Bells jingled as Hermy pushed open the door to the grocery store, and dumped an armful of books on the counter. “Bob? Maggie?” she called out.
“Back here, dear!”
She grabbed a book from the top of the pile and made her way to the back of the shop, where she found Maggie bending over some boxes and punching into a calculator. She immediately put her book down on a shelf, and began helping Maggie taking inventory.
“Did you go to the library? Was Larry there?” asked the older woman slyly, glancing at her companion from the corner of her eyes. Hermy had given her much delight since she and her husband had taken the young woman in two years ago.
Hermy threw back her head and laughed. “No. Well, yes, I did go to the library but Larry wasn’t there. I suspect the librarian shooed him out, what with his notorious reputation and all that.” Grinning, she perched on the edge of a big box and faced Maggie. “Funny thing is, more of the ‘bad boys’ have been hanging around the library lately. That’s what Mrs. Stewart said, anyway.”
“Well, Mrs. Stewart ought to know. She’s been the librarian for the past ten years, and God knows she was always complaining that not enough of the young lads spend their time there. Now she’s complaining about those lads crowding the library behind you!”
Shaking her head, Hermy giggled. “Please, I beg you not to hold me responsible for the ‘fan group’ that’s been following me around. I don’t even know why! I’ve certainly never had this problem when I was at Hog-” She stopped talking abruptly, and her expression changed from merriment to pain.
Maggie sighed softly. It had always been like this, ever since Hermy was well enough to joke. Every time she would start to unconsciously talk about her past, she would stop abruptly and her face would be screwed up as if fighting back an intense pain. And then she would change the subject.
“Did these boxes arrive this morning?”
Maggie smiled to herself. “Yes, around two hours ago. Why don’t you go and sit by the counter. You can start on the dozens of books you’ve managed to get Mrs. Stewart to let you check out,” she teased. Hermy looked sternly at her.
“Dozens? You know nothing on earth would make Mrs. Stewart agree to let anybody do that!” Her expression then softened. “But I think I’ll take you up on your offer. I’ve been dying to read ‘Pride and Prejudice’. I’ve just never gotten around to it before.” She jotted a last number onto her clipboard and put the calculator down. She made her way to the counter and flopped down on the counter seat, reaching out for her books across the counter. Spinning around in her seat for a while, she got herself comfortable for a good, long read.
*
“Severus?”
He nearly dropped the phial in his hand, but having been trained to control his reflexes, the phial of vital ingredient remained intact.
“Minerva?” he inquired a bit snappily at the headmistress’ head in the fireplace. He was sure there wasn’t another staff meeting this week, so he couldn’t have missed any. And it’s still the Summer Holidays, so he couldn’t have taken too much house points from a Gryffindor. “What is it?”
“Would you mind coming up for a bit? I have something for you,” said the head, and disappeared, no doubt taking for granted that Severus would follow.
Severus bit back a groan, and placed the phial back into the holder. Pinching a bit of powder from a small bowl near the fireplace, he threw it into the fire and stepped into the roaring green flames with a “Headmistress’ Office!”
Minerva MacGonagall leaned back into her chair and surveyed the surly wizard critically. “You’ve been cooped up too long,” she said, her eyes lingering on a trace of yellowish stain on his fingers, and then on the pale skin of his arms exposed by the sleeves folded to above his elbows. She snapped her gaze back to Severus’s face that was already furrowed into a scowl.
“I don’t have much of a social life, in case you’ve forgotten. People aren’t too keen to be buddies with the murderer of Albus Dumbledore,” he snapped bitterly.
The headmistress sighed in frustration. “Really Severus, everyone knows you’re innocent! You’re the only one punishing yourself.” Seeing that the younger wizard had opened his mouth for another sarcastic retort, no doubt, she hastily grabbed a piece of parchment from her desk and thrust it into Severus’s hands. “Here. It’s the list of Muggleborns for this year. Make sure you get around every single one of them by August.”
Severus scanned the list in his hands. “A bit extended this year, isn’t it?” he commented.
“Well, yes. I think it’s more of a blessing, since we’ve lost so many people in the war and I was worried for a while we might not get enough students for four houses anymore.” Minerva’s eyes clouded over at the thought of the war.
Eager to avoid mentions of the war and emotional reactions to it, he nodded sharply and said, “Very well, I’d better start this afternoon and get this over with as soon as possible. Anything else?”
“No, that’s it I think. Just don’t forget to give them the instructions on how to get to the platform. Last year was a disaster!” She shuddered at the memory.
He frowned in annoyance. “Last year wasn’t my fault, you know. I…”
“Yes Severus, I know.” Minerva cut in. “Well, run along now.”
Acknowledging the dismissal, he gave a last curt nod before Flooing back to his rooms.
A hundred and thirty-two Muggleborns this year, he thought grimly, and it’s all up to me to convince the parents that I’m not some mad con man trying to fool them with silly card tricks and kidnap their children to sell as slaves. Oh joy.
After a quick shower and a change of clothes later, he stood in front of the mirror to tie his hair back with a piece of black ribbon. Checking to make sure his Muggle outfit of black suit over a white shirt was acceptable, he grabbed his list, wand and the necessary papers and shoved them into a small briefcase he would be carrying. With a last glance at the mirror, he hurried put of the castle to Apparate to his first destination: Sheffield.
*
“Get out of here! Wizard, indeed!”
Severus swallowed down the impatience he felt at the ignorance of Muggles. Really, they just didn’t know any better, he thought soothingly to himself.
“Mr. Hamilton, wizards are normal people who possess magical powers that are usually inherited from earlier generations. It appears that you have an uncle who is a wizard, and your wife’s great grandmother was a witch. Both you and your wife are carriers of the magical gene and it should come as no surprise that you have produced a son with magical abilities,” finished Severus calmly.
Mr. Hamilton, however, was not so easily convinced.
“Now look here mister,” he said fiercely, “I don’t know what you’re on about, but-”
“Mr. Hamilton, it appears you need a little... demonstration to convince you,” interrupted Severus. He flicked his wand, and with a strangled yell, the big burly man was hung upside down from the ceiling, his untucked shirt falling over his face.
“Let me down THIS INSTANT!” he shouted, struggling around to cover his bulging stomach from public view. Severus obliged, and the next instant the man was once again sprawled on the armchair.
Mr. Hamilton shoved his dark hair away from his red face, looking furious. “How dare you come into my home and… and… hang me from the ceiling like that!” he bellowed.
Severus looked levelly into the other man’s eyes as he spoke. “I apologize. However, I deemed that drastic action was necessary to prove my point.”
The other man snorted. “Prove your point? Oh please, your little magic tricks aren’t going to fool me!”
With a heavy sigh, Severus resigned himself to a very, very long afternoon.
*
Hermy had a lovely afternoon of reading behind the counter. Business was always pretty slow in the afternoon, and she was only disturbed by a few kids running into the shop and attacking the candy corner. After sorting the kids out and mopping up the muddy footprints they left behind, Hermy returned behind the counter, picked up her book and propped her feet up on a low shelf under the counter to finish the last few chapters of Pride and Prejudice.
*
Severus Snape was in a Very Bad Mood. He had been through the first five names on his list, and nearly all of them had been as ready to believe him as his students would believe him to start giving out candies. Thank goodness the last one wasn’t so difficult, he thought as he walked towards a shadowy corner of the village of his latest student to Disapparate back to Hogwarts.
He was tired, he was thirsty and he was extremely moody. He needed to get back to Hogwarts and soak in his tub, before taking a nice long nap.
*
Hermy shut the book in her hands with a contented sigh. She had always thought that Pride and Prejudice was a little over-rated, but now that she had finally read it, she’d have to agree with the high praises and great reviews it had been getting. She especially loved the way Jane Austen addressed to the issues of her time; of gender roles, of education and of marriage.
Setting the book back on the pile she’d checked out from the library, she glanced at her watch and saw that it was nearly seven o’clock. She had read right through the afternoon! Typical me, she thought with a wry grin.
“Maggie? I’m going home now. Are you going to need help with anything?”
Maggie’s voice floated through the open door of the store room. “That’s alright, dear. Bob’s going to be here soon anyway. You just go home and enjoy those books!”
Hermy grinned affectionately. She got out from the counter and heaved the pile of books into her arms, shifting it in both arms to adjust the weight. She made her way carefully to the door; pushing it open with her shoulder, and stepped out of the little shop. The walk to the house wasn’t far, thank goodness, and she had already made the same journey countless times the past two years.
She hadn’t counted on the fact that a man very lost in thought was walking right across her path. A tall, dark-haired man, who was in a very, very bad mood.
*
When Severus heard the footsteps of the other person, it was already too late. His gasp of surprise never left his throat, and the next thing he knew, he was sprawled on the ground, half covered in books, and a knee pressing painfully into his stomach.
And it didn’t help that his head was hurting like hell.
*
“Oh no! I am so sorry!”
Hermy extracted herself off the ground, hearing the man groan as she unconsciously dug her knees harder into the man’s stomach to push herself to a sitting position. She frantically began to pick up the scattered books, brushing the dust and dirt off the pages. She could feel the man’s eyes on her, but she was too busy with her task, and too embarrassed at her carelessness to look up. She heard the man moving to his feet.
“Do watch where you’re going, miss,” he snarled.
Hermy stopped cold, her arms still outstretched to reach for a book on her left. She knew that snarl. She remembered the last time she heard it, in the middle of the battlefield, weak but firm, ordering her to get some rest.
“Go, now, you stupid little girl! You won’t be any help to any of us in this condition!”
“No, Professor. I’ll go when I’m ready.”
“And when is that? When you’re laying half-dead on the ground and had to be spelled home?”
She gave a strangled sob at the memory, and whispered, “Professor Snape?”