Fourth Posting

or

A Series of Extracts Belonging to the Epistolary Courtship of Hermione Granger and Severus Snape, with Suitable Additions of Edifying Thoughts and Actions

by Severus Snape and Hermione Granger

edited by Lm. Samiko ^_~

Fourth Posting

Dear Hermione,

    Well, I must say, whatever it is you are doing, you should continue doing it. It would seem you were right; all Severus needed was a little socialization to perk him right up. And it probably helped that he was able to escape the students for some small period of time. Thank you ever so much! After he returned from your Halloween gathering, he seemed rather pleased and while he cannot be called cheerful at the best of times, he was actually pleasant to converse with. And now... Well, all I can say, dear, is that whatever you two were up to last Friday evening (it was a dance, was it not? In any case, I did not see Severus until the next morning, so I assume it ran in to the wee sma's), he has been seen sporting a grin for the first time in over forty years. It is, I must admit, a rather predatory grin, which looks most like a man-eating shark and which scares the First through Fifth Years into hysterics, but it is such a change for him!

    Keep up the good work!

Minerva.

    Hermione herself was hysterical for a good twenty minutes after receiving Minerva's letter, particularly when she noticed the last set of italics. Keep it up, indeed!

    It has been quite some time since either of us last wrote a letter to the other; I find that, in spite of certain... benefits in seeing (and, if I am to be perfectly honest, in hearing, touching, and tasting) each other, I miss this particular style of communication--the leisurely, considered process of committing my thoughts to parchment and knowing that you have put just as much time and meaning into what you have written to me. In addition, I should like to have more specimens to put aside and look at when I am one hundred and ninety and in need of reliving my life's Great Folly. (As opposed to dwelling upon my life's Great Mistake.) I rather imagine you'll have left me for a younger wizard by that point, so I shall need everything I can lay my hands on to enable me to be properly maudlin and not simply bitter-which, as you know, I am much more inclined to.

    One might say it keeps me in practice. Speaking of which...

    [Several paragraphs of a technical nature omitted.]

    I must admit to being at a loss as to our next excursion. We have been to your flat. We have been to the BM and the Bodleian Archives. Cambridge, as we both know, is a next to total loss. As fascinating as it would be, having you here would be uncomfortable and counterproductive. Restaurants are dull, nightclubs abysmal, shops indescribable. The Tower, I suppose, is a possibility, if you don't mind Muggle-dodging. Any thoughts, dear one?

    You cannot have the gall to blame this all on me. While I certainly don't exonerate my father--his words were entirely uncalled for--you certainly didn't help matters any with your high-and-mighty attitude. Is that something you learn specifically in Wizarding families? Do you just automatically assume that you're better than every single poor, stupid Muggle and, oh, you should be ever so grateful that I've condescended to bestow my attentions on your little Muggle-born daughter? I've never seen this side of you, Severus, not since you stopped spying; I hadn't thought it was truly a part of your character. Or, at least, I'd hoped it wasn't.

    It's not about letting someone walk all over you; it's about acknowledging that other people have a right to address you as equals, at least during the first five minutes of your acquaintance. Those Muggles--those people--are my parents. You owed it to all of us, including yourself, to give them a chance to prove themselves before treating them like the dirt under your feet! How does that change anything, except that now you are the one who's walking on people?

Hermione.

Severus--

    As I tried to ask you earlier, I would like to know if you have heard from Miss Granger recently. She has not answered my owls for several days now and I am becoming concerned. Furthermore, if you ever yell at me like that again, young man, I shall ensure that you chaperone Hogsmeade weekends for the next twenty years.

    Please have the courtesy to reply to Minerva's letters; she is beginning to bother me about it.

    Still, I can't be entirely remorseful, Severus. After all, my flu forced you to... well, force my door. (Thank you for patching it back up, by the way.) And once I was better, we were able to talk through a number of matters that ought to have been thrashed out quite some time ago. I think that, if we are to continue, we'll have to set some sort of ground rules for when we both lose our tempers. "Never let the sun set on your anger" or something of that sort. Though we may want to "Cool down and talk the next day (or week)" instead; talking too soon got us into this mess after all.

    Anyway, I am taking my potions like a good little patient and have kept myself to my flat. Though I did send an owl to retrieve some books from the library. I'm bored! And very much looking forward to your visit this weekend. (Though I thought you might be able to finagle more time off from Minerva. Ah, well.)

    Thank you for keeping me updated about your condition; we need to be wary of a relapse. I do not wish to go through this whole muddle again. And thank you for your apology.

[several paragraphs omitted]

    I request that you not make any plans concerning our appointment this weekend. I have several exceedingly serious matters I wish to discuss with you (including the one you mentioned in your last missive) and cannot be certain how much time they will take.

Mr. and Mrs. Robert J. Granger

cordially invite you to attend the wedding of their daughter,

Hermione Jane

to

Professor Severus C. Snape

on 15 May, 200x

at 5.30 pm.

_{a.n. - Formatted at last! One more posting and an epilogue to go...}