Beneath the Surface

Beneath the Surface

Chapter the Fourthe: Spark of Suspicion
Parte the Seconde



Hermione had chased after her overzealously hungry friends all the way to the Great Hall, where all of the school\'s meals were taken. Harry and Ron slid easily into their seats at the Gryffindor table and picked up their knives and forks, ready for their dinner to appear (as meals tended to do in Hogwarts), while Hermione slumped breathlessly into her place across from them. She put a small hand to her head, which was now spinning from her unaccustomed exertion and the lack of sustenance to support the energy it took out of her. She inhaled deeply and closed her eyes, willing her body to regain its equilibrium.
Harry and Ron had been studying her with consternation, and it seemed as if they had been about to say something to her when the meal suddenly appeared before them. Totally consumed in the loading up of their plates and the swift dispatching of the food into their gullets, they had forgotten her. She let out a silent breath in relief.

It always made her uncomfortable when others noticed something amiss with her or inquired of her health; it felt as though they had noticed that she was not doing the best job of being in control of her life, which, she felt, was now her responsibility at Hogwarts, and that prospect both frightened and unnerved her. Almost more so than the thought of failing herself and losing the control she so coveted.

Suddenly she felt a prickling of her senses which fully alerted her to her surroundings. She straightened immediately and grew wary. It felt as though someone was watching her.

~*~

‘Ah, at last the ‘Golden Trio\' have arrived,\' Professor Severus Snape thought sourly to himself, wrinkling his nose in distaste at the moniker. ‘Now we can all commence with the stuffing of our faces; for we simply *couldn\'t* rightly begin anything without the privilege of their esteemed presence!\' He observed them bitterly, with a grudging curiosity.

‘There they go, filling themselves already.... My goodness, the food\'s not going anywhere!\' He sneered, thoroughly disgusted with the eating habits of Potter and Weasley, and turned his attention to their female counterpart.

The sneer slowly slid from his features as he regarded the girl, who seemed to be quite troubled. Her tiny hand was clutched in that unwieldy mane of hers, her eyelids pressed together tightly. He raised a curious eyebrow ever so slightly.

‘What could be the matter with that little thing?\' He wondered. Then his expression darkened in a manner very familiar to him, the eyebrow slowly lowering to meet the other in a calculating frown.

‘Ah,\' he thought disdainfully. ‘She must be all in a panic over her upcoming detention with ‘the greasy bat from hell\', or whatever it is they\'ve now taken to calling me. Well, I\'ll make sure that her worst nightmares are realized toni--\'

\"Severus!\" a jovial voice called out, disturbing his mind from its sinister musings. \"I see you\'ve arrived early this evening. Regained our appetite, have we?\"

Snape smirked in recognition, but his dour expression was pierced by a certain warmth and amusement. He didn\'t need to look up to know who was addressing him.

\"No, Headmaster. I\'m merely attempting to get the evening meal over with so that I can be at my unmerciful best at my detention tonight without being distracted by hunger.\"

\"You have detention, Severus? You must have done something truly awful to merit such a fate, my boy. I wasn\'t aware that a Professor could be assigned detention!\" Albus Dumbledore chided merrily.

\"And I wasn\'t aware that a wizard of your caliber could go senile,\" Snape said dryly, not responding to the Headmaster\'s strange sense of humor. Dumbledore chuckled.

\"So, who\'s the lucky student that has incurred your considerable wrath this time?\"

\"Try three,\" Snape droned. \"A rather famous three, at that.\"

\"They can\'t get anything past you, can they?\" Dumbledore conceded in mock seriousness.

\"No, they most certainly can not!\" Severus agreed, his expression distant. Then he shut his eyes ruefully and sighed, having accidentally stumbled into one of the Headmaster\'s little character traps. It was his way of gently mocking the people he cared for. Albus laughed softly to himself in satisfaction.

\"Well, Severus, I must say you do have quite a job ahead of you tonight if all three of them will be in your charge,\" the Headmaster manipulated the subject cheerfully.

\"Mmm,\" Severus murmured absently, his concentration obviously elsewhere.

Dumbledore followed his gaze and found that it rested on the three students in question. He saw that Messrs. Potter and Weasley were packing their food away happily, but little Miss Granger sd tod to be barely picking ar mer meal, and forcing herself to do so at that.

It was most likely she who had caught Severus\' eye, as he had little to no interest in the other two, save for their destruction. And of the three, he was sure that Severus would find her the most tolerable.

The Headmaster\'s heart warmed at the chance, however slim, that Severus had found it in his hardened compassion to care for the unusual little child, if only a very little. He had bestowed his rare kindnesses on only a few students over the years that he\'d worked at Hogwarts, and they had been rather brooding and somber children, much like he had been during his time as a student here.

And though Miss Granger\'s personality was quite different than Severu the they had certain key similarities: they were both fiercely intelligent, largely misunderstood by the people around them, and rather solitary in nature. It had been so long since Severus had reached out to any of the students, or even spoken a kind word to them, and Albus hoped that he would recognize something of himself in Miss Granger and possibly make a connection with her.

The Headmaster had noticed the trouble that constantly brewed in the girl\'s head, and knew that he was not the right person to speak to her about it. Perhaps a friendship could be forged between the unlikely two. Dumbledore smiled at Severus, who was still lost in thought.

\"Severus? What are you looking at?\" he asked softly.

\"W-what?\" Snape was startled back into the conversation. \"N-nothing, Albus. I was just planning tonight\'s detention. You know I cannot abide lateness.\"

\"Yes, I know, Severus,\" Albus said. Then, he leaned a bit closer to Snape and favored him witch a sagacious smile. \"It\'s a good thing you chose Miss Granger tonight, rather than the other two.\"

\"Indeed,\" Snape replied softly, again preoccupied with surveying the Hall. Then a suspicious gleam lit his black eyes, and they narrowed as they glanced at the Headmaster from their corners. ‘Had I told him that I assigned Miss Granger to my dungeons for her detention?\'

But he said nothing, not wishing to arouse the Headmaster\'s curiosity or mocking wit.

~*~

‘Is someone watching me? Perhaps I\'m just too tired...,\' Hermione mused as her eyes darted surreptitiously around the Great Hall. They rested on each table, scanning the people sitting there; no one was returning her gaze.

She sighed, aggravated that she was getting paranoid due to lack of sleep. She rested her head on the heel of her left hand, the position giving her a good view of the Head Table. Her eyes immediately flicked to Professor Snape\'s spot, as if they had been pulled there magnetically. They widened as she realized why.

The Professor was unabashedly studying her, his eyes shadowed as if deep in thought. As her gaze locked with his, though, he immediately narrowed his black eyes and sneered at her, raising an eyebrow as if she had been the one observing him.

She turned away, suddenly ashamed. A dizzying swell of excitement tingled her tired limbs. Why was the one Professor who seemed to hate her so suddenly fascinated with her?

‘Wait a minute...,\' she frowned, accustomed realization dawning, her body relaxing once again. ‘*He* was the one looking at *me*. Why should I be the first to turn away?\' She looked back at the Head Table tentatively, lest he be looking her way again. He was not.

Professor Snape was staring down at his meal with disgust, his arms crossed tightly to his chest as the Headmaster attempted to chat him up. He had seemed so intently focused on her just a moment ago, and now it seemed something as trivial as his food captivated his attention. A wave of flustered envy washed over her, but she quickly shook it off and replaced it with anger.

‘Oh, I know what he\'s doing. He\'s trying to prepare me for tonight\'s detention. My, but that\'s cold!\' she seethed mentally. ‘Testing me, they\'re always testing me! I wonder if I\'ll ever be able to just relax.\'

\"What\'sh the matter, ‘Mione?\" Ron asked through his mouthful of food. \"You sheem upshet abut shomefing.\"

\"What?\" Hermione focused perplexed eyes on him. Harry laughed, covering his mouth in an attempt to hold in his own food. He swallowed hard and took a swig of pumpkin juice.

\"He asked what was the matter with you,\" Harry\'s gaze suddenly became serious in the sincere, pratirating way that only he could pull off. \"I was wondering myself. Is everything all right with you?\"

‘Well, he seems genuinely concerned. What should I say? I honestly don\'t know myself why I\'m feeling so odd lately. But I really don\'t want to worry them, especially Harry. He\'s got enough worries of his own...\'. Hermione smiled at them in a reassuring manner.

\"Oh, I\'m just very tired, Harry. Couldn\'t sleep last night, you know.\"

\"Oh?\" Harry persisted, taking another drink from his mug. \"Why not?\"

\"Oh, I don\'t know. Just restless, I suppose. Don\'t you ever get like that?\"

\"Yeah,\" Ron put in. \"I hate it when that happens. You just can\'t relax and all you can think about is gir--\" He suddenly snapped his mouth shut, a cherry-red blush spreading over his face. \"I mean, er...I dunno...\"

Hermione and Harry looked at each other, the amused shock of innocent childhood written all over their faces. Upon meeting eyes, they couldn\'t hold it in any longer. They both burst out laughing as Ron continued to mumble excuses to no one in particular. After several moments, their laughter became infectious, and even Ron began to giggle along with them at his own expense, realizing just what a fool he\'d inadvertently made of himself.

Their collective whoops and guffaws drew the momentary attention of their Table and that of some of those around them. But they could not stop at this point, the damage had been done. Hermione could already tell that this would be one of the times she would remember fondly when reminiscing about her friendship with Harry Potter and Ron Weasley.

Eventually their barely-contained hysterics reached the ears of those seated at the High Table, most notably those of Headmaster Dumbledore and Professor Snape. While Dumbledore regarded them with an air of sentimentality and amusement, Snape\'s expression barely belied one of extreme confusion and disgusted shock. Indeed, one had never been able to merge two such differing emotions as successfully as he. He looked positively aghast with fury.

\"What *are* those little prats convulsing about?\" His voice positively dripped wrevurevulsion.

\"Oh, you know children,\" Dumbledore chuckled. \"Could be just about anything.\"

\"Indeed,\" Snape muttered sullenly. As he watched Miss Granger and her two cohorts cut it up gleefully, he was struck by a feeling of intense loss as it sluiced through his being. He shuddered almost violently, and tried to cover up the sensation by rising from his seat and smoothly adjusting his robes.

\"Well,\" he pronounced to Albus. \"I do believe that it is time tllecllect my charge, however reluctant she may be to depart her impulsive compatriots and their ill-conceived hysterics.\"

\"Hmm,\" the Headmaster intoned, turning from the children to regard Severus thoughtfully. \"Severus, lad, may I ask why you insist on saying the simplest things in the most complicated manner?\"

Snape let out a surprised scoffing sound, nearly tripping over his robes at the unexpected jibe from Albus. Crossing his arms over his chest defensively and raising himself to his full height, he eyed Dumbledore spitefully before swiftly pivoting on his heel and striding purposefully down the steps of the High Table and toward that of Gryffindor.

His robes swept about him ominously as he came to an abrupt stop behind Potter and Weasley. The two boys, evidently blithely unaware of his presence, continued to giggle insipidly to each other as they cracked boyishly tame lewd jokes.

Hermione was the first to see Snape, as she was sitting so she faced his direction. Her laughter having begun to calm down lonforefore the boys\', a half-hearted chuckle died in her throat the moment the Professor came into view. She gulped audibly, and looked up at Snape with wide eyes that barely contained her fear.
He smiled, perversely satisfied by her discomfort.

Potter and Weasley seemed to finally realize that their friend was no longer chortling inanely with them, and, upon following her timid gaze, turned to see Snape glaring down at them. Their laughter ceased immediately. Snape\'s lip quirked in a sneer before he spoke.

\"As pitiable as it is for me to break up this happy little interlude of yours, I\'m afraid I must collect Miss Granger for her detention,\" he said silkily, fixing Hermione with a spurious smile.

She positively withered under his gaze, but hurried to get her things together. Her mostly-full plate disappeared as she rose from her seat and hastened to her Professor\'s side. He looked down at her indignantly until she lowered her head, and then promptly swivelled to stride gracefully through the Great Hall. He did not slow his gait, though he knew she was struggling to keep up with him, the rapid tapping of her shoes and audible rustling of her robes alerting him to the fact. He at last halted when they arrived at the massive doors to the Hall and elegantly stretched out a foreboding, black-clad arm, allowing her to precede him out of the room.

Harry and Ron watched her with sorrowful expressions as she disappeared from their sight with an expansive sweeping of Professor Snape\'s seemingly endless, black robes.