A Nose By Any Other Name

Usual Disclaimer. Thanks to my reviewers, you make my day :-)


*****
A Nose By Any Other Name.


Chapter 2 - Conversation


Damn-it-all she was gone!
He had been away maybe ten minutes, two to find the lavatory and about five to work out that it didn\'t seem to matter which gender you were anyway. He\'d almost walked out of the Gentlemen\'s after finding a queue of women waiting for the cubicles (that had made the whole urinating experience decidedly more uncomfortable).
It seemed to be the norm though as no-one was even taking a second look but continuing their conversations, that hadn\'t unnerved him too much either, men talking at the urinals with varying other men and women, it just wasn\'t done!

Now he had got back to his seat to find Granger gone and he had no idea where she could possibly be. Viscously quellthe the odd twinge of disappointment he sneered down at the bar until the feeling went away, Dumbledore was not going to be pleased.

It wasn\'t as though he even knew what he was going to do to find out more about her. Approaching her probably wasn\'t going to work and following her seemed to be difficult without some sort of invisibility cloak, he couldn\'t very well saunter behind the bar and ask where she lived.


The sound of glasses clinking against the tables surface drew his attention to the now occupied floor-space next to him, he almost jumped.
The man, whoever he was had assumed his position without Snape even being aware of his approach. He was either getting old or drunk. Gods! but he hoped it was the latter, that could be solved with a quick potion.

Firing one of his most potent glares towards the interloper who blithely ignored it by virtue of not having actually looked at the intolerant wizard, Snape had to resort to verbal communication.

\"That space is not available.\"

A horrible thought wormed it\'s way into Snape\'s somewhat alcohol fogged brain.

\"I am certainly NOT available!\"

Grey eyes stop staring at the dance-floor and turn to him, the man\'s mouth twists with bitter humour.

\"I\'m off men for the moment, don\'t worry. This is not from me.\"

\"Who then?\"

\"If you stay there long enough you may find out.\"

Picking up the old bottle and used glass he wanders back to the top-level bar and round into the staff area.

Discreetly Snape cast a detection charm on the new, rather expensive bottle of wine that had been left with two empty glasses.
Finding nothing suspicious in the bottle he poured himself a glass pondering on who could possibly have sent it to him, certainly no-one who knew him he thought grimly, if they had there certainly would have been something nasty in it.

*****

Hermione approached Snape\'s table with some trepidation. She had to admit, if only to herself, that it was good to see someone from her days as a witch.
That it was Snape sent a thrill of fear through her, what if they had found out? What if they had sent him to get it back?
Mixed with that fear though was the slow-burning lust she\'d felt around him since she was fourteen and old enough to understand what that feeling meant.

Up close he hadn\'t changed much if you discounted the dress and make-up, his hair looked longer but that could be a charm, she should have guessed no amount of make-up would have hidden that nose though. Actually she felt a bit stupid for not recognising him from that feature straight away, it had taken that flash of calf to jog her memory sufficiently.
Gods but he had nice legs!

Okay Hermione, brace yourself, take a deep breath and go talk to him. With courage she hadn\'t used since the graduation battle she stepped up behind him and in a voice she hoped wasn\'t too squeaky spoke to Severus Snape for the first time in two years.

*****

\"I see you started before me.\"

For the second time that night Snape was startled by someone creeping up behind him. Glaring at the bottle of wine he prepared to shoo away whatever meddlesome female (the voice was female wasn\'t it?) had decided he would make a good drinking companion.

He was certainly not expecting it to be Granger, hoping, yes. Expecting, no. Whatever it was that he had been forming to say died before it surfaced and all he could do for several seconds was stare.
Realising that talking to her face rather than the cleavage displayed by the now loosely laced shirt would get him further in this gods-forsaken task, he pulled his eyes up to study her face, it was more effort than he had anticipated.

Perhaps she didn\'t know it was him, that was feasible, after all his own mother wouldn\'t have recognised him. Feeling suddenly deprived of air he raised one eyebrow.

\"Do I know you?\"

Her face fell and for a second she looked lost before resuming a pleasant mask. He felt oddly pained at having caused her that but ever the bastard kept up his quizzical stare.

After a moment she smiled.


*****

He didn\'t remember her. Hermione felt more disappointment that she thought she rightfully should have at that.
At least it meant that he wasn\'t here to bring her back, that thought was intolerable. Of course it could be that he wasn\'t expecting her to have recognised him and he was just being a bastard. If that was the case she could play along. Sticking out her hand muggle-style she smiled.

\"Hermione Granger.\"

She was so sure he would just stare at the offered limb that when long, cool fingers wrapped around he own she thought her heart would stop at the shock of it.

\"Miss Granger, seeing as you have paid for this...\"

He tilts one of the glasses she\'d seen Mandaan bring over to Snape\'s table in his other hand.

\"...it would be rude of me not to ask you to join me.\"

Okay, she bet that was the first time that had ever happened.

\"What do I call you?\"

His lip curls slightly upward.

\"I take it you work here then, you were serving at the bar earlier.\"

Skipping the question Snape? Hermione laughed.

\"The pay\'s good and you get to meet interesting people.\"

\"I\'m sure. You seem to be a bit young to be doing this sort of work.\"

He was staring at her over the top of his glass of wine, the flashing lights from the dance-floor creating pin-points of colour in the obsidian pools of his eyes, she found it almost mesmerising.

\"Umm...it beats being up to my eyeballs in debt.\"

Oh this is weird, she thought small-talk with Snape. Let\'s see how long we can avoid the questions we really want to ask.

*****

It\'s amazing how much information you can get by being vaguely nice to someone Snape thought somewhat smugly.
Most people had no idea he could hold an inane..sorry...polite conversation, he wasn\'t going to jepordise his privacy by letting that bit of information out, he had a reputation to keep after all.
But he HAD actually enjoyed her company, it had been a long time since he\'d welcomed any casual contact with anyone and he figured the wine had had more of an impact on him in that regard. He knew he was a much more pleasant person when drunk.

She spoke with passion about the \'boarding school\' she had been to as a child, about her nds nds and family but never slipped and used any term of phrase that indicated the magical nature of any of it.
Nor did she elaborate on what she had done since leaving school except to say she had been working at the club for about a year.

He hid his irritation at these omissions well and was convinced she had no idea she had been speaking to her ex-potions professor.
In turn Snape allowed small snippets of information about himself to fall into conversation, nothing important, most definitely nothing that could be turned against him.

She had caught him staring at her cleavage fewer times luckily than he had caught himself. when she finally commented on it, he had apologized like a gentleman and she had laughed forgiving him on the condition. If he was going to do it at least try to be subtle because no woman likes to think that\'s all the other person is interested in.
He liked her laugh.

It was surprising to find that time had passed as quickly as it had, he had not noticed the thinning of the crowd until Hermione looked around, then at the watch she pulled from her trouser pocket.

\"Damn! I\'m sorry, we\'re closing soon. You\'ll have to go I\'m afraid.\"

She seemed genuinely regretful and whether it was that or his task that prompted him to ask he did not know.

\"May I walk you home?\"

\"Sorry no. I still have stuff to do here before I go.\"

She looked nervous. He cleared his throat, suddenly equally so.

\"I\'ll see you again?\"

\"I\'m always here.\"

\"Thank you. For the conversation. And the wine.\"

Awkwardly they stood and he held out his hand, reluctant to go. She took it, raising it to her lips, finding it even harder to breathe he stood in a numb state of shock as her lips brushed the back of his fingers. She grinned then with a mischievous look that would have made Puck envious.

\"It was a pleasure Professor.\"

And still with that smile she was gone.

***

tbc


Bindi - Glad you liked it :-)

Anon - Thank you :-)

Aggie - Always had a thing for Nasubionna\'s version of Snape, there is one picture with him in a corset..*drool*

Betz - Yay! Was trying for some humour, makes a change from the darker stuff I normally write.