Free

Chapter 29

"Hermione, wake up. It's time for dinner."

Severus kneeled next to the sofa where the young brunette witch had fallen asleep only a few minutes after their arrival some hours earlier, and he hadn't had the heart to wake her up earlier.

The exhausted witch hesitantly opened her eyes to find herself looking into Severus' intensely dark ones. "Oh god, I'm sorry. I should have gone to my room, Severus. I-"

"It's okay. I only woke you up to ask whether you want to come to dinner or not." 

He smiled gently down at her at which she sat up straighter and said: "I'll just put on a pair of shoes and then I'm good to go."

He stood up and straightened his posture before going over to the table where the children were still busy with whatever they were doing. Every time Severus came near them, they hid whatever they were so intently working on and this time was no different.

"Come, you two, it's time for us to find out whether there's ice cream for dessert today."

The two young boys jumped from their seats and quickly stashed all their things away before putting some shoes on and waiting by the door. Severus just laughed while he put his black frock coat and his robes on.

"Harry, Draco. Come with me, please. Severus has some important matters to discuss with Professor McGonagall." addressed Hermione the two children, who seemed to have grown again or at least the brunette witch thought so.

"Can we go with him, please? It is really fun to play and build things with Aunt Minnie!" exclaimed Draco. 

Hermione and Severus really had to hold in their laughter at hearing the two boys talking about their so-called 'Aunt Minnie'.

"No, Draco. I don't think that that's possible at the moment. She really has no time to play with you now. But we can ask her whether she wants to spend time with you two tomorrow?" Hermione looked at her mentor in search of help.

"Boys, remember what I promised you? You promised me something, too. I think it is high time for you to check whether there's going to be ice cream, isn't it?" answered Severus before looking down at them.

"Alright. But can you ask her, Sev?" asked Harry already walking off to the special table for the eighth years with Hermione and Draco. Severus nodded his head yes before walking to his seat at the high table.

++++++

"You know, everyone who doesn't know what's going on would think that there's indeed more between the two of you, Severus." greeted Minerva looking at the younger black-haired wizard.

"What is that supposed to mean?" inquired Severus upon sitting down to the headmistress' right.

"Only that the two of you should try to be a bit less close in public at least until after the trial that no doubt will come, nothing more."

Minerva looked pointedly at him while he reached for his goblet filled with pumpkin juice.

"I honestly don't know what you're talking about, Aunt Minnie," smirked Severus hoping to change the topic of their current discussion. It seemed as though he was quite successful at distracting her as she seemed to choke on thin air.

She croaked out a rather high-pitched: "Wha-what?" still struggling to breathe.

"Harry and Draco asked me to inquire whether you'd be interested in playing and building things with them tomorrow. Initially, they wanted to come and play with their Aunt Minnie this moment and Hermione and I really had to persuade them to go eat dinner." The dark-eyed man smirked before turning to his plate beginning to eat all the while pondering the headmistress' earlier words.

What was he to do about it? He couldn't just ignore her until the trial was over. He, too, was completely sure that there was going to be one in front of the wizengamot on behalf of Rita Skeeter. No, that was not an option. 

But if he were to act the way he was now she'd be in much trouble. He would be, too and he knew that, but he frankly couldn't care less. He had evaded Azkaban long enough, but she had a very promising future ahead of her. Maybe, if he talked to her and told her what Minerva told him... Maybe she'd understand. 

He only hoped there would be no veritaserum involved in their hearing. They'd be more than screwed. If only he'd never kissed her that night. That kiss sparked something in him. Something he hadn't felt in many years and he wasn't quite sure whether he wanted to feel it or not. On the one hand he couldn't deny it - he definitely was attracted to her, but he didn't want to, at least not until their hearing and trial was over. This attraction could ruin everything.

"Severus?" whispered a voice next to him, but he was still deep in thought. The voice tried it again, this time a bit louder. "Severus."

He quickly sat up straighter and turned his head to see who was calling his name.

"Severus, is something the matter? You haven't eaten anything at all so far. Just pushing around your food on your plate won't help you gain any weight and boy, you definitely could use some extra kilos on those ribs." said a rather concerned Minerva looking the younger man up and down.

"No, everything's fine. I'm just not hungry at all." 

He looked around and saw that everyone else was already busy eating cake and pudding which were served as this evening's dessert.

He put away his cutlery and sat back in his chair, letting his gaze wander around the hall. It seemed as though this was going to be a rather long night. First, he'd have to get the children some ice cream and then he'd have to talk to his apprentice about their behaviour and relationship up until the trial was over. After that, he should be doing some lesson planning but right now he wasn't sure whether he'd do that or just teach his students without planning ahead.

Soon everyone was finished eating and the students started to file out of the hall and into their commons, so he followed suit walking out the hall right after Hermione, Draco and Harry.