Snape and the classroom of toddlers// Harry Potter Fanfic

Chapter Fifty-Six - Slughorn's memory

       Hermione's face flushed red. "E-Excuse me?" Pansy simply smirked, not bothering to respond. Ginny's head popped out from behind an arm-chair. "Woah! Hermione, I'm so glad you're back!" She hopped giddily off the seat, "do you remember anything?" Hermione smiled, recovering from Pansy's statement. "Yes, everything. Are you and Luna actually dating? I can't believe it! Has Ron said anything about it?" Hermione Granger wasn't often one to join in on the gossip, but having been three for four months, she was in desperate need of socialization. 

   "Not a word! To busy snogging that Blaise Zabini, I suppose," Ginny said with a giggle. "It's all Blaise's on about," Pansy informed them, her hands on her, in Hermione's eyes, perfect, hips. "Oh really? So it is true! Ron'd never tell ME anything about his 'love-life'." The three girls chatted for about twenty minutes before Harry and Ron emerged. 

   "What're you guys talking about?" Ron asked nosily. Hermione hid the urge to laugh by placing a hand over her lips. "You don't want to know," Pansy insisted matter-of-factly. Ron's eyes slanted with suspicion. "I'll go tell Sever- Snape, sorry- that you're normal again," Pansy said. "Thank you, Pansy," Hermione smiled friendly at her. It seemed the rivalry between the six Slytherins and Gryffindors had been completely pushed from all their minds. 

   "Hermione, I need your help with something," Harry whispered, tugging on her sleeve. "Okay." The two of them moved away from Ginny and Ron, who had started arguing about which of the twins (Fred and George) was funniest - Which was a pointless argument because we all know Dobby is a superior comedian to every other pathetic, mortal being on this plane of existence. 

    Before he asked for his advice, he briefly went over all the memories he'd been shown. 

   "I have to get the proper memory off of Slughorn. But I haven't a clue how to get it," he confided. "Have you tried asking him for it?" Harry rolled his eyes at her.
"Then he'll know what I'm trying to do: he's not just going to give it to me. He refused to give it to Dumbledore!" Hermione thought for a moment, before getting an idea. 

   "Your mother was one of his favourites, right?" She asked - Harry had told her about their whole interaction at the muggle house before the school year even began. "Yes?" He could metaphorically see the cogs going in her brain. "Well use that against him. This may sound a bit cruel, but get him into a vulnerable state - and guilt-trip him into giving it to you. If it helps to stop you-know-who, it's helping avenge your mum." Harry nodded slowly. Albeit he still had no clue how he was going to do it, the advice was useful. 

   "How do I get him into a vulnerable state?" He asked dumbly, after a minute of silence. "You're so thick," Hermione sighed, "I was smarter than you when I was a toddler." 
"I can't deny that." 
"I'm sure you'll figure it out. Say, Ginny-" Hermione pushed past Harry back to Ginny, a cheerful smile on her face. The two girls went back to their low chatter. The boy leaned against a wall, trying to come up with ideas. Vulnerable state? 

     "Already?" Severus asked as Pansy sat on his desk - much to his disapproval. "You've grown too comfortable around me, it's insufferable, to be frank," he then sighed. The teenager had just told him the news, and was now filing her nails with a nail file she'd found in her pocket (which she thought had been a fake one).  

    "It's weird to think it's been four months since that day," Severus reminisced to himself. Pansy nodded, not listening. "Black or green?" She asked absently, "which suits Draco more." The professor raised an eyebrow in confusion. "I don't necessarily care, Parkinson." She slid off the desk, stretching her arms above her head. "Well, I'll take my leave - are you going to Malfoy Manor for the holidays? Draco told me you were." 

    "I'm thinking about it. His father and I are yet to arrange anything, but Lucius has bound to be lonely in that massive house.. all by himself... I want to see him again." His fingers ran instinctively up to the ring, as a frown lay on his pale face. "Draco does too."