Headmaster's Secret

I Do Not

Severus sneered at the idea that Albus was insinuating. He was in his office thinking out loud as to why he seemed to care so much of Hermione lately. She had made the student teacher program to help the teachers, which it was, but it was making her overwhelmed. She had so much to do and she wanted to do each task perfectly. While her teaching three days helped him immensely, it seemed to have an adverse effect on her. 

The students were doing better in her class, however, all the homework she had to grade, plus her own homework to do and studying for NEWTS. He didn't know what to do to help her not go mad from the pressure. She even was helping him with his speech for the ceremony at Halloween. 

"Albus, that is utterly preposterous." He went back to reading the proposal that Kingsley and the board were working on. 

Albus chuckled in his portrait. "Severus, my boy. The longer you deny it, the worse it will be." 

Severus rolled his eyes. He was about to respond to the man when the door to his office opened. Hermione peeked in. He immediately brightened up and gave a small smile to her. "Hermione," he greeted. 

She smiled back to him. "Professor Snape," she returned the pleasant greeting. She was coming to help out with his speech again. "I'm here to help with your speech again."

"You know this is your weekend," Severus stated, setting his paper down. "You deserve to enjoy it."

She ignored him and sat down in the chair beside him. He had brought the chair around to sit beside him so they didn't have to pass the paper back and forth across the desk. He looked at her with his eyebrow raised curiously. "What's wrong?" 

She shook her head. "Nothing," she said, getting out her copy of the speech and reading it over. 

"Hermione, I'm not working on anything until you tell me what's going on," Severus said harshly. She sighed and sat the paper down. 

Looking a little upset, she stared at her hands as she explained, "Ron was wanting to meet at Hogsmeade today." 

"What's wrong with that? He's your boyfriend, isn't he?" Severus conjured up a tea set again and poured two cups. Hermione took one cup and sighed heavily. Her brow furrowed with worry. 

Severus waited patiently while she gathered her thoughts. "I'm worried he will try to propose." 

He spit his tea back into his cup and started coughing in surprise. He took a deep breath and sat his cup down. "You and Weasley have only been dating for what, a few months?" 

She nodded. "He wants to start a family right away. I tried to tell him before I came back that I wanted to wait a while before I started a family, but he didn't seem to hear me. He wants me to become his mother."

"Perhaps it's best to give it a break," Severus suggested. He'd be lying if he didn't feel a little excited at the thought that Hermione would be a free woman if she agreed. "However, you never know what he wants." 

Hermione sighed. "I suppose, but I'm afraid to hurt his feelings."

Severus chuckled. "You never were afraid to hurt his feelings before. What's changed so much?" 

She thought about it for a moment. "I'm not sure," she said, thinking hard. She nodded to herself then stood up. "You know, you're right. I'm going to floo him to meet me at the Three Broomsticks." She smiled at him and left the office. 

Severus watched her go with a slight pain in his heart. He was starting to realize over the last few days that they've spent time together that he enjoyed her being around. It was a little frightening. "I don't have feelings for Miss Granger," Severus stated, staring at the closed door. 

"Of course you don't, Severus," Albus said with a hint of humor to his voice. 

The next week went by with Hermione barely seeing him. She was avoiding him. He was a little worried about what Weasley wanted to talk to her about. She was doing the bare minimum in the program and every night at dinner, she looked upset. He was getting really worried about her grades too. She was still doing a great job teaching potions, but she wasn't doing a good job in her other classes. 

It was time to speak to her about it. He had asked a fourth year to find her and send her to his office. The fourth year had whimpered in fear until he realized that he wasn't the one that Severus wanted to speak to. He was now pacing the office waiting for her to show up. He hoped she would show up without much trouble. She was a loose cannon at times. 

When someone knocked on the door, Severus turned to face the door. "Yes?" 

She came in, a little worried, and by the looks of it, a lot angry. "Yes, Professor?" She stood by the door, hands on her hips. 

The door was still open. He swallowed his anger and motioned for her to sit in her chair. She was the only one that was allowed to sit in the chair by his now. "Close the door," he told her, going to sit in his own chair. 

As he sat and waited for her to obey, he saw defiance in her eyes. He hoped she wouldn't. He didn't want to give her detention on top of all the other things she had to do. Finally, she sighed and closed the door, then went to her seat. She avoided his eyes as he watched her. "What happened at the meeting with Weasley?"

She sniffed angrily. "He wanted to talk about my last letter to him. He was upset that I was talking about you too much." 

"Talking about me too much?" Severus repeated questioningly. 

"I mentioned 'one to many times' your name and how nice you've been to me since the program started. He called me a teachers pet." She sighed angrily. 

Severus narrowed his eyes. "It sounds as if he's jealous," Severus commented, trying to hold back a grin. 

"I told him that, and he called me thick and left," she explained. 

She got up and started pacing the room angrily. Severus watched her work off some of the angry energy for a moment before getting up and going to stand in front of her as she turned around. She stopped and looked up at him, tears in her eyes. He wiped a tear from her eyes and held her cheek in his hand. "He's the thick one if he leaves you in tears." His voice was a little more than a whisper. 

She leaned into his touch and closed her eyes. They stayed that way for a moment, until someone else knocked at the door. They sprang apart and Hermione went to stand by Albus' painting, gathering herself. 

Severus stood up straighter and put on a scowl. "What?"

It was Minerva. She had the papers from the other classes that were participating in the program. She looked from Hermione staring at Albus painting to Severus' scowl. There was something that she couldn't put her finger on, but she didn't want to know anymore. She was on a three day weekend as soon as she gave these papers to Severus. 

"Thank you, Minerva," Severus said in an overly professional voice. 

Minerva looked at Albus' painting and he nodded to her. She smiled and nodded to Severus, closing the door as she left. She didn't want to know at this point in time.