Three

Author's Notes: This was written for the HG/SS holiday exchange on Live Journal. This was the prompt I chose: #71. Fic: Post-war Hermione and Severus are both doomed to spend Xmas alone until they run into each other in Diagon Alley or London. How, why, and what happens next is up to you. Happy ending, please. Any rating. This prompt was submitted by GinnyWeasley31 and the story is dedicated to her.

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Special thanks to my beta reader, JuJuJenn. And thanks to Illyria who did some Brit-picking for me. Any errors, however, are mine alone.

Three

Hermione had the coffee brewing by the time Snape knocked at her door the next morning.

She had the modified glamour in place, and she felt more relaxed around him.

He made poached eggs with bacon, and she managed to prepare the toast without burning the edges.

When they were done eating, Snape cast a cleaning charm on the dishes.

"Are you ready to begin your research?" he asked as he stacked the clean dishes on the sideboard.

"I'm looking forward to it," she replied.

"Although I can sense that your magical stores are a bit higher, now that you are no longer expending the energy necessary to maintain your more elaborate glamour, I think it would still be better if you were to allow me to Apparate you to my home."

"I'm sure of it," Hermione said. "I haven't Apparated in years; I'd splinch myself for sure."

"Are you ready to go?" he asked.

"Yes," she replied.

"Put on your coat," Snape said, taking his own off the hook by the door and handing hers to her. "You may need it later."

Hermione slipped into the cranberry-coloured woollen coat. She buttoned it and pulled the hood up over her head.

Snape dropped his arm across her shoulder, and she stepped closer, wrapping her arms around his waist and closing her eyes. It was getting easier every time.

When she opened her eyes, she was once again standing in the old-fashioned parlour of Snape's home at Spinner's End.

"I spent some time last evening sorting through a number of books," Snape said as he dropped his arm away from her shoulders and stepped away from her. "I've put aside a stack of those that are most likely to contain any reference to the Pulpa Adustum Curse. There aren't many. I'm afraid our research will mostly be a matter of choosing a book and reading it, looking for any reference to any type of curse of a similar nature. We might also be able to look for any reference to injuries such as yours.

"I don't suppose you heard the incantation Bellatrix spoke as she cast the curse?" he asked.

Hermione shook her head. "There was too much noise and confusion. Everyone was shouting. I'm not even sure what colour the curse was – there were so many flying all over the place, but I think it may have been orange. I remember thinking that I'd never seen an orange curse before."

In spite of the fact that her hair now hid most of the damage to her face, Hermione still tended to keep that side turned away from him.

"It's also possible that Bellatrix modified the curse," Snape said. "If she did that, it will be even more difficult to counteract it."

"Could she have created an entirely new curse?" Hermione asked.

"It's possible, but I wouldn't think so. Although she was quite a powerful and capable witch, Bellatrix was not much of an innovator. It seems much more likely that it was given to her by Lucius Malfoy or even by the Dark Lord himself."

Hermione's eyes lit up at the mention of Lucius Malfoy.

"Do you think Draco might know anything?" she asked. "Once his mother was safe, he repudiated his father ..."

"And Lucius repudiated him in turn. He wouldn't have given Draco any information. Besides, Malfoy Manor, along with all its contents, burned to the ground in the last days of the war. Lucius is dead. If he gave Bellatrix the curse, we won't get it from him. I'll try to contact Draco, but only because we should explore every possibility, no matter how remote. You would be courting disappointment to believe that anything will come of it, however," he warned.

"The Aurors never discovered where Voldemort's hideaway was, did they?" Hermione asked.

"No."

"When you were summoned, where did you go?" Hermione asked.

"Various places and seldom the same place more than once, except for Malfoy Manor. None of us believed that the Dark Lord was living there, however."

Why not?"

"Because, as overbearing and pretentious as Lucius Malfoy was, he would have been constitutionally unable to keep from boasting to the rest of us that the Dark Lord was living in his home."

"Name-dropper," Hermione muttered.

"Exactly."

They spent the next few hours looking through some of the books that Snape had set aside the night before. It was slow-going. Many of the books were hand-written, rather than printed, and the calligraphic style was difficult to decipher. And, as Snape had told her the day before, a lot of the books were in delicate condition and required very gentle handling. Hermione was terrified that she would tear one of the fragile pages. Snape insisted that they wear white cotton gloves as they worked to avoid contaminating the parchment with the oils from their skin. This made it even harder to turn the pages without damaging them.

At one o'clock, Snape closed the book he was looking through.

"Time for lunch," he said.

"I'm not hungry," Hermione said. She had a particularly large tome opened on the low table in front of the sofa. She was bent over it, running her gloved finger down the page.

"Well, I am," Snape said. "It would be impolite of me to eat without you; therefore, I must insist that you join me."

He placed a thin piece of parchment in the book to mark Hermione's place and then closed it gently.

Snape had noticed that when she was engrossed in her work, she forgot to keep the damaged side of her face turned away from him.

Now that she was aware of him again, she turned slightly.

"I'd rather keep working," Hermione insisted.

"You've been at it for three hours, Miss Granger. If you don't take a break, it is likely you will begin to make mistakes; you may overlook something."

Hermione knew he was right. "I suppose I could do with a cup of coffee at least, since you wouldn't allow me one while I was working," she said.

"And risk a spill? Not even water when we're working with these books, never mind coffee," Snape replied.

"I could use the loo," Hermione said. "I mean, as long as we're going to take a break."

"It's upstairs – first door on the right," Snape said. "I'll go prepare some sandwiches."

When Hermione walked into the kitchen ten minutes later, Snape had a plate of sandwiches on the table along with a bag of crisps and a jar of olives.

He placed two glasses of milk down next to their plates.

"Milk?"

"Is there something wrong with milk?" Snape asked. "You're not lactose intolerant, are you?"

"Not that I know of," she replied. "I just wouldn't have thought you the milk type."

"What, exactly, is the milk 'type'?" he asked with a scowl.

"Never mind," she said. "I'm really going to have to alter my perceptions of you. You're not the bad-tempered tyrant who taught me Potions."

"Yes, I am," Snape retorted. "Do you dislike milk?"

"Actually, I like milk and don't drink nearly enough."

Snape gave a soft snort. "Tell me something I don't know. Your bones are probably thinning already."

"Perhaps I should start taking calcium supplements," Hermione said.

"Perhaps you should eat better and drink your milk," Snape countered.

Hermione smiled and picked up her glass. "Yes, sir," she said and began drinking.

After lunch, they worked for another two hours without finding anything.

Snape finished with the book he was looking through, and then he stood up, peeling the cotton gloves off his hands.

"I really need to go to my lab and work on some of the potions Poppy needs. Would you care to assist me, Miss Granger?"

Hermione looked up, biting her bottom lip.

"I don't think I'm ready to face anybody at Hogwarts," she said.

"We can get in and out without anyone even knowing you're there. No one would dare come into my lab uninvited – and I never invite anyone."

"I should feel honoured then, shouldn't I?" she asked.

"Indeed."

"I don't know how much help I'll be," she said. "I haven't brewed anything more complicated than a headache potion in years."

"I'm only brewing simple potions. Besides, you can still peel Shrivelfigs and chop roots, can't you?"

"Yes, I suppose I could do that."

"Come, then. I'd like to get at least two of the potions finished before dinner."

They put their coats on and prepared to leave Snape's house.

Snape Apparated them to a secluded area on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Hermione could see Hagrid's hut a short distance away. Snape dropped his arm from across her shoulders, but held onto her elbow.

"The path is overgrown somewhat these days," he explained. "I don't use this trail nearly as often as I used to."

"Is this is how you got in and out of the castle when the Dark Lord called you?"

"This is how I got out. There were many times that I only made it back as far as Hagrid's hut. Hagrid would summon Albus, and Albus would summon Poppy, usually against my wishes. Albus would lower the anti-Apparition wards long enough to get me to the infirmary."

"Why did Voldemort torture you? Did he suspect your true loyalties?" Hermione asked as they carefully picked their way along the path.

"He was a madman. He didn't need a reason to torture any of us, only an excuse – not showing the proper respect, talking out of turn ... breathing. As for suspecting me, well, he suspected everyone and trusted no one."

"Why would anyone follow such an unstable leader?"

"He had a talent for knowing everyone's price, be it money, power, or recognition. He exploited that talent. He dangled the carrot just close enough to make a person believe he might actually get to eat it someday, in spite of the stick that accompanied it."

"What was your carrot?" she asked.

"Acceptance and approval, Miss Granger. It was what I yearned for my entire life. And, for a brief time, I found it. Then I realised that the price I had to pay for it was far too high, even for me."

They didn't say any more as they made their way along the path that led in a wide circle towards the back of the castle.

They stopped in front of what appeared to be a blank wall. Snape pulled out his wand and tapped the bricks in a pattern similar to the one he'd used to open the archway into Diagon Alley. The bricks obediently rearranged themselves into a small opening that led into the castle.

"The students used to think you could walk through walls," Hermione said as she watched the doorway form.

"I trust you won't disabuse them of that notion," Snape responded. He stepped into the opening and held out a hand to Hermione.

"It's quite murky along this corridor. Mind your step."

Hermione took his hand and let him draw her into the corridor. As soon as she'd cleared the doorway, the bricks rearranged themselves again, sealing off the entrance.

Guided only by the dim light from Snape's wand tip, they walked along the corridor, which sloped downward slightly, leading them underground.

The corridor ended at another brick wall. Snape once again tapped the bricks with his wand, and another doorway obediently appeared.

"It will be a rather tight squeeze in here," Snape said. "The doorway in front of us won't open until the one behind us closes."

"A safety measure," Hermione said.

"Exactly."

Hermione moved into the small space, pushing as far forward as she could. Snape moved in behind her.

"This pass-through wasn't designed for two people," Snape explained as he inched even closer to her. The archway behind them finally closed, trapping them in the narrow space. Snape reached over Hermione's shoulder and flattened his hand against the wall in front of her. He muttered an incantation that Hermione didn't understand. A portion of the wall in front of her swung open, allowing her to pass into a larger room beyond.

Hermione looked around.

"This is your private storeroom!"

"And how would you know what my private storeroom looks like, Miss Granger?" he asked with a small scowl.

"Well ... I ... I've sort of been in here before," she stammered.

"Ah, yes, your little experiment with Polyjuice Potion. When was that? Your fourth year?"

"My second, actually," Hermione said.

"It's a good thing you're no longer a student, else I'd be forced to deduct House points as punishment for stealing from me."

He opened the door that led from the storeroom into his office.

"If you're still carrying a grudge, I'll pay you for the ingredients I borrowed," she said as she followed him through the door.

"Stole," Snape said over his shoulder.

"Very well – stole. I owe you a cloak, as well," she said.

"A cloak?"

"I set fire to yours," Hermione explained.

"That was you?"

Although she'd never tell him, she was secretly pleased to have been able to discombobulate him.

"Yes, sir. We thought it was you trying to knock Harry off his broom."

"I was trying to save him," Snape grumbled.

"Well, I know that now."

Snape closed the door to the storeroom after Hermione passed through.

"You may hang your coat there," he said pointing to a pair of hooks beside the door that led from his office to the Potions classroom. He shrugged out of his own coat and hung it on one of the hooks he'd indicated. Hermione took off her coat and hung it beside his.

"My lab – my private lab – is through here," he said as he moved to another door. "Did you also manage to find your way in there during your stay at Hogwarts?"

"Uh ... no, I didn't."

"Nice to know some things were sacred, even to you lot of rule-breakers," he muttered.

"I would have loved to have seen your lab. I probably would have, if I'd thought I could get away with it. I would have loved being able to use it even more. It sure would have been better than brewing Polyjuice Potion in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom."

"Although the results were not what you'd expected, Miss Granger, it was still quite an accomplishment to be able to brew it at all. It's quite an advanced potion."

"Was that a compliment, Professor Snape?" Hermione asked.

Snape just snorted and led her through the door that opened into his private lab.

"You may begin by chopping these Blue Vervain roots," Snape said as he put a basket of plants down on the table in front of her. "Poppy is low on Pepperup Potion, and I'm sure that once classes resume after the Christmas break, the infirmary will be overrun with students suffering from the common cold."

"What size do you need them to be?" Hermione asked as she picked up a chopping knife.

"Between an eighth-inch and a quarter-inch. No leaves, just the roots. Do not discard the leaves, however. I can use them in something else."

With a gleam in her eye, Hermione raised her hand, waving it over her head.

"Yes, Miss Granger?" Snape said with a small smile.

"You could make a cough relieving potion with them," Hermione suggested.

"Ten points from Gryffindor," Snape said.

"Ten points from Gryffindor?" Hermione said.

"Yes, for being a know-it-all."

"At least you didn't say I was an insufferable know-it-all," she said. "I'm making progress."

"I'll be the judge of that," Snape replied.

Hermione laughed softly and bent over the pile of roots to begin chopping.

Four hours later, they were decanting the Pepperup Potion, the Coughaid Potion, and a headache potion into vials. Snape wrote the labels for the vials in his spiky script, and Hermione affixed the labels to the vials and packed them into a box for easy transport to the infirmary.

"Thank you for your help, Miss Granger," Snape said. "I wouldn't have finished all three of these without it."

"I was happy to do it, sir," she replied. "You wouldn't have fallen behind if you hadn't been helping me. Besides, I enjoyed it. I'd forgotten how much I like brewing potions."

"Well, the work certainly goes faster with two pairs of hands," he said. "Now, are you ready for some dinner?"

"I can make something at home, if you'll take me back," Hermione said.

"Nonsense. I'll have the house-elves bring something to us here, since I'm sure you don't want to face the Great Hall."

"You're right about that," she said.

"Minerva would enjoy seeing you, you know. And she wouldn't ..."

"No! I mean ... I'm just not ready for that."

"As you wish. But, I insist that you eat before I take you home. I know you'll begin working as soon as you step through your door and dinner be damned."

"Well, I was hoping to get in a couple of hours. It's Christmas Eve. I'm sure some people have already opened their new computers and don't have a clue what to do with them."

"You'll be better prepared to tackle their problems on a full stomach," Snape insisted. "And while the house-elves can't prepare French cuisine, the food is certainly more than passable."

"How do they bear such lavish praise?"

"Careful, Miss Granger, such sarcasm is hardly becoming."

"Why is it humour when you say something like that and sarcasm when I do?"

"Home pitch advantage," Snape replied without missing a beat.

Hermione clapped a hand over her mouth to stifle a giggle.

Snape led her to another door that had remained hidden until he approached it.

"This door leads to my private chambers," he explained. "No student has ever been in here, and very few of my colleagues. Albus, Poppy, and Filius are the only ones, though Minerva has seen them through the Floo since she became Headmistress."

"Ah, the sanctum sanctorum," Hermione said.

"Precisely," Snape agreed.

Hermione followed Snape through the door and into a well-appointed sitting room. She tried not to be too obvious about it, but she couldn't help looking around, slightly goggle-eyed, taking advantage of this unique opportunity.

The room was large, with heavy, dark furniture. The rug was a Persian in dark blues and maroons. There were a couple of comfortably worn-looking chairs and a large settee arranged around the fire. All were covered in thick upholstery of an indeterminate shade of dark blue or black. A long, low table was in front of the settee, and there were matching side tables next to each chair. There was a small pile of books on one of the tables, and a chess board, with a game in progress, on the other.

A dining table and four matching chairs were arranged against one wall. Two places were set, and Hermione wondered when he had informed the house-elves that he would have a guest for dinner.

"As Head of House, don't you have to be available to your students all the time?" she asked.

"That door," Snape said, pointing to the far side of the room, "leads to another small office. It opens out into the Slytherin common room. If there is a problem which the Prefect can't resolve, he, or she, can go into the office. There are wards in place there that notify me that I am needed. I can be there in seconds. All the Heads of House have a similar arrangement.

"My Slytherins, however, know better than to bother me with trivialities," he added.

"I'm sure they do."

"Do you need to use the loo before we eat?" Snape asked.

"I looked for a likely door in your lab, but didn't see one."

"Since my lab is right off my quarters, I never needed a loo in there. You can use my bathroom. It's off the bedroom, through that door," he said as he pointed.

"I can just use the one off the Potions classroom," Hermione said. "I wouldn't want to intrude on your private space."

"It's not an intrusion when you are invited, Miss Granger," he said. "Just think of the opportunity you'll have to report to your friends that the 'greasy git' does, indeed, have a shower in his quarters. You'll even find shampoo in it."

Hermione's eyes narrowed a bit. "I never called you a greasy git, or any other derogatory names, for that matter. I'll admit that Ron and Harry were often ... less than complimentary... when they talked about you. You must admit that you purposely projected a negative image of yourself."

Snape thought for a moment. "I concede the truth of that statement," he said at last.

"One of the first things I noticed when I saw you at Grant and Cutler, was that your hair was a lot less oily, and even your skin seemed less sallow. I am not a gossip, Professor Snape. Furthermore, why have you put yourself out so much if you have such a low opinion of me?"

Snape looked a bit taken aback by her outburst.

"I do not have a low opinion of you. I spoke out of ... habit – a very old habit that I really should concentrate on reforming."

"Much as I had to alter my perceptions of you," Hermione said.

"Indeed. Now, perhaps we could continue this discussion during dinner? I also need to use the loo before we eat, but you may go first," Snape added, gesturing toward the door that led to his bedroom.

Hermione had told Snape the truth; she did not engage in gossip. That didn't mean, however, that she wasn't going to take in as much as she could of this rare look into Snape's private rooms.

The bed was a modest four-poster, very much like the beds in the students' dormitories. It was neatly made with a plain counterpane of dark blue with matching hangings. There were no silks, damasks, or brocades in sight, and not a speck of Slytherin green anywhere. The rug was a serviceable dark blue wool. There was a tall dresser and an armoire, both closed. On the table next to the bed there was another stack of books and a carafe and glass.

She passed into the bathroom and gaped. Every bit of opulence that was missing from the bedroom was here in the bath, instead. There was a huge, dark blue marble tub with about twenty different burnished-brass faucets. It was nearly as large as the tub in the Prefects' bathroom on the fifth floor. There was a separate shower stall, also dark blue marble, with a side bench. The sink was large and set into a stretch of dark blue marble counter. Even the commode was dark blue marble. Thick, white towels hung from racks set near the tub and shower, as well as by the sink. When Hermione closed the bathroom door, she noticed that there was a dark green dressing gown hanging from a hook on the back of the door. It was the only bit of green she'd seen in all of Snape's private quarters.

Hermione used the facilities and washed her hands in the huge sink. The towels were every bit as soft and fluffy as they looked, and she wondered what the house-elves washed them in. They were certainly of a higher quality and absorbency than the ones provided to the students, unless things had changed since she'd left Hogwarts.

She moved back through the bedroom and into the sitting room.

"I trust you found everything you needed?" Snape asked politely.

"Yes, thank you, sir," Hermione replied

"I'll be right out," he said and passed her to enter his bedroom.

Hermione took the opportunity to look at the pile of books that sat on the table near one of the chairs. There were two Potions texts and a book of Charms. She was surprised to also find a copy, in English, of the Ellery Queen novel she'd purchased for her aunt. Then she remembered that when he'd gotten the book down off the shelf for her, he'd said that the book, The Egyptian Cross Mystery, was one of Queen's best. This implied that he'd read it, and others.

She was reading the dust jacket when Snape came out of the bedroom.

"I see you've discovered one of my secret vices," he said.

"You mean, besides cooking?"

"When I saw the book you had selected for your aunt, I was reminded that I hadn't read any of Queen's books in a while. I looked through my library and found my copy."

"I would have thought you'd had enough mystery in your life," Hermione commented.

"I actually started reading them when I was a child. My father had a fondness for American mysteries. He read Ellery Queen, Dashiell Hammett, and Raymond Chandler, among others. I was reading The Maltese Falcon when other boys in my neighbourhood were reading The Beano and The Beezer."

"My parents had dentistry journals," she said.

"Something you could really sink your teeth into."

"Oh, I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that; it is so far below your normal standards."

"Hunger must be dulling my wits. Let's sit down and eat."

Snape led her to the table and held out her chair for her.

They ate Cottage Pie that tasted even better than Hermione remembered. When they finished, they shared a pot of tea, which Snape brewed himself in his office and brought back into the sitting room.

When they finished their tea, Hermione stood up.

"Thank you so much for inviting me to stay for dinner, Professor Snape. It was lovely, but would you mind taking me home now?" she asked. "I'd really like to get a couple of hours of work in."

"Of course." They moved back into the laboratory. Snape retrieved their coats from the hooks and held Hermione's open for her. She slipped into it.

"Thank you," she said.

"You're welcome," he replied as he put on his own coat.

They passed through Snape's office and into his private storeroom. Snape touched his wand to one of the shelves, and a section of the wall swung open.

"This is where it's rather cramped," Snape said.

Hermione stepped into the small pass-through, moving in as far she could. Snape squeezed in behind her. He muttered an incantation, and the door behind them swung shut.

Snape lifted his wand over Hermione's shoulder and touched the blank wall in front of them. The bricks rearranged themselves into a narrow doorway, allowing Hermione and Snape to pass into the murky corridor that led out of the castle.

"Lumos," Snape murmured, and the tip of his wand lit, casting a dim glow along the rough passage.

When they reached the end of the corridor, Snape once again tapped the bricks to open the doorway out of the castle.

He held on to Hermione's elbow as they traversed the overgrown path that led past the anti-Apparition wards and back to the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

When they reached the spot, Hermione wrapped her arms around Snape's waist, and he raised his arm to drape it across her shoulders.

A moment later, they were standing in Hermione's kitchen.

"I need to start practicing my Apparition skills again," Hermione said as she stepped away from Snape and slipped out of her coat.

"Not until you're a lot stronger than you are now," Snape said in a stern voice.

"If I'm going to work with you, I need to be able to get around on my own. I feel like such a burden when you have to drag me along like an old piece of luggage."

"I don't mind," he insisted.

"Yes, well, you'll feel differently when the new term starts and you have all those essays to grade, rounds to make, and detentions to oversee."

"That's not for almost three weeks. Let's just continue this way for now and see what happens. You may be a lot stronger by then, especially since you're not expending so much energy maintaining the elaborate glamour you used before."

"That's true. I've had this glamour in place for over ten hours, and I'm not very tired at all."

"I suppose you're going to sign on to your computer and go at it hammer and tongs for the next four hours, then?"

"At least two hours," Hermione conceded.

"Would you mind if I lingered a bit?" he asked. "I'm curious as to what you do."

"I don't mind, but I'm afraid you'll find it rather boring."

"I won't find it boring if you explain it to me," he replied.

"Take off your coat if you're going to stay," Hermione said.

Snape took off his coat and hung on the hook by the door.

"I used to make coffee to keep me going," she said. "Now, I find that I really like the tea blend you left me. I slept well again last night."

She filled the kettle with water and set it on the stove to boil. She brought down the tea canister and got the tea pot ready.

A few minutes later, the soothing scent of lemon balm and valerian root filled the air as the tea steeped.

When it was done, Hermione filled two mugs, added honey to both, and handed one of the mugs to Snape.

"Now, I'm ready to work," she said as she took a sip from her cup. "Bring one of these chairs in. You can sit next to me at the computer and see what I'm doing."

Snape followed her into the living room, his mug of tea in one hand and one of her kitchen chairs in the other.

Hermione sat at her computer and turned it on. She signed on to her internet provider and then went to the homepage of the company she worked for and logged into their system. She spread out a number of printed manuals on her desk and opened a number of help files on her computer. She fitted a headset over her head. Within seconds, she was fielding her first call.

"Software Solutions, this is Jane. How may I help you?"

In between calls, Hermione tried to explain to Snape what she was doing.

Far from being bored, Snape was fascinated by what Hermione did. She listened to her callers' problems, and then she patiently talked them through the steps necessary to correct the problems.

Every few calls, Hermione would mutter something about an 'eye-dee-ten-tee' error. Snape didn't have a clue what that was about, though after a few calls, he did understand a good deal of what was going on.

Two-and-a-half hours after she'd signed on, Hermione logged out and removed her headset with a sigh.

"That's enough of that for one night," she said as she stretched her neck and rolled her shoulders.

"Why don't you use your real name?" Snape asked. "Is there a way for the people who call to find out who you are or where you live?"

"No. I use Jane because it's short and easy to pronounce. It's my middle name, so it's not completely foreign to me."

"If I understand the nature of the calls, I would estimate that nearly a third of the people who call you could probably solve their own problems if they simply read the literature that accompanies the product. Failing that, they could read the help file and find the answers to most of their questions."

Hermione smiled. "You're right, but then I'd be out of job."

"And what in the seven hells is an 'eye-dee-ten-tee' error? I read several of the files you had open, as well as a number of the printed manuals, and I didn't see any reference to such an error."

Hermione smiled again. "It's an inside joke among techies."

She grabbed a blank piece of paper and a pen and handed them to Snape.

"If you jot this down, I think you'll understand. Print what I say rather than use cursive writing."

Snape obediently held the pen over the paper.

"Upper case I. Upper case D. The number one followed by a zero. And lastly, an uppercase T."

Snape wrote down the letters and numbers as she spoke them.

"That's an 'I D 10 T error,'" Hermione said.

He looked at what he had written and started to chuckle.

"And I thought I was the only one cursed with dunderheads," he said.

"They're everywhere," she said, and then she had to stifle a yawn.

"Oh, excuse me."

"It's getting late," Snape said as he stood up. "I'd best be heading home. You need to get to bed, else you'll miss your visit from Father Christmas."

"I stopped believing in Father Christmas when I was eight, although I actually got suspicious when I was seven. All the other kids in school got candy in their Christmas stockings; I got fruit, nuts, and books."

"That's what comes of having parents who are dentists," he said. "At least you had a Christmas stocking."

Snape took his coat from the hook by the door. "I'll be here at nine in the morning to prepare breakfast, if that's agreeable to you."

"I'll have the coffee on," Hermione said.

"Good night, Miss Granger," Snape said.

"Good night, sir," she replied.

He stepped back and Disapparated silently.