As always, I want to thank June for her help with the beta work.
All canon characters belong to JKR.
I still don't know if there will be an lemons here. Some of you might know, I love reading smut, but don't think I can write it very well. I'll give it a go, but I'm not making any promises.
This will be a short story and I don't expect it to be more than five or six chapters. Enjoy.
Chapter 1
Hermione sat in her room, sipping her now not-so-warm tea. It was just under an hour before the New Year was rung in. This would be her second new year as a member of Hogwarts staff. She had come back to Hogwarts just after graduating with honors at Cambridge; she had opted for a Muggle education, and returned to the wizarding world with more knowledge than she knew what to do with. As soon as Albus found out she was back in the wizarding world, he wasted no time in offering her the position of Professor of Muggle Studies. She had spent most of the first year trying to accustom herself to being in a position of authority with her students, but at the same time she wanted them to feel comfortable coming to her with their problems.
It had been fairly easy for her to see herself on an equal footing with her colleagues — all but one, that is. On many occasions she tried to strike up conversations with Professor Snape, but while he was more civil to her now than when she was his student, he kept himself at a distance.
On this particular afternoon, the professors had been sitting around the staff room talking about that evening’s New Years Eve celebration. A small party had been planned for the staff, and of course the entire staff was expected to show up. However, everyone knew that Severus never attended New Years Eve celebrations, and his absence was never taken personally.
Hermione sighed and stood up from the discussion. She decided to go to the library and get a book. She would spend her evening with a good book and a good glass of wine. She knew she would most probably get an earful from Minerva and Albus for missing the celebration, but at this point she didn’t care. She was quite used to spending this holiday alone. She had stopped crying about it long ago. “Who says you have to spend New Years Eve with anyone anyway,” she mumbled as she walked out the staff room door.
Unbeknownst to her, someone a few floors down was thinking the same thing. Severus had never been much of a people person; quite frankly, all he wanted to do was just sit in his living room in front of the fire, with a good book and a glass of brandy. He sighed, stood up and made his way to the library. “I can bring in the new year just fine all by myself. Who needs company anyway,” he mumbled as he walked down the cold dungeon hallway.
~*~*~*~*~
As one would imagine, the library was empty. Hermione walked in as Madam Pince was walking out to the staff party. After making sure Hermione would leave everything warded properly behind her, she made her way to the staff room.
Hermione made her way to the restricted section. She remembered catching a glimpse of a very old volume of the Wizarding Kama Sutra in her seventh year. She had snuck into the library after hours and found the book, only to have to leave it as she heard Filch coming towards her. She now walked up and down several sections and realized she heard footsteps yet again, just as she had that night. She made her way back from where she came from, in order to see who else was in the library. As she came out from behind some large shelves, she caught sight of black robes disappearing behind another set of shelves. She knew very well who it was.
Hermione turned and quietly went about her business in the library. She wanted to find that book again, but the last thing she needed was for Professor Snape to find her looking for a book about sexual positions. She rolled her eyes and shook her head. After almost two years as his colleague, he still insisted on calling her Miss Granger, thus making her feel like a schoolgirl still. This made it near impossible for her to call him anything but Professor Snape, much as she did during her time as a student.
Hermione reached the back of the restricted section and found the book she had so long ago only gotten a glimpse of. As she pulled the book out of its place and began to open it, she noticed a shadow fall over her.
“Miss Granger, I expected you to be at the staff celebration,” he said as he looked down at the book in her hand. His eyebrow arched. “But I see you have more interesting pursuits in mind.”
Hermione looked down and realized she had failed to cover the title of the book. She held it against her chest and began to walk past him. She was mortified that he now thought she was either some pervert, or some lonely woman who couldn’t get a date and had to resort to a book to get her jollies. She just barely got by him when he reached out and put his hand on her shoulder.
“Since it seems that you have no plans on going to the staff party, might I interest you in awaiting the New Year with me?” he drawled.
She blinked several times, wondering if he was trying to draw her into a conversation that would ultimately wind up embarrassing her. She looked into his eyes, which she now noticed to have an almost pleading quality. She silently berated herself. He was probably just as lonely as she was. It didn’t matter that there was a room full of people waiting for them to join their celebration. It is very easy to be lonely even when surrounded by friends.
“I would like that very much, yes.”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
I know it's a bit short, but I've got another chapter and I'll have it up soon.