Mixing Messages

Hermione looked up from her book and noticed that it was seven. A peek into Severus's bedroom showed him apparently dozing. She proceeded into the kitchen and found no signs that any cooking had been done since morning, so she set to exploring the cupboards for something for supper.

"Sir?"

Severus woke from his doze and looked up at the young woman standing in his doorway, trying to remember why she was there.

"I made dinner. Will you be joining me at the table, or would you like me to bring you in a tray?" She said the last part almost sarcastically. He would come to the table, he was too prideful to be treated like an invalid. Besides, he didn't expect her to wait on him, did he?

He blinked sleepily a few times, the events of the afternoon coming back to him along with his many aches and pains. "Err. Yes. Yes, I think a tray would be best. Thank you, Miss Granger."

Hermione was torn between curiosity and spitting in his food. The nerve of him, asking for supper in bed! Well, he had said his health was poor… But he'd been up and walking around earlier in the day! But he'd had a cane… But she'd seen no bandages or anything, that was his normal state of being rather than an injury so there was no use coddling it; surely, he could manage the walk to the kitchen! No, his health was poor, and judging by the cleanup in his lab, he'd done a reasonable amount of brewing that day. He likely had overexerted himself; he had been asleep when she had looked in on him after all. She could take pity on him just this once.

"Supper is served." Hermione set the tray to floating over his bed. He was starting to think he'd enjoy having her there. It at least meant he'd get food on a regular basis. He gingerly struggled to push himself into an upright position without causing himself more pain than he had to. It was nothing new to him, but she was giving him an odd look. Perhaps having her around to see him like this wouldn't be so great after all.

He glared. "There is no need to stare at me like I'm some circus freak, Miss Granger." She recoiled as if kicked, and he finally managed to get himself into an upright position and dig into his supper. She really was a decent cook.

After washing the dishes, annoyed at her host to no end, Hermione decided to explore the house. He hadn't given her permission, but if he didn't like it, she supposed she'd find out if he really was as ill as he claimed by the strength of his reaction. The old bat, demanding supper in bed and then snapping at her for looking at him funny.

The second floor was dusty, as if no one had been up there in quite some time. At the top of the stairs was a laundry chute. She opened the door across from it and thought she'd died and gone to heaven. It was a library that seemed to run the length of the house, large windows every few feet, books covering every section of wall not occupied by a window. There were long wooden tables, plump armchairs, and a couch dotted around the room. She ventured farther down the room and found that it was L-shaped and ran the length of the adjoining side as well. He'd said she could have use of this glorious room, and that might even make it worth putting up with him.

She left the library, deciding she'd return as soon as her exploration was complete, and poked her head in the room down the next hall.

It was just a bathroom. The next room over was storage for linens and old robes, but the one next to it was a bedroom. Undoubtedly the "spare room upstairs" he'd said she could have, as it was the last door. It was decorated in Slytherin colors, unlike the rest of the house, and had a faded poster of a rock band pasted to the wall and an old set of Slytherin Quidditch robes in the closet. Severus's old room, most likely. It was somewhat smaller than the one he was using now, so he probably had moved into the master bedroom at some point after his parents' deaths. The whole second floor was absurdly dusty, so she wondered if the move had been because he didn't feel well enough to climb the stairs day after day. She banished the dust from the bedroom and bathroom and left her beaded bag on the bed while she went to find some bedtime reading in the library.