A Looping of the Scales ~ COMPLETED

Chapter 15 ~ An Offer

Minerva didn’t manage to catch up to Snape until the evening after supper, when he returned to Hogwarts. He entered the castle Disillusioned and headed down the dungeon stairs. There were no students about because most of them were taking their meals. He didn’t expect to run into anyone—

“Hey now! Stop right there! I have you!” a voice hissed and Snape felt someone grab his arm from behind in a tight grip. “Don’t you try anything! Take off that spell! Now!”

Snape turned to see a crotchety Argus Filch holding on to him. The old caretaker had seen him enter the school. Since the final battle, Disillusionment inside Hogwarts was against the rules. But, Filch was a squib. He could be easily hexed. Filch had been at Hogwarts a long time and Snape recognized his gnarled features. He tapped his wand to his head and removed the spell.

Argus looked at Snape through his rheumy eyes and quickly released him.

”So, it’s you, professor,” Filch said, looking at him suspiciously. “I heard about what happened to you but didn’t get a chance to see you, until now.”

”Hello, Mr. Filch,” Snape replied as Filch squinted at him up and down.

”You know, I never forget a student,” Filch said to him as Mrs. Norris ran down the corridor and rubbed against his arthritic legs. “You look a lot like you did when you were here the first time, but—you look better than you did then. Not so—can’t quite put my finger on it.”

Snape eyed Filch. When Snape was a student, it was Filch who always tried to help him. Well, he would try to catch Potter and the Marauders in action. He was just as suspicious of their activities as Snape, and got as much help from Dumbledore as the Slytherin did, which was next to none. He did manage to get them a few detentions though, and Snape had always appreciated it.

”Maybe it’s because I no longer have the Marauders stalking my heels,” Snape said in response. Filch’s craggy face contorted.

”Those devils,” he breathed. “Some of the worst rule breakers Hogwarts has ever seen. Dumbledore favored them, he did. But—“

Here he nodded at Snape soberly.

”—we knew what they were, didn’t we, Mr. Snape?”

Snape nodded soberly.

”All dead now. Every one of ‘em. Always knew they’d meet a sticky end. And Potter’s son was little better. Always in trouble, that one. Running off into danger and bringing people with him. Oh, he did all right in the end, but he was as bad as his father when it came to rule breaking. Didn’t target anyone, but still managed to nearly get himself killed five times over at least. Probably if it wasn’t for you, he would have died—“

Snape just blinked at him.

”Oh, you don’t remember that, do you? Nobody knew how much you protected him until everything was over and the Dark Lord breathed his last. You gave everything—almost your life too. It’s a shame what’s happened to you, but—“

The old squib sighed.

”I wish I could get a bit of what you had. It would be nice to have bones that didn’t ache,” he said wistfully. “Wouldn’t want to be as young as you, but some years off wouldn’t be bad at all.”

Snape felt a bit sorry for the old man.

”It was an accident, Mr. Filch,” he said, a bit of regret in his voice.

Filch waved a hand at him.

”I know. I know. Just the silliness of an old man, Mr. Snape. You can go along. But since the final battle, there’s no Disillusionment spells allowed in the castle. It’s fine on the grounds. Just not inside.”

Snape started to walk down the hall, then stopped and turned toward Filch.

”Mr. Filch, I made some improvements to the pain salve carried in the infirmary. I added a few anti-inflammatory ingredients. I don’t know if I ever shared it with anyone, but if the infirmary doesn’t carry it, I’ll brew you up a batch—for your bones. It should help.”

Filch looked at him in surprise.

”I—I’d appreciate that, Mr. Snape,” he said, his voice a little hoarse. Severus Snape had been a very gifted potions student when he attended Hogwarts. But he would never have offered to give him anything. He wasn’t a very friendly sort. But now—“

”You’re welcome, sir. I’ll do it as soon as I find out what the standard salve consists of,” Snape replied. “Good-bye.”

Filch watched Snape walked down the hallway and let himself into the office.

”I think its going to be better for you this time around, boy,” he said softly under his breath. Mrs. Norris howled up at him and he held out his arms. The cat leapt into them, purring. Filch petted her.

”Come on, Mrs. Norris. Let’s see if we can find some real rule breakers,” he said as he hobbled back up the corridor.

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Ron was playing chess in the common room with Neville when Hermione made the rare appearance from her room. She looked exhausted as she walked toward him. He looked up at her and watched as she turned off and approached Harry.

”Harry, I need to ask you something,” she said to him. “In private.”

Harry had been sitting on the sofa talking to the other students about the upcoming Quidditch game against Ravenclaw. Ron watched her, his face slightly contorted.

Harry knew Hermione and Ron weren’t talking and was actually surprised to see her in the common room. He excused himself and walked over to her. They both moved to a corner of the common room. Ron’s rook was taken because he didn’t pay attention to the board. So, she could make time to talk to Harry, could she?

”Harry, Severus wants you to give him back the memories he shared with you,” she told him softly. “The ones that happened after Lily. He doesn’t need those. He remembers them like it was yesterday.”

Harry looked thoughtful.

”Do you think that’s wise, Hermione? Just to give it to him without any preparation? There’s things in there that he’s bound to take out of context, and things he won’t know, like it was Peter Pettigrew who betrayed my mother and father, not him.”

Hermione knew he was right.

”Maybe we can help it along, Harry,” she said. “I have an idea. I’ve got a Pensieve in my knapsack that I borrowed from Advanced Charms class. I’ll get it, and we can go to your room and sort everything out.”

Ron saw the excited look on Hermione’s face as she hurried back up the stairs to her room. He conceded his chess game and walked over to Harry.

”What did Hermione want?” he asked his friend.

Harry looked hesitant to tell Ron. He and Hermione weren’t talking and he knew the last thing Ron needed to hear was she was doing something for Snape.

”She wanted me to do something,” Harry answered evasively.

Ron frowned at him. He didn’t have to say a word.

”All right. She wants me to give her Snape’s memories so she can bring them to him,” Harry admitted.

”Snape again,” Ron muttered. “She pencils me in for Saturday, but makes time for this. You’d think I’d be more important.”

He saw Hermione descending the stairs and quickly walked back over to the chess table. Lavender Brown was watching him closely. She was always watching Ron and Hermione. She didn’t think they belonged together. Ron would be much better off with her.

She watched as Hermione and Harry walked up the stairs leading to the boys’ rooms and disappeared around the corner, then looked back at Ron, who was scowling after them. She noticed they appeared to be fighting this morning, Ron giving Hermione the silent treatment. There could be trouble in paradise, and Lavender had no problem with the idea of offering Ron a healthy helping of forbidden fruit.

Ron sat down at one of the tables, and Lavender stood up and walked over to a box that contained games, plucking out a deck of cards. She walked over to where Ron was sitting and sat down across from him, taking the cards out of the box and deftly shuffling them. Ron looked over at her.

”Oh. Hi, Lavender,” he said to her bleakly.

She gave him a smile.

”Hi Ron. Feel like being whipped at a game of Snap?” she asked him.

Ron’s brow furrowed.

”Whipped? By who? You?”

”Who else?” she grinned at him.

Ron eyed Lavender. When they used to fool around she had very interesting ways of distracting him from his hand, such as leaning over and letting him get an eyeful of her cleavage. She was wearing a rather low-cut blouse right now, and he wouldn’t mind a little bit of innocent distraction right now, especially when he was feeling so neglected by Hermione. Plus, Lavender was a very good Snap player.

“Deal,” he said.

****************************************

Hermione descended the stairs about forty-five minutes later, ready to bring Snape his memories. She faltered at the bottom of the stairs when she saw Ron and Lavender sitting at a table together, playing cards, the witch laughing and Ron grinning as they played a game of Snap. It was clear the both of them were having fun.

Lavender caught Hermione’s eyes for just a second, then cut back to Ron, not saying anything about his girlfriend watching them. Ron was dealing, and said something that made Lavender laugh, albeit, just a bit too loudly. Harry came down the stairs, first looking at Hermione standing there, then over at Ron.

”Oh, no. Not Lavender,” he thought.

Suddenly, Hermione stalked toward the common room entrance, then through it. There was no doubt about it. That was her “angry” walk. However bad things were before between Ron and Hermione, they had just become infinitely worse.

*****************************************

Snape was reading a book he’d purchased on the NEWTS exams, explaining the requirements of the program. He’d been rather dismayed to find out that Arithmancy had been added to the potions portion of the exam as a written requirement. Snape hadn’t done badly in Arithmancy, garnering an “Acceptable” but he wasn’t familiar with its application as far as potions went.

Damn it. Studying for his NEWTS was going to consist of more than review. The idea of sitting in on potions under Slughorn didn’t thrill him either.

He had gone to meet with the Headmistress, who informed him of his current status at Hogwarts. He was no longer a teacher, but not quite a student. He was a ward. They’d given him severance pay and room and board until the end of the term. That was fine. By then his arrangement with Lucius should be legally viable. The only downside of this was that the Headmistress was going to share this information not only with the staff but with the student body as a whole at breakfast tomorrow. He wasn’t required to be there, and didn’t plan to be. He didn’t want a whole hall full of students staring at him like he was some kind of experiment gone wrong—which he was by the way, but he didn’t need to be reminded of it so blatantly.

A knock sounded on his office door. He was dressed in a black housecoat tied with a sash and black silk boxers underneath. He chose silk because he thought it would feel nice against his skin. It did.

Who could that be? It was quite close to curfew.

He tucked his wand into his pocket, opened the study wall and walked into his office. He approached the door.

”Who is it?” he called, frowning slightly.

”It’s Hermione Granger. I have something for you,” she replied rather angrily.

Snape caught the note of anger in her voice and smirked a little as he opened the door.

”And what do you have for me, Hermione Granger?” he asked her softly.

Hermione wasn’t at all moved by the softness. She was too mad at Ron.

”Your blasted memories. Now, let me in,” she snapped at him, pushing by.

Snape blinked after Hermione as she stormed through the wall opening, then closed and warded the office door and followed her, lowering the wall.

Hermione walked over to the fireplace, unslung her knapsack, reached into it and pulled out a small bowl. She sat it on the small table between the armchairs.

”There’s your memories. I hope you enjoy them,” she snarled at him, closing up her knapsack. “And for your information, I was still going to get them for you. Just because you acted the arse didn’t mean I would go back on my word. You jumped to erroneous conclusions about me, and I don’t appreciate it. As a matter of fact, I don’t appreciate your treatment of me at all. When this happened to you, I helped you the best I could, taking you around because you were lost and wandless and needed someone to help you sort things out. Then, I was kind enough to share my memories of you as a teacher, and what do you do? Insult me, and then to add insult to injury, you imply that something was going on between us to my boyfriend! Arse doesn’t even begin to cover what you are, Severus Snape, and this is it. I’m not helping you any further! You’re on your own!”

Hermione began storming back toward the door when Snape caught her arm.

”Wait,” he hissed at her.

”Let me go!” Hermione yelled at him, tugging her arm.

”Wait. Wait. I’m—I’m sorry,” Snape said softly. “I’m sorry for everything. I’m just not used to—to people helping me. I’m also an acerbic bastard most of the time, conditioning, you know. Your boyfriend, well, I wanted to get back at you for hexing me. I was coming after you when he confronted me, and I just thought it would be a way to get back at you for getting the drop on me. You’re amazingly fast.”

Hermione blinked at him as he let her go.

”Well, that being what it may, it doesn’t excuse your actions, Severus. Ron is furious with me.”

”Why? Didn’t you tell him the truth? It was just a crush on a teacher?”

”Of course I did.”

”So, nothing happened. I don’t see why he’s mad at you.”

Hermione didn’t say anything. She didn’t really understand it either.

Snape studied her. She wasn’t a devastatingly pretty witch, and her hair was like a bottlebrush, but she had nice features and expressive brown eyes.

”Hermione, why do you even have a boyfriend?” he asked her.

Hermione looked shocked.

”What?” she responded.

”I asked you why you have a boyfriend. You obviously don’t have time for one, not studying for eleven NEWTS,” the wizard said. “I read about your curriculum in Hogwarts, a History. Very thorough textbook.”

Hermione reddened.

”Ron and I have known each other for years,” she said, feeling self-conscious.

”All right. But why is he your boyfriend? You obviously don’t need one,” Snape said softly, curious about her now.

”I have a boyfriend because—because I want someone to be close to,” she replied.

”Oh, I see. Closer than a friend, right?”

”That’s right.”

”So, are you and your boyfriend close now? With all your studying?”

Hermione frowned at him.

”Why do you care?” she asked him.

Snape shrugged.

”I’m curious about you, that’s why. I’ve never known anyone, witch or wizard that took on as much as you have. It’s impossible to be perfect in every area, and since your marks are so exemplary, I figure it’s your personal life that has to be suffering. Whatever passes for a personal life. I’m not sure you can even fit that in. Why do you work so hard?”

”I just like it,” she responded. “I like to be challenged. The world of magic is so fascinating in all its aspects, I want to know all I can. Everything about it I can,” she admitted.

”You’re a Muggle-born, aren’t you? Like Lily was,” he asked her softly.

”Yes, and I didn’t know I was a witch until I got my letter,” Hermione replied, relaxing a little.

Unlike Lily, Hermione didn’t have a Snape to tell her she was a witch. It had been a bit of a shock, but explained a lot of things that happened around her. The children at her school used to call her “Stranger Granger” because weird things happened whenever she was picked on, like the toilets and faucets exploding in the girls’ lavatory when she was being bullied by a group of girls, or the teacher’s chair suddenly collapsing after he gave Hermione a dressing down for speaking out of turn. It hadn’t been easy for her. All she had for comfort and company were her books. In a way, she had been a bit like Severus. But she had Harry and Ron as best friends, and they had remained friends. In Ron’s case, they’d become more than friends.

“That explains a lot,” Snape said to her.

Hermione noticed that his hair was cut and clean-looking.

”You get a haircut. It looks nice,” she said to him. “It’s not stringy anymore.”

Snape didn’t respond to her compliment, instead he said, “Hermione, I still need your help. I need to learn applied Arithmancy for my potions NEWTS. They didn’t use it when I went to Hogwarts.”

”You want me to tutor you?” she asked him. She was already tutoring too many students as it was.

Snape frowned a bit.

”I suppose I do,” he said.

”Well, I can’t. I have too many students scheduled in already, besides I only do it on the weekends. You’re going to need more time than that,” she said.

”Why don’t you do it during the week?” he asked.

”Because I do my own work during the week. I have to free myself up for the weekends in order to tutor as many as I do, and make a little social time.”

”Very little, I imagine. Look, all I need to see are some examples as to how it is applied. You are taking Advanced Potions aren’t you?”

”Yes, but like I said, I don’t have time to tutor you.”

”Then, let me study and review with you,” he pressed. “You won’t have to teach me at all. I’ll follow what you’re doing and catch on that way.”

Hermione blinked at him.

”That’s impossible. I do all of my studying in Gryffindor tower,” she said.

Snape looked a bit shifty now.

”Well, you could study here, in my quarters. Look at all the books. I have titles not even in the Hogwarts library. You can use them as much as you like—here. All you have to do is study with me. You know that the NEWTS give more points for original theories and applications, don’t you? I bet you can find something extraordinary in this library, something that will boost your marks even higher. Plus, think of the privacy you’d have here. No one would bother us.”

Snape dangled the bait in front of Hermione’s nose, noting how her eyes lit up as she looked at all the books surrounding them.

”It was said you never allowed anyone to touch your books when you were a teacher,” she said in a low voice.

”I’ll allow you to do more than touch them. You can read them. All you have to do is agree to study with me. That’s it. My entire library is at your disposal. Just yours. No one else’s.”

Hermione’s brown eyes shifted to the wizard uncertainly.

”Please,” he said softly.

Hermione stared at him for a moment.

”I—I’ll have to think about it, Severus,” she said softly. “Now, I need to go.”

Snape walked over to the wall and let it up for her, letting her walk through then following, unwarding the door to his office.

”I’m sure it would be nice to study with someone else, someone just as focused on his work as you are,” he told her. “Someone who would work hard without being under duress. Someone who knows how very important it is to do well, who is just as ambitious as you,” he said to her as she exited the office.

“Yes, that would be refreshing,” Hermione agreed. “But I still have to think about it.”

“You do that. But let me know something soon, so if you decide not to work with me, I can arrange something else with someone else. Maybe a Ravenclaw. They’re smart students too.”

Hermione scowled a little at the idea of someone else having access to those books and possibly beating her out.

”I’ll let you know soon,” she said a bit coldly, turning and walking up the corridor.

Snape smirked after her, then closed the door.

Hermione wouldn’t be able to resist his library.

She’d study with him.

**************************************

Hermione returned to Gryffindor tower to find the common room almost empty. Almost, because Ron and Lavender were still playing Snap. She stopped near the door and Ron looked over at her, his blue eyes rather cold. She’d just come back from Snape, someone else she had time for. He looked back at Lavender.

”One more hand, Lavender,” he said loudly.

Hermione blinked at him, her eyes filling, then she hurried across the common room and up the stairs to her room.

Ron looked after her, as did Lavender, who turned to him and said, “Hermione looks very upset.”

”I don’t care if she is,” Ron said angrily. “Deal.”

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A/N Thanks for reading. Debra had the twins but we can’t find the cord to load the pics on my computer so we have to wait until tomorrow. But I’m a grandma for the 9th and 10th time consecutively. Lol. A one-woman population explosion. :)