Day 7: An Evening Stroll

It had been a long and tiresome day from both timelines for Hermione. From the ever increasing injustice that was that women's propaganda driven farce of a class to the sheer audacity of certain pranksters—from her time and this one—Hermione Granger needed some time away from Hogwarts.

Thus, when her last class of the evening had finished she had gathered her belongings and instead of venturing into the hallowed halls of her usual sanctuary—the library—she had gone to the little unofficial dirt running path that lazily serpentine around the lake and wood. (The one that the Hufflepuff Quidditch team regularly used every dawn for warm-ups.)

The days were already shortening and the low hanging sun bathed the grounds in warm oranges and yellows. A truly welcoming sight that reminded Hermione of the weekend strolls through Oxford's grounds her family would cherish around this season the most.

Midway through her first lap she heard soft, sure footsteps behind her—someone had joined her.

"Mind if I join you?"

"Do as you like, Severus." Hermione answered, turning around, a smile playing at her lips. "I honestly would like the company, though."

Severus nodded, falling in step beside Hermione as he consciously reined in his customarily long strides to match Hermione's more conservative ones.

Severus silently contemplated why he had felt the pull to join Hermione in her solitary walk—it was alarmingly close to how he used to rush from his class over to Lily's classroom just in the hopes of walking her to her next one before running to meet his. (Something he had not done since the end of his second year.)

He had been on his way to the library but as he left Greenhouse 6 he had spotted Granger starting her walk and his feet had automatically brought him here.

Why?

That was a troubling question.

"It's lovely out here, at this time of day."

Severus hummed his agreement unsure what to say to that without sounding like a simpleton.

Hermione smiled slightly and silently reminded herself that Severus wasn't one for inane babbling—in either decade.

After the two days she just had, she welcomed the quiet companionship that Severus offered freely. She could think and just be around him without having to be the Brains or the Muggleborn friend of The Boy-Who-Lived or the one that always followed the rules no matter how unfair they were.

To Severus Snape she was just Hermione Granger.

Closing her eyes, she embraced the gradual intensifying wind wrapping around her and between them, as she finished the long loop of path with her Severus—her friend.

Fini