Correspondence

She paced back and forth in her room, trying to figure out what she would set up for them on Saturday. It had to be perfect; she didn’t want another repeat of the kiss on the forehead, although hopefully she had pushed him past that passé notion. She thumped her fist against her forehead, muttering to herself.

Think, Hermione, think. If you were a man like Severus Snape, what would you enjoy doing on a date?

Well, I think I can safely say the zoo is out. And shopping.

Anything with large crowds of people is a no go.

A library? No, he’d be bored, especially since we have one of the best libraries here at school.

A movie? Maybe, but only as a last resort.

Tower of London? It's slightly far, but it could work.

The beach? Ha! Now there’s a funny image, I bet his skin has never even seen the sun before.

I guess we could just do dinner again. But not in Hogsmeade. I don’t want it to be the same as our first date. Oh my goodness, I’m going on a date with Severus Snape. Oh my double goodness, I’m going on a second date with Severus Snape. What is the world coming to?

She giggled to herself. If someone saw her, they’d probably think she was insane for talking to herself, but it was how she was able to figure things out. There was a lot of talking to herself when she made the decision to quit her old job and become the school’s librarian.

What she needed was a male opinion. And she knew just the male to ask.

*

She pounded her fist on the door of his flat repeatedly, continuing the annoyingly loud sound until he answered his door.

“Hermione, what the bloody hell is it?” he mumbled, wiping the sleep from his eyes with one hand and scratching his belly with the other. “Do you have any idea what time it is?”

“The better question would be do you have any idea what time it is? What were you still doing in bed, you lazy slug? I’ve already been up for several hours getting things done. What have you done besides scratch yourself?”

“Hey, that was uncalled for!”

“Sorry, Harry.” She made her way around his spacious flat, meandering her way to the kitchen to make some tea for both of them.

“So what’s the occasion?”

“What do you mean, occasion?”

“Well, you don’t normally just stop by unannounced on a Tuesday morning, especially when I’ll be seeing you in less than a week, considering the winter hols start Friday.”

“Shit!” Hermione screamed. The pounding of feet filled the house, and a very naked and very startled Charlie Weasley came running into the kitchen, wand at the ready, prepared to battle the evil that was attacking.

“What’s going on? Who screamed?” Charlie questioned, bleary-eyed.

“Well, Hermione screamed, though I’m not sure why,” Harry stated simply.

“I had completely forgotten that the holiday started on Friday. Severus and I were supposed to have a date on Saturday but that won’t work if I am here. That’s also why I came here, Harry. I need your advice on what we should do for our da… Hold the phone! What is Charlie doing here? And why is he naked? Harry?”

“Ummmm… yeah. We are sort of seeing each other.” Harry blushed as he glanced over at his naked counterpart.

“Oh, brother, not again with this sort of seeing bit, first Ginny, now you. What is going on? Is this the season for secret relationships or something? Good grief, people!”

“We kept it a secret because we didn’t want to hurt Ginny. Although it sounds like she has moved on, so it doesn’t matter. By the way, who has she moved on with?” Harry questioned.

“She will tell you and the rest of the family when the time is right, just like you and Charlie, I assume.”

“Why aren’t you freaking out about this? Why are you so calm?”

“Nothing can faze me anymore, and trust me, when you find out who Ginny is sort of seeing, you will understand. But back to the subject at hand. Well, first off, Charlie, while I am sure Harry is enjoying the view, would you mind putting on some clothing to make the rest of us a tad more comfortable?”

Charlie nodded his head and made his way back to the bedroom.

“Now, what did you want, Hermione?”

“I need advice. Where should Severus and I go for our date? You are a guy, where do guys want to go for dates?”

“Honestly?”

“Yes, please.”

“Bed,” he stated bluntly.

“Very funny, Potter. But sadly not going to happen. Severus seems to have an aversion to anything inappropriate, which does not bode well for the intimate side of our relationship, if you can even call it that.”

“I honestly don’t know. I’m sure dinner would be fine with him. I don’t really know what he likes aside from potions, dark arts, my mom and apparently you, so I’m not much of a help. You would need to ask one of his friends, if he had any.”

“Harry,” she growled.

“Sorry, Mione, won’t happen again. Keeping my mouth shut.” He mimed locking his lips and throwing away the key.

“Don’t keep your mouth shut, that means no more fun time,” Charlie said, sauntering back into the kitchen, this time partially clothed.

“And on that perverted note, I am leaving.” She hugged both of them and told them she’d see them in a week before Apparating back to school. She was making her way towards her rooms when an idea struck her. She quickly turned around and headed to the Headmistress’ office.

When she stood in front of the familiar stone gargoyles, she murmured the password, “Siamese,” and began to climb the spiral staircase. She knocked on the door and heard Minerva’s voice tell her to come in.

“Hermione, dear, what are you doing here?” Minerva questioned kindly, standing up from behind her desk.

“I was wondering if I could have a word with Professor Dumbledore.”

“Why of course! I will leave you alone, just inform the paintings when you are done, they will let me know.” She patted Hermione on the shoulder and swept out of the room and down the stairs.

Hermione moved towards the frame sitting behind the abandoned desk.

“Professor Dumbledore?” she questioned the sleeping figure of her former Headmaster. Her only answer was a loud snore.

“Professor Dumbledore?” she questioned a bit louder, still nothing.

“Professor Dumbledore!” she screeched at an octave that only dogs should have been able to hear.

“Yes, I’m awake. What’s going on? Is Voldemort back? What did I miss?” he replied, startled, as he snapped up out of his chair, moving forward in the frame to get a better look at her. “My, how you’ve grown, Miss Granger. You have become such a lovely young lady.”

“Thank you, sir. And everything is okay. Voldemort is still dead, nothing to fear on that front.”

“Good to know,” he said with a yawn. “You had a question for me, I assume.”

“Yes, as I am sure Minerva has told you, Severus and I have become rather close. We have gone on a date and are supposed to have another one this weekend, though how that’s going to work when it’s the winter holiday and we will both be gone, is beyond me.”

“Severus has a house just outside of London,” he informed her.

“Oh, well, then maybe we can work something out.” She smiled at the thought.

“Your question, my dear?”

“Oh, yes, so sorry. I was wondering if you had any ideas about things for us to do. I don’t really want to do dinner again, although I will if need be, but I wanted to plan something fun that he would enjoy. I couldn’t come up with anything, and I thought since you have known him longer, maybe you could. Please, sir, I want this to be nice.”

“Hmmm… let me think for a minute.” The air was filled with a weighty silence as he contemplated her conundrum.

“I do believe I remember him expressing some interest in the Muggle history of London. I know that growing up, he didn’t really get to experience any of that. You might consider taking him to the museums and the historical sights; he would most likely enjoy that, although he might never admit it.” His eyes did that familiar twinkling thing, proving the artist’s skill in painting the picture.

“Okay, so what? The Tower of London, Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abbey, the British Museum, and the Tate Modern? Would that be enough?”

“Most assuredly, that would be plenty. To fit all that in, you would need at least a week.”

“Thank you, Professor Dumbledore! You were a big help,” she said as she made her way towards the door.

“No problem, and please call me Albus. I am a painting after all. And child, feel free to stop by any time for a chat. I care for Minerva dearly, but seeing only her and the other paintings can be a bit monotonous. I don’t get my daily bit of gossip anymore.”

“You want gossip, Albus? Well, I have a great piece of gossip for you.” She walked back towards his painting, whispering the news of the newly discovered relationship of her best friend. A large grin spread on his face.

“I always knew he was a boy after my own heart,” he chuckled as Hermione said goodbye and left, telling the paintings to find Minerva.