Eight

By the time Hermione arrived at the library the next morning, Severus was already there. She found him in a cubicle separated from the main reading room; magic was vibrating around it. A diagnostic spell showed it to be heavily warded, but allowing her entrance.

'Morning,' she greeted the top of the head, barely visible behind several stacks of books.

There was a mumbled answer.

'Sorry?'

'I brought a couple of my own volumes with me. If you like, you can start with those over there.' A finger pointed vaguely in the direction of another pile of books. 'I'll go through these from the Restricted section.'

'Fine,' said Hermione, sitting down and pulling the topmost book towards her.

They worked mostly in silence for the rest of the morning, occasionally sharing an idea or showing the other a passage in a book that might be relevant to the school's predicament.

Blinky showed up around lunchtime with a tray full of sandwiches. 'Headmistress says not to bother with coming down to the Great Hall. You is to continue working,' she explained.

One of Severus' eyebrows wandered upward. 'It seems we've been given special privileges.'

'Or special obligations,' said Hermione.

'That too.' Severus selected a ham sandwich. 'Been a teacher long?'

'Three years now,' Hermione answered, choosing an egg and cress sandwich. 'It's been a nice change from working for the Ministry.'

'Whatever made you go and work for that bunch of incompetent nincompoops in the first place?'

'Not all of them are,' Hermione said.

'Hmph.'

'They offered me a job in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. I thought it was a good opportunity to change things.' Hermione didn't quite look at him, hoping he wouldn't make her defend an institution in which she no longer believed.

Severus' expression remained carefully neutral. 'And? Was it?'

'For a bit, yes. But the more time passed after the war, the less likely people became to listen to my suggestions. Then came the offers of promotion. All good positions in departments that had no influence at all.'

'Basically, promote you to shut you up,' Severus said.

'Exactly. So I left, took out my savings and went travelling for a bit. I had always wanted to see more of the world, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity. Sort of a late gap year. When I came back, Professor Flitwick had just retired, and Minerva offered me the position.'

'Do you enjoy teaching?' Severus asked.

'Yes. Very much.' Hermione selected another sandwich. 'What about you? Did you hate it very much?'

Severus looked surprised. 'I never hated teaching. I just have very little patience with ignorance.'

Hermione threw him a sceptical glance; she remembered Severus' teaching style all too well.

'Besides, in Potions, a harmless little prank can become very dangerous very quickly. I never fancied the idea of scraping the remains of my students from the ceiling,' he explained.

'Not to mention that the paperwork would have been a nightmare,' Hermione added.

'That too.'

There it was again: the little, barely visible smile she remembered so well.

She finished her sandwich and picked up another before she asked, 'Have you been in France all this time?'

Severus shook his head. 'No, when I was completely recovered, I went travelling as well. I had sources that informed me it would be better to stay away from the UK for while.'

'But you're a hero!' Hermione exclaimed.

'Maybe,' Severus answered. 'But unfortunately a living one. It would have been so much more convenient if I had died.'

Hermione wanted to contradict him, but she knew that what he said was true. Despite Harry's efforts, there had been a lot of talk about the more sinister side of Severus Snape after the war, and he'd probably done the right thing in vanishing for a while. 'I'm very glad you didn't die,' she said softly.

Severus looked at her, an unreadable expression in his dark eyes. They stared at each other for a bit, neither saying a word.

Finally, Severus looked away and started fiddling with the crumbs on his plate.

'Where did you go?' Hermione asked.

'Sorry?'

'When you went travelling. Where did you go?' she clarified.

'Couple of places. Italy, Spain, Croatia, Greece, most of the Mediterranean, really. And Egypt, India and China.'

'I love the Mediterranean. That's where I went, too. And to India. Isn't it fascinating?'

Severus nodded. 'Yes. I mostly followed the traces of Potioneers that I had heard about.'

Hermione smiled. 'I sought out various Charms masters and mistresses. It was brilliant.'

They continued to compare notes on their travels and spent a very pleasant hour before they returned to their research.

After Severus had agreed with Hermione's findings that there wasn't anything that held any clue to the school's current mystery, they moved to his rooms to take a look at some of his books.

Minerva had assigned Severus quarters in the teachers' wing rather than a guest room. Hermione was expecting one of Hogwarts' standard suite of rooms that contained all the necessities, but mostly left their occupants to alter them magically to their liking. She couldn't have been more wrong. Severus' sitting room contained a cosy dark blue sofa, two squashy armchairs in the same colour, a coffee table made of a reddish wood and books. Lots of books. They filled all the bookcases that covered every wall and even framed the window. There were stacks of books on the coffee table and on the floor, too. Hermione stopped in the middle of the room, looking around her with big eyes and feeling like a child that had been dropped in the toy shop of their dreams.

'The house-elves brought up all my things,' Severus said, sounding almost apologetic.

'It's brilliant,' Hermione said, beaming at him, barely able to tear her eyes away from all the books.

'Those that might be of use to us are over there.' Severus pointed to two stacks on the coffee table.

Unceremoniously, Hermione plonked herself down on the sofa and started to leaf through the topmost book. She didn't notice the time passing and was surprised that it was dark outside when she looked up. She sighed. 'Nothing. Have you found anything?'

'No.' Severus shook his head before he picked up the next book.

He started reading, then put it down. 'I need to talk to the Bloody Baron,' he said, already getting to his feet.

Hermione closed her own book. 'We've already spoken to the ghosts. They don't know what's going on, either. '

'Which ghosts?'

'All of them. Minerva asked them to join us at a staff meeting, and Nearly Headless Nick said...' She suddenly remembered the Bloody Baron sitting through the meeting and being unusual quiet.

'Yes?'

'...they didn't know anything. Actually, I thought at the time it was odd because usually the Baron speaks for the ghosts. But if he knows something, why didn't he tell us?'

'He's a Slytherin. He wouldn't talk to just anyone. But he'll talk to me.'

'Why do you need to talk to the Bloody Baron? What's in that book? Do you know what's going on?'

'I'll pop by your rooms later.' Severus was practically shoving her out of the door.

And then, Hermione found herself standing in the corridor, staring at a closed door. She resisted the urge to either stamp her foot or to demand an instant explanation from Severus. Barely.

'Insufferable man,' she mumbled as she set off for her own rooms, curiosity and annoyance warring for dominance in her feelings.

*****

For the second time in two days, Hermione kept glancing at the clock about every five minutes. She had cleared her coffee table, arranged some of the books on her shelves and then rearranged them. She had tried to read, but nothing held any interest so she'd dusted off some of the shelves. Another glance at the clock.

By now, she was pacing the length of her living room. Why wasn't Severus back by now? Surely, it couldn't take that long to find the Bloody Baron and talk to him? Annoyance had ceded the field to worry with curiosity still hovering in the background.

Blinky kept turning up every quarter of an hour or so, finding something to dust or offering Hermione a refill of her teacup. Finally, Hermione said, 'Blinky, have a seat. You're welcome to wait here with me.'

'Thank you, miss.' The elf found herself a place on a footstool near the fireplace.

'You really care about Severus, don't you?'

'Elves is loyal to the Headmaster.' Again, Blinky's eyes didn't quite meet Hermione's.

Hermione frowned. 'But there's more to it, isn't there?' she enquired.

'Headmaster saved elflings from Carrow professors when they is wanting them for experiments. He sent elflings into forest to stay with Professor Hagrid and tells Carrow professors that there is no elflings at the castle and that grown-up elves can't be spared for experiments,' Blinky explained softly.

Bile rose in Hermione's throat at the thought of what the Carrows might have done to the house-elf children. 'I'm glad he did,' she said.

More pacing and another glance at the clock. It was well past midnight. Again.

At last, there was a knock at the door. Hermione opened it and found a pale and dishevelled Severus in front of her.

'I'm so glad to see you,' she exclaimed and hugged him.

A/N: Many thanks to my wonderful beta Melusin and my equally wonderful alpha readers Chivalric, Gingertart and Karelia.