Never Piss Off a House-Elf

Hermione left Severus in quite a good mood. He'd relaxed visibly by the time she left him, and she knew that something had changed in him, or perhaps in them as a couple. Instead of ordering her away from him, or ordering her to stay in their rooms until the other students arrived. He allowed her to take care of him, and she even got away with using a nickname.


Hermione took her time getting to her room in Gryffindor tower. The only other beings in the castle were Severus, the house-elves, and the assorted ghosts, ghostly beings and skeleton staff, like Poppy Pomfrey, Rubeus Hagrid and a few others. Hermione waved to Nearly Headless Nick, who was speaking with another ghost Hermione didn't know very well.


The staircases shifted a bit more than usual, obviously happy to finally have someone to play with after a couple of months of student-less days. They settled down ad Hermione picked her way to the portrait of the Fat Lady.


"Nifflers love cuddles," Hermione said, grimacing at the password. She'd change it as soon as possible, but she wanted to set things up in her room first, then come up with a suitable and easy to understand password that would annoy the Fat Lady. On top of that, she needed to start coming up with passwords for the prefects' hall, the Head students' hall ~-- which was at the end of the prefects' hall, the prefects' bathroom, and the password for her own room.


"So good to have you back, my dear. I knew you'd be Head Girl. I've said it from the very beginning," the Fat Lady chortled. Hermione smiled and nodded, wanting to get through. Unfortunately, the Fat Lady had other ideas. "I heard about your . . . situation. . . dear girl, and I want you to know that we here at Hogwart's appreciate the sacrifice you're making."


"I don't see it as a sacrifice, Fat Lady. While things are different from how I would have planned them, I am not unhappy with how things have turned out. I would appreciate it if you and your friends would keep that particular opinion to yourselves," Hermione said stiffly. The Fat Lady sniffed and swung open, saying nothing more. Hermione had never been entirely impressed by the Fat Lady, but she hoped the year wouldn't prove too difficult.


It was strange being in the common room without Ron and Harry, or even Ginny and the other girls. The fire crackled to life and Hermione wondered how the hearth knew she was there. Attributing it to house-elves, Hermione moved to head up the stairs to the room she'd shared for years with Lavender and the rest before she remembered she was going the wrong way. Hermione laughed at herself as she headed back into the common room and took the passage to the prefects' hall.


Before she even stopped at her own room, Hermione pulled out a pen and a pad of paper to record the passwords she was setting up. 'Bullyweed feeds the furious' for the prefects hall, 'Vikky is not a star' for the Head students' hall, and 'Sev isn't so bad' for her own room. Hermione was relatively sure they would be hard for others to figure out without help.


Satchel was waiting for Hermione when she got to her room, unpacking a few things and singing a song Hermione didn't know. He smiled and bowed when he saw her.


"Mistress is happy to be home?" Satchel asked, and Hermione nodded. She really did feel most at home at Hogwart's, and Satchel knew that. "Satchel is being here to help the mistress."


"But?" Hermione asked, and Satchel fidgeted. "That's alright, Satchel. Go with Miki and show her 'round, okay?"


Satchel bowed and left. Hermione headed for her desk, looking around and seeing that Satchel had already put up the pictures she'd packed, along with a few she hadn't. Pictures of Hermione on Ron's broom, Ron laughing while Hermione alternately smiled nervously and almost fell off the broom; Ron, Harry and Hermione at the end of their fourth year; Hermione and Viktor's picture from the Yule Ball; copies of group pictures of both iterations of the Order of the Phoenix; a muggle picture of Hermione and her parents that she'd always hated ~-- her hair was bushier than ever, and that day her mum had been angry about that, blaming Hermione, saying she lacked grooming habits.


Hermione grabbed the muggle picture and put it in her desk drawer. Perhaps at some point she'd feel that she could look at it again, but the hurt was still too fresh. She moved to look out her window, but caught sight of a picture she'd never seen before. It must have been taken while and Severus were at Grimmauld Place before Bill and Fleur's wedding.


Hermione and Severus were sitting on a couch. Hermione was leaning forward, her arms resting on Severus's knees while he played idly with her hair. She was speaking quickly to someone who wasn't in the picture, and Severus, while not quite smiling, looked quite content and peaceful. Hermione took that picture off the wall and conjured a nice frame for it, placing it on her desk. She wanted to take it with her, but she was sure that Satchel had another copy of it.


Taking a seat at her desk, Hermione grabbed parchment and an inkwell quill. "Time to take inventory. Accio notes from first year!"


A heavy sack of parchment scrolls flew to Hermione's hand. She began to cull them, writing down the main topics she'd studied under Severus's careful eye. It took hours, but Hermione managed to make it threw her third year of notes, outlining what she'd studied, what she thought she didn't have a handle on and things she thought were interesting or might have missed.


Hermione was beginning to wonder when Satchel would fetch her when she heard a knock at her door. Frowning, Hermione grabbed her wand and approached the door carefully.


"Who's there?" she asked cautiously, wand raised.


"Severus Snape, your fiancée," came the reply.


"Um, what did our arrival at Hogwart's make me feel like?"


"Persephone. And I said I felt like Hades. Let me in, Hermione," Severus grunted from outside the door.


Hermione rolled her eyes and let him in. Her robes had been discarded on her bed, so she was clad in the snug denims and t-shirt she'd put on that morning. Severus put his arms around her waist, tugging her close. Hermione gasped, her eyes widening at the force.


"What if I had been a Deatheater?" Severus hissed, his mouth near her ear.


"Been there, done that, Avada Kedavra-ed the t-shirt," Hermione breathed, squirming against Severus.


Severus kissed her soundly, and when he pulled back from the kiss, Hermione's eyes were glaze and unfocused.


"I have to say, that does become you," Severus said, and Hermione blushed. "I thought you might like to get out of the castle and grab something to eat down in Hogsmead. We rarely ate out earlier this summer, and I get the feeling that we won't be able to much this year, either."


"Alright. Let's just go to the Three Broomsticks, though. I have to be up early tomorrow so I can get through the rest of my notes. The only problem I can see is my sixth year, with Slughorn. Surely he didn't use the same syllabus you would have."


Severus picked Hermione's robes up off her bed and held them up for her to put on.


"Don't worry; Albus has the sixth year syllabi I've used before. Anything Slughorn missed will be covered in what I would have taught. Albus will make sure that you don't miss anything," Severus said, offering Hermione his arm. "There. Satchel and Miki know we're going out, so they've made sure to leave our quarters set up for us."


Hermione used her wand to make sure her window was closed up and set her things to rights, turning out the lights. With a nod, she let Severus lead her out of the room and through the castle. The portraits' eyes followed the couple, but Severus seemed relatively oblivious to the attention they were garnering. Hermione wanted to mention it to him, but on the off-chance he hadn't noticed or wasn't bothered, she held her tongue.


Besides, if it became too large an issue, she could mix up some magical turpentine.