Escape ↣ Harmione

Chapter Five

The first meal of term after the Christmas break was painful. The peace of the castle was shattered by the hordes of raucous children and adolescents amped up on festivities. They had come streaming in, in droves fresh off the train into the Great Hall for dinner, laughter and greetings rang out in a headache-inducing cacophony.

Professor Snape sat at the staff table and scowled. His gaze ran down all the tables looking for trouble, students plotting pranks or students in any other kind of trouble. Experience had taught him that when it came to boarding school, trouble came in as many varieties as there were colours.

He ran his gaze over the Gryffindor's last. Mostly this was because they were the loudest and because usually, they were the ones that caused the most trouble. It simply took longer to ferret out who was up to something, and who was thinking about being up to something.

He noticed, during his second pass down the table, she wasn't there, neither was Potter. Where the bloody hell Granger and Potter? He looked again and counted quickly, two redheads. So there were no Weasley's missing. He leant over to Minerva, sat between himself and the Headmaster's chair. "Are you expecting to be missing Gryffindor's, Minerva?"

She looked up from her plate. "No," she replied, slightly puzzled. "I've had no notifications that any students weren't returning on time from their holidays. Why?" she ran her gaze down the table. Minerva noticed quicker than he had, but then she knew she was looking for what was missing. "They may be missing dinner to catch up," Minerva offered, there was a trace of doubt in her voice, though.

He hissed at her annoyed. "Don't be asinine Minerva. Those two missing the first night back?"

She looked worried, and he reeled in his annoyance. "I'm not saying that," Severus said snappishly. "There were no suspicions or plots raised at the Manor over Christmas just the usual sycophantic glee because Draco thinks he'll have her."

"He won't?" she asked, surprised.

"Albus has decided her fate."

Minerva looked at him realisation coming to her. Her eyes narrowed, lips thinned. "What is he thinking?!" she hissed.

"I'm hurt, Minerva, truly."

"Don't play the idiot with me, any witch would be lucky to have you, but she's, well she's not a child but..." Minerva trailed off unable to find the right word, and his shoulders slumped slightly in relief that the mother lioness was not angry at him. He nodded his understanding, and her face softened. "I'll find you later. We'll talk, right now I need to locate them."

She rose and left the hall. Severus presumed to track Albus down. Albus had broken his own cardinal rule that all staff must be present for the first meal after a break. Severus hoped the Headmaster hadn't done anything as stupid as putting another cursed ring on, but equally, he hoped whatever was keeping him from the table was annoyingly inconvenient, and if any god loved him, a little bit painful.

Minerva flooed his office as he came in from his rounds. The miscreants had been imbecilic. The hourglasses had fairly rattled as the point deductions had registered thick and fast.

"Come through," he invited. Severus dropped into his chair, summoning his decanter and glasses. As Minerva vanished the ash, he floated a drink over to her. She took it and settled into the other chair, staring into her drink.

"Well?" he prompted.

"Albus confirms that Miss Granger is to marry you, thus satisfying Voldemort's need to spy on Mr Potter and the Order's requirement to protect Miss Granger. That would enable her to keep Mr Potter on track while complying with the law," she said dully, then she threw the drink back.