do. He was so lost in thought that he jumped and nearly sliced his finger when she said, "All right. Dinner sounds lovely. I'll just let you put all this in stasis whilst I go get myself together. Shall I meet you in your office in an hour?"

Severus intended to agree, he really did – it wouldn't do to make this seem even more like a date, would it? So, he was rather surprised and not entirely pleased to hear himself say, "In an hour, yes, but I shall fetch you in your quarters."

"All right," Hermione said, giving him one last considering look before disappearing into the corridor.

As Hermione got herself together, she puzzled over Severus's odd behaviour. He had definitely seemed ... well, cranky was the most fitting word she could come up with. She had actually been half-anticipating a reversion to the nasty behaviour he had exhibited toward her for most of their acquaintance. In fact, that was one of the reasons she had been so determined to see him today – she had agreed last night to consider staying on, so she needed to see for herself how he would handle himself around her when he was in a temper. If he even approached the maliciousness he had always displayed in the past, she'd have said good-bye to Hogwarts and to him as she had previously planned, without a single qualm this time. After all, if he couldn't treat her with respect when he was trying to persuade her to stay, she could be certain he would abuse her mercilessly once she was under contract again.

But although he had clearly been in a bad mood, and had displayed irritability and impatience, he hadn't once raised his voice, nor had he said anything even slightly insulting. Instead, he had asked her on what seemed an awful lot like a date, if such a term could ever be associated with Severus Snape. He might have done it with rather less graciousness than one could hope, she supposed, but she had never expected him to turn into a happy-go-lucky sort of man, had she? She could even admit to herself that she probably wouldn't like him half so much if he did.

Still, she wondered why he was suddenly so keen on having her dine with him and his friends. Certainly, she had formed a comfortable professional relationship with Lucius, and a friendly sort of acquaintance with Narcissa, in the past few years, but she didn't really socialise with them much, and she'd have thought Severus would have preferred not to have her intruding on his longstanding relationships.

She wondered if maybe he had actually come to like her, after all ... It was so hard to tell with him, really. She was fairly certain he no longer hated her – otherwise, she couldn't imagine he would be able to suppress continuing contempt toward her for so long. And she had thought more than once in recent weeks that they seemed to have found mutual respect and formed a solid working relationship. But she hadn't allowed herself to really consider the possibility that they might actually be forming a friendship.

And she especially hadn't allowed herself to think of him as a man. She had been very certain he would never be truly interested in her as a woman, and not just because she was his former student and nearly twenty years his junior. No, whenever she caught her thoughts straying in that direction, she reminded herself that he had loved, perhaps even worshipped, Lily Evans Potter for decades. Hermione was entirely certain it would be impossible to compete with a dead woman on a pedestal.

Last night, though, as they had danced and talked and even laughed at the Anniversary Ball, she had found herself forgetting her resolve not to see him in any light other than colleague, boss, and work friend. He had been so attentive and charming, and she had discovered how enticing he could be when he turned the full force of all that on her. She had even allowed herself to recognise his attractiveness and to imagine for a moment that, perhaps, something more might be possible between them.

She had, of course, been brought sharply back to earth when she had seen his reaction to the Prophet coverage this morning. He was clearly embarrassed and unhappy with it. She probably ought not to have agreed when he had suggested they pretend to be involved, she realised now. It had been a chivalrous impulse, no more, that he likely would have thought better of had she given him the opportunity. That realisation had stung, but thinking rationally and logically about it, his reaction wasn't completely unexpected. So, she'd disciplined her thoughts again, putting all her emotions from the night before into a little box, before turning her attention towards the damage control that was clearly required so they would retain their fledgling friendship.

Now, though, she was more perplexed than ever. How should she interpret his invitation to dinner?

She was forced from her musings when he knocked at the door. Glancing at the mirror, she was relieved to see she had actually made herself presentable, though she had been too distracted to notice what she was doing. Sighing in either relief or frustration – she really couldn't tell which – she went to let him in.

Lucius greeted Hermione and Severus graciously in the front hall when they arrived promptly at seven. "Severus, Hermione, so glad you could join us this evening!" he exclaimed. "Narcissa will be along shortly – she's just checking on dinner."

"Thank you for having us," Hermione replied. She was here, and seemed none the worse for wear, so Lucius assumed Severus had managed not to alienate her after his departure earlier. He hadn't been the least bit surprised when Severus had Flooed an hour ago to accept the dinner invitation – if for no other reason than Severus would want to prove he wasn't so besotted with Hermione that he lost all his nerve around her.

Now, he was pleased to see they appeared to be on good terms. Perhaps his little chat with Severus earlier hadn't been a waste of time after all. He called for Tilly to take their wraps before showing them into the library for pre-dinner cocktails. Narcissa joined them just as he popped the cork on a bottle of champagne. "So sorry to keep you waiting," she said as she accepted her glass. "I'm delighted to see you both. What shall we drink to?"

"To good food and better company," Lucius answered promptly. When the toasts were done, he asked, "Hermione, did you enjoy the ball?"

She smiled. "Yes, thanks, I did. I probably ought to be sorry for that scene with Pansy, but I confess I'm really not."

Narcissa laughed. "Nor should you be, dear. That girl has no sense of decorum. Do you know she once tried to blackmail Draco into marrying her?" She gave a delicate shudder. "Lucius put a quick stop to that, of course."

"I had no idea, but I'm glad her scheme didn't work," Hermione replied honestly. She and Draco might not have always seen eye-to-eye (to put it mildly), but she certainly wouldn't wish that cow on him.

"Now, now," Lucius said, "let's not speak of unpleasant things. No sense ruining our appetites with such a lovely meal awaiting us. Severus, I trust you've had a pleasant day?"

"Of course," Severus said smoothly, though he didn't look entirely pleased with the direction Lucius was taking the discussion. "The students managed to get through the entire weekend without causing any major disasters, Hermione and I got a bit of work done on our research, and now we're here. What more could one want?"

Lucius ignored the wry undertone, saying only, "Indeed."

Just then, Tilly arrived to announce dinner, so Lucius offered Hermione his arm, leaving Severus to escort Narcissa. "So, tell me, Hermione, how is the research coming along?"

"Well, you know how these things are – one step forward, two steps back, with a lot of pauses and detours along the way. But I think we're on the right track now," she said with a smile.

"Excellent. Of course, it will be so much easier to continue working on it if you stay on at Hogwarts next year," he said smoothly as he pulled out the chair for her, seating her to his right.

"Lucius, stop pressuring Hermione," Severus interjected as he seated Narcissa at the foot of the table. "She's agreed to consider staying on, and I have no doubt she'll decide for the best."

The talk became more general, and Lucius took the opportunity to watch Severus and Hermione interact. He hadn't had a chance to really observe them last night – he had been too busy networking with all the right people, ensuring Hogwarts would get the maximum donations from them. He had caught a glimpse here and there, of course, and who hadn't seen the humiliation of Pansy? So, he had wondered if anything was going on between the two beyond Severus's efforts to keep Hermione at Hogwarts.

But after their conversation this afternoon, Lucius had wanted a chance to observe them when they weren't allegedly 'pretending' to like one another. As dinner progressed, he decided he had actually been demonstrating his usual perspicacity when he had hinted to each that the other might just have a crush. They were both trying to be discreet, but their attraction was impossible to miss, really. It practically crackled in the air around them as they alternately stole glances at one another and avoided each other's eyes.

By the time the pudding had been consumed, Lucius no longer had any doubt that the two of them would eventually wind up in bed, one way or another. The only question was how rocky the path to get them there would be.

Well, and exactly how much of a push he should give them ...