Confidential Assignment

Chapter Two

Neville waited until Professor Snape had disappeared out the door before turning to Hermione. The words on his lips died as the expression on her face penetrated.

\"No. For Merlin\'s sake, Hermione, No!\"

Coming out of her daydream, Hermione\'s eyes took in the horrified look on Neville\'s face.

\"I don\'t know what you\'re talking about,\" she said easily as she moved to retrieve her belongings from under the front counter.

\"It\'s Snape - that\'s what I\'m talking about and you bloody well know it!\" Neville said while following her.

\"You\'re over-reacting. All he did was kiss me.\"

\"You enjoyed it!\" Neville said, pointing an accusing finger at her.

Looking up in exasperation at him, Hermione put her hands on her hips.

\"So what if I did? Is it a crime now for a woman to say she likes to be kissed?\"

\"Oh Gods, you admitted it. Hermione, it\'s Snape!\"

Removing her hands from her hips, Hermione leaned forward and placed one bent elbow on the counter and rested her chin in her hand. The other hand curled around the elbow while a bemused smile slipped over her mouth. \"I know who it was and he does know how to kiss, I\'ll give him that,\" she murmured while staring in the general direction of the front door, eyes slightly unfocused.

\"You\'ve got to snap out of it or Ron and Harry will kill me for sure,\" Neville said with a panicked expression on his face.

Turning a puzzled look in his direction, Hermione stood up and said, \"You\'re not making any sense at all. What are you talking about?\"

\"Er - um - nothing. Nothing. Thanks for helping me out today, I really appreciate it,\" Neville said hastily backing toward the office.

\"Oh, no you don\'t,\" Hermione advised following him. \"Exactly why would they kill you? If it has something to do with me, I have a right to know.\"

Cornered, Neville gave up the fight quickly and bowed his head in defeat.

\"They made me promise to tell them if you - expressed any interest in anyone new while they were gone and to be sure and try to sabotage any - unsuitable dates you might make,\" Neville admitted cringing slightly.

\"They did what! Why those - I can\'t believe it and I can\'t believe you agreed to such an idiotic plan,\" she said throwing her hands up in defeat before returning to the front, grabbing her bag and heading out the door. \"Half the wizarding world is inhabited by men and I manage to get the only male friends in existence that adhere to the old double standard.\"


Several hours later, Hermione left the dress shop very pleased with the alterations done on the dress she and Minerva had picked out a month before.

Bloody interfering little devils. If they had their way, I would have ended up in my grave a virgin and having never been kissed. Luckily for me, neither would apply any more, were the thoughts running through her mind as she shoved the door open. I bet that\'s why Alex and Matthew both stopped owling me. I wondered at the time why Harry wanted to know what Matthew did for a living. I\'ll never make that mistake again.

Knowing that both Harry and Ron would be at the anniversary celebration tomorrow, Hermione had taken the rest of the afternoon and gone shopping for a few necessary items required under the dress. She paused in front of a store window and studied her hair, still encased in the twist she used to control the bushy mass. Pulling out the clasp, she sighed in resignation as it uncoiled and fluffed out around her face.

Femme fatale I\'m not, but I should be able to make two irritating wizards uncomfortable for awhile and maybe snag another kiss or two out of the grouch in the dungeon at the same time.


Meanwhile, the grouch in the dungeon was in Albus\' office, glowering at the headmaster and not at all pleased with the newest duty that had been requested. The ultimate sacrifice it wasn\'t, but he would be heartily glad when all the foolishness was over and done with.

\"Albus, you clearly told me that I wouldn\'t have to do anything but attend and now you\'re trying to drag me into the middle of the whole bloody mess,\" Severus growled as he walked back and forth in front of the man he would dearly love to hex at the moment.

\"I didn\'t realize that bestowing the honor of asking you to stand up for me would be such a burden,\" Albus replied with a small smile.

Stopping short in his pacing, Severus leveled at look at the headmaster that would have made his students cower in terror. \"If it\'s such a blasted honor why have you waited until almost the last possible moment to ask me?\"

\"Perhaps - because I knew that if I asked you before, something would have come up between then and now?\" The smirk on Albus\' face shocked Severus for just a moment. The crafty old man had done it to him again.

\"If I choose to refuse?\" Snape asked, one brow shooting up while he folded his arms.

\"I might have to cancel the whole ceremony,\" Albus said with a calculating look on his face, \"and then Minerva would be very, very upset. I don\'t imagine even the gift of the roses would help at that point and we both know how - erratic her class scheduling gets when she\'s upset.\"

Visions of endless early morning classes with Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors raced through Severus\' mind and he barely contained a shudder at the implied threat to his sanity. Unable to fully concede defeat, he slipped gracefully into the chair in front of the desk.

\"What duties would this position require me to fulfill?\"

Leaning forward on the desk, Albus began playing with a small crystal paperweight as he expounded on what would be expected of Severus. The items listed were boring enough that Severus quit paying full attention until something penetrated and brought him up short.

\"Repeat that last one,\" he snapped out, drowning out the last duty Albus had named.

\"The part where you give me Minerva\'s new wedding band?\" Albus asked, innocence shining on his face.

\"No, the one prior.\"

\"Ah, I see, so it really wasn\'t the last one. Let me think for a moment,\" Albus said while looking up to the ceiling. \"Was it the part where you stand on my right?\"

\"I\'m sure you are well aware of which duty I\'m questioning and no amount of stalling will make it any more palatable.\"

\"It\'s only for the ceremony and the reception afterward, Severus,\" Albus advised.

\"You expect me to escort and entertain Minerva\'s attendant throughout the reception as well?\" he questioned, for once almost at a loss.

\"Would you have attended that part of the celebration otherwise?\"

Gods, I really abhor that twinkle he gets in his eyes when he knows he\'s scored a point, Severus thought to himself before standing.

\"I had planned on attending,\" he informed the headmaster, not adding that it was going to be the briefest visit possible. \"If that covers everything I\'ll take your leave to make sure my dress robes are in order for tomorrow.\"

\"That\'s a very good idea, my boy. I\'ll be sure and tell Minerva how pleased you are at the request,\" Albus told him as he headed for the door. \"Don\'t you even want to know whom you\'ll be escorting?\"

Turning at the door, Severus looked back at Albus and said, \"I assumed it would be one of the female staff members.\"

\"Not quite,\" Albus said, pursing his lips for a moment. \"Minerva felt it might cause problems if one was chosen over the others.\"

A vague feeling of doom came over Severus as he narrowed his eyes and waited for the proverbial axe to fall on his neck.

\"Therefore she was greatly pleased when one of her former - proteges agreed to stand up for her,\" Albus advised carefully.

Not wanting to cave at this point, Severus continued to wait, his jaw flexing as the images of various former students went through his mind and came to a halt when one flashed in his mind and refused to leave.

\"Granger,\" he ground out between clenched teeth. \"It\'s Granger isn\'t it?\"

\"Why, yes,\" Albus said with a delighted smile on his face. \"However did you guess?\"

\"Discounting the fact that the correspondence between the two of them has never been greater, it\'s the only answer possible to put the finishing touches on what will surely be the worst evening of my entire life.\"

\"Now, Severus. I think you\'re exaggerating quite a great deal there aren\'t you? An evening of good food, an adequate wine and a lovely lady to dance with. I would hardly call that torture.\"

\"Dance? You expect me to dance with her as well?\"

\"Of course. We can\'t expect her to sit at a table all night and merely talk. I\'m sure there will be other partners after the first few turns around the dance floor.\"

Good gods, she\'ll expect me to talk to her as well, Snape barely contained the groan that wanted to fly out of his throat at the thought. Although, after the interlude at the flower shop earlier today - I seem to recall she was rather speechless. Yes, that might work. She\'ll be too embarrassed to talk.

Quite pleased at the image of an embarrassed and quiet Granger, Severus merely nodded his head as if pained and continued out the door of the headmaster\'s office.

\"Albus?\" Minerva asked, looking up as he entered their quarters. She put aside the book she\'d been reading and folded her hands in her lap. \"Did you get Severus to agree yet?\"

\"Yes, my love,\" he answered, bending over to give her a light kiss on the forehead.

\"How badly did he fight?\"

Sitting down in the chair next to hers, he smiled gently and said, \"Not as much as we\'d feared. I only had to use the threat of the class scheduling.\"

\"Good,\" she replied, picking up the book again. \"We can save the others for later if we need to.\"

\"Is Hermione aware yet who will be escorting her?\" Albus asked with a frown.

\"No, do I look totally stupid? She\'ll find out right before the ceremony that your dear friend wasn\'t able to make it. What name was it we used again? I\'m sure she\'ll ask,\" Minerva stated pursing her lips in thought.

\"Stephen? No, that\'s not quite right. It was Stephonos wasn\'t it?\"

\"Yes, yes it was,\" Minerva beamed at him, patting his hand.

Chuckling gently, Albus shook his head, \"I still say you were sorted into the wrong house, my dear.\"

A/N I am so sorry that this has taken me so very long to update. I lost my way in the Hermione/Snape world for a while, but hopefully I\'ve found it again.