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“What… is that?”
Severus turned at the sound of Hermione’s shrill voice from across the room. He narrowed his eyes as he saw what she was looking at.
“Are you telling me that now after the Dark Lord has been defeated for almost a decade… something is showing up in my Foe-Glass?”
His companion stepped aside as he approached the shelf where the Foe-Glass sat. He stared at it.
There was a faint shape that had formed in the glass. It seemed to move a little and then stopped. It appeared to be possibly brownish orange in color but it was too dark and fuzzy to see properly.
“It appears to be a creature of some sort, perhaps?” He stroked his chin as he leaned in to peer closer at the glass. Not that it would change anything. The images changed whenever they wanted and it was dependent on the level of danger the device deemed him to be in. Whatever that meant in this time of relative peace.
“Umm, maybe your device is just having some issues,” replied Hermione cautiously. “It is pretty old now, after all.”
“Are you implying I’m old as well, Hermione?” He raised an eyebrow back at her, though he knew the answer would be the same as it always was.
“Oh Merlin. Severus, you’re not old! You may not be the youngest on staff, but who else other than you could keep up with leading the dueling club? You’re doing just fine for yourself.” She declared all of this with only a slight blush on her face as she fussed with the parchment she was holding. She moved to place it on his desk.
They were wrapping up for the evening after some time spent working on their joint research. Now that Hermione had a few years under her belt as the Charms professor, they had fallen into a sort of working partnership as colleagues. They spent the little free time they had researching the intersections of potions and charms. It made for some interesting nights and even more interesting developments of sorts.
“Well, there isn’t much to do about blurry shapes in the Foe-Glass, so we can leave that be for now. Only time will tell if it shifts or becomes clearer.” He lightly rapped one finger on the side of the glass and walked past her to sort the rest of his papers on his desk.
“Anyway, we’re almost done with preparations for the ball on Friday,” Hermione said slowly while moving to seat herself in the armchair. She seemed to pick at some invisible lint from her robe while not looking him in the eye.
Is this a trick? Does she want me to ask her? Fuck!
Severus blinked just as slowly. “Mmm, did you finally manage to get Peeves under control?”
“Oh, yes, I did. The Baron was able to give me some tips too, for when he’s not available. So Peeves shouldn’t be an issue for us during the ball.”
“I’ve heard from Minerva that he’s gone soft over the years anyway.”
“Well, yes. The worst thing he did at the Halloween ball last year was put up enchanted mistletoe everywhere.” She rolled her eyes. “It’s two months before Christmas!”
He swallowed and tried to banish the thought of being stuck under mistletoe with his colleague. Why didn’t I catch wind of that last year?
“I suppose we're done for the evening. You have your early class tomorrow morning.” He stood up from his desk and proceeded to walk her to the door.
“Goodnight, Severus."
“Goodnight, Hermione."
Shit.
—
As the week continued, there were several occasions where he felt like he was being watched or followed while walking down the halls. However, every time he cast a detection spell, no one was revealed. It was starting to be a bit annoying.
Severus was also starting to get a bit anxious as the days passed by. Not about the potential foe, no no. Forget whatever that was all about.
It was the fact that he had decided he was finally going to ask Professor Hermione Granger out on Thursday. To that damn Halloween Ball. It was a day he dreaded every year, but also one that others had decided was a fine day to celebrate now years later.
Despite all the hell he had to go through to pull himself out of that past, he decided that he now deserved something better. He deserved to at least make an attempt at finding happiness.
So this was his attempt. He was going to ask Hermione to the ball and hope that it would bring him (and hopefully her) some semblance of happiness.
—
Today was the day.
Severus had asked Professor Longbottom ahead of time to help prepare a small bouquet of flowers for the occasion. He personally made a trip down to the greenhouse to retrieve them, much to the delight of a now matured (no longer terrified of his former Potions professor) and excited (“I promise Hermione will love these, professor!”) Neville. On his way back to the castle, he decided he would go straight to her rooms. This way, there was less time for him to get cold feet and back out last minute. He was no coward after all.
The walk down the halls to her quarters felt longer than usual and he was starting to imagine the scene in his head. He would knock and she would open the door with a delighted gasp. He would ask the important question and she would respond with a resounding yes. It was going to be fine. Everything was fine.
Before he could raise his hand to knock, the door swung open and an out of breath Hermione stood before him, curls wild and breathing slightly fast.
“Will you go to the ball with me?” She blurted out. His jaw fell open and he almost dropped the small bouquet of flowers he held in his hand. Before he could formulate any sort of response, something suddenly flew at him.
“MREOWWWW!” What appeared to be a wild, orange ball of fur had suddenly pounced on his robes and was apparently trying to bite or claw his leg off.
“Oh my god, Crooks, NO!” Hermione shrieked and tried to pry the creature that was now clinging to his leg and not letting go. He felt the claws dig into his calves and suddenly felt like he was getting mauled by Fluffy again. Merlin’s balls, the things I’m willing to endure for this woman.
She finally managed to get a hold of the feline and stood in front of him looking like she wanted to just wither away. She awkwardly held the creature in her arms looking lost for words.
“Well, I suppose this answers the question of what was in my Foe-Glass,” Severus grumbled as he leaned down to flick his wand at his ruined trousers. “Do you have any dittany here in your quarters?”
Hermione nodded while blushing fiercely then turned to flee the room, yowling ball of fur in tow.
He sat down on the sofa in her living area and took a wand to his leg to start cleaning it up. As he did so, he thought about his newly revealed foe. Why does her feline appear to detest me? Does this mean I’m not worthy? Will she feel that way?
Before he could speculate any further, the witch that had been occupying his thoughts all week strolled back into the room with a small bottle in hand.
She sat down next to him on the sofa and gestured at him to present his leg to her. She went to work immediately without a word. She seemed very focused on applying the essence of dittany. But he could sense she had words that were bubbling up inside of her, just waiting to be let out. As she was finishing up, they finally surfaced.
“I meant what I said earlier by the way. That is, if you still have it in you to grace me with any sort of response.” The words tumbled out of her mouth quickly and all jumbled together. She seemed anxious. Before he could process them to respond, her nervous chatter continued.
“I-I know you hate the ball and that day especially. So I understand if you don’t want to go. With me, I mean. Since umm, we’re required to be there anyway as staff. But if you would maybe just–”
“Yes.”
“I–what?”
Hermione’s hand stilled as she finished putting the stopper on the bottle.
Severus shifted to put his leg back down on the ground, then cleared his throat. He muttered a spell under his breath and the forgotten bouquet of flowers flew into his hands from the side table.
“These were for you, by the way,” he murmured quietly as he handed them over. “My intent was to ask you tonight. I know it’s last minute, but…” He trailed off as he stared at the flowers she now held. He glanced cautiously up at her to find that a smile was slowly spreading across her face.
“Oh, Severus…” Her eyes were shining and he suddenly felt a strong urge to kiss her. He saw her eyes dart down to his mouth. Good witch. And so he did.
The first light touch of her lips made his insides do a few flips. Like a bloody teenager, get a grip! Her hands soon found their way to the front of his robes and he moved the hand on her cheek down to lightly stroke her neck.
Her warm inviting mouth felt divine and he tentatively gave a light lick to ask for entry. She eagerly accepted and soon his tongue was sliding into her warmth and doing a dance he hadn’t done in years. His other hand slid down to settle on her waist, drawing her just a little closer.
She suddenly drew back from the kiss with a start and he was terrified that he’d committed some horrible crime. Should I have not let the tongue slip? Too much?
“I have a confession to make! I think I’ve just confirmed my suspicions.” She looked thoroughly snogged and not unhappy, so he felt satisfied it wasn’t related to his tongue.
“Go on…”
“It’s my fault. That Crookshanks somehow ended up in your Foe-Glass, I mean.” She gestured vaguely to the other room where her familiar was now seemingly locked up. “I… I didn’t realize it, but I’ve been rambling on to him for weeks now about the ball and everything and… And us. And you!”
“So, allow me to attempt to make sense of this. You believe your cat was in my Foe-Glass due to… what? You talking about me? And he was… jealous? Enough so that he was plotting an attack?” Severus smirked at this realization.
“Yes! You were so infuriating! How did you not realize sooner that I wanted you to ask me to the ball? See, even Crooks was driven mad by you!” Hermione started to laugh a little as she said this.
“That also explains why I’ve been followed lately but no humans detected when I tried to check.”
“Oh yes, he’s been sneaking out more this week. He must’ve sensed something coming. Clearly a vicious attack from his foe!” She outright laughed at this declaration and then sat back on the sofa to get more comfortable.
“Well,” he started to say as he reached out and gently grasped her hands in his much larger ones. “I think he will have to start getting used to me being around.”
“I think I’d like that.” She smiled up at him then moved to curl up against his side, squeezing his hands in hers. “And Crookshanks will have to learn to like it too.”
They sat on the sofa enjoying each other’s company until only faintly glowing embers remained in the fire.