Odd Behaviour

Chapter 5: Odd Behaviour

The next day Hermione spent the morning with her former Head of House, Professor McGonagall, having morning tea and catching up with each other. The professor had become Headmistress a few years ago when the great Albus Dumbledore had decided to retire.

Though one of the greatest, most powerful wizards in magical history, the Final Battle took a lot out of Albus Dumbledore. Now in retirement he could do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted – not that he couldn't during his tenure as Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It's just that now he was able to travel and enjoy things like wearing Hawaiian t-shirts, photography, discovering Muggle sweets (by the way, he had also put in an order of lemon sherbet to be owl-delivered monthly to wherever he might be – one of the perks of having a lifetime membership at Honeydukes).

Hermione found the former and the current Headmasters of Hogwarts talking in front of the unmoving gargoyle when she arrived.

"Professors," she greeted. Although at McGonagall's rather stern frown, she changed it to, "Minerva. Albus."

"Hello, Hermione," they returned.

Since the school term had yet to start, Minerva McGonagall was in casual attire, which gave her a rather more youthful look. She was delighted that her favourite student – the Gryffindor Know-It-All of Class '98 Hermione Granger – in her private opinion of course, was back for a visit.

Morning tea was a lively affair, and before Hermione left, she was assured that she would see them both again at the Malfoy naming celebration the following day.

Arriving back at her room at the Intercontinental Hotel a little before lunch, she pulled out a small quilt that she had knitted for Luna and Draco's baby girl. On it was the four mascots of the four Houses of Hogwarts. The only remaining thing to be added was the girl's name. Hmm... that will have to wait until Friday afternoon, Hermione mused. She planned to come back to the hotel after the naming ceremony to finish the quilt before brining it to the ball on that night.

Thinking about the baby girl brought her thoughts back to the day before – both at the bookstore and at Malfoy Manor – her muddled thoughts all centring on one Severus Snape.

Snape's odd behaviour became the main theme of her thoughts for the rest of the afternoon. Well, to be correct, it couldn't exactly be classified as 'odd behaviour' as such with regards to the general population... or at least those people in trashy romance novels; however, Snape was behaving oddly with regards to himself – someone she had known since her first year at Hogwarts.

She had been in love with him, whether she was still in love with him was not something that she wanted to contemplate at this time. He had not been in love with her, of that she was sure. Back when they'd first married, he had made sure that she was clear of that fact – that he might care for her as a friend and fellow Order member, but he was not in love with her and would never be in love with her.

So why was he behaving like that?

Sleep did not come easily for Hermione that night.

The next day was the sole reason for Hermione's brief return to England. The morning light shown brightly outside as Hermione pulled the heavy, yet luxurious, curtains aside. The sky was bright blue with hardly any clouds scattered across it. She was glad that today of all days had such fine weather.

By the time Hermione arrived at Malfoy Manor, a large number of guests had already arrived. The ceremony was to be held at the back garden in a glass gazebo which had been magically enlarged for the occasion. Since it was a formal occasion, Hermione wore a maroon robe over her business shirt and pants with her hair up in a sophisticated twist. Making her way to the back of the house, she greeted some Aurors and former Hogwarts classmates. The Weasley clan had yet to arrive, but she spotted Remus and Tonks talking to Shacklebolt in the kitchen. It was a pity that Harry and Ginny were away on their postponed honeymoon (the arrival of baby Annie muddled up their plans), and Ron, unfortunately, was killed by a Death Eater during the Final Battle.

Albus Dumbledore officiated over the naming ceremony, and the baby girl was placed in a small cradle at the front with both parents standing proudly and lovingly on each side. When it was time to name the baby's godparents, Hermione found her own name being called as the godmother of Isabella Grace Malfoy. Almost in a trance, she slowly stood and walked over to stand next to Luna, still quite unbelieving that she had become the godparent of a child. It was a miracle that she didn't faint and fall onto the floor in a dead thump when the name of the baby's godfather was announced.

Severus Snape.

He came to stand beside Draco as Dumbledore proceeded into the last part of the ceremony. She had turned her head slightly to look at him but found that he was already looking at her intently. Gasping inwardly, she quickly turned her attention back to the baby.

Somehow she got through the rest of the ceremony, but she had felt his eyes on her the whole time. It was rather unsettling. His gaze was so intense she could almost feel him burning into her. If she was a piece of leaf and he was a ray of light shining through a magnifying glass, she was sure that she would have had a big, black hole on her.

Once a light buffet lunch of sandwiches and other delicacies was announced, she made a beeline for Luna and Draco. They made her promise to come to the ball that night. Excusing herself, she reassured them of her presence at the later hour saying that she just needed to go back to the hotel to finish her gift for Baby Isabella.

Hoping to avoid Snape, she tried to be as inconspicuous as possible. But alas, he saw her as she was leaving via the front door. Once he saw her, he made to follow her, his strides long and quick. She knew that he would catch up with her in no time. With a sudden rush of adrenaline, she raced to the Apparition point. Grumbling under her breath, she muttered, "Damn you, Malfoy. Stupid Anti-Apparition wards!"

She Apparated into a female lavatory in one of London's tube stations. Ha! See how you get out of this, she thought smugly. It would be idiotic to Apparate to her hotel, as it would literally lead him to her 'nest'. Going aboveground, she caught a taxi back to the hotel and then proceeded to pack her belongings with several flicks of her wand.

She had to check out of that hotel. It was stupid of her to register under her real name. Even if he couldn't follow her just then, she was sure that the Malfoys would have had mentioned where she was staying, and it would be only a matter of time before he found her. Alone.

Although she had no idea whatsoever how he planned to explain to the Malfoys why he himself didn't even know where his wife was staying and moreover why she was not staying with him in the first place.

She turned herself into a blonde with long, straight hair wearing the most hideous pair of glasses Transfigured from a hotel-supplied notepad. She felt rather guilty though at changing her credit card details, but knew that it was necessary, as she couldn't think of any better way, what with her head being so muddled with frantic thoughts at the time.

Hermione arrived at the Hilton Hotel only to be told that the only room available was the honeymoon suite. Running out of time to finish the quilt and prepare for the ball, she decided to take the room, all the while grumbling under her breath about the downside of being a British citizen – the need to be polite being at the top of the list.

Once she was satisfied with the finished quilt, she stripped and dived into the enormous Jacuzzi, washing her hair and soaking in a mixture of peach-flavoured bathing salts. She changed into a strapless, royal blue ball gown and wrapped the shimmery royal blue shawl which she bought from Madam Malkin around her bare shoulders. With a few flicks of her wand, her hair changed back to its original brown and twisted itself up, leaving only a few ringlets of curls framing her face and her long, delicate neck column bare. A light layer of lip gloss and she was done.

It seemed that the party was already in full swing by the time she got there. As she neared the ballroom, she found Severus Snape waiting outside the door.

For her.