Rewrite the past

Chapter 38

Severus and Hermione spent a few more minutes in silence, her head resting on his left shoulder, both of them gazing out into nature. They watched as the grey of the city faded more and more into green scenery. 

"Severus?"

"Hmm?"

"Shouldn't we also go out and at least have a look at how the prefects are handling everything?" she asked in a rather monotonous voice, her eyes still fixed on the forest outside. 

"They would have come and asked for help, wouldn't they?" he retorted just as pensively. 

After a short pause, she said: "Well, yeah, but it is our job now. Maybe being seen on duty is not such a bad thing."

Severus didn't answer that, at least not with comprehensible words - he muttered something under his breath while slowly sitting up, careful not to throw her off his shoulder harshly.  

With a satisfied smirk, Hermione fished for her wand in her bag, and then the both of them left their compartment in favour of seeming busy. 

It did not take them too long to reach the third carriage, simply because nothing was obstructing their way. So far they had only seen older students, possibly fifth to seventh years, who were comparing test results from their last school year, eating tons of sweets from the trolley or playing games. On their way, they had met three prefects, who were chatting to friends on their way of patrolling the carriage. 

As they were nearing the end of the carriage, they heard loud laughter and chatter. Severus just threw Hermione a smug look before barging ahead, sliding open the door of the very last compartment quite forcefully, at which all noise ceased.

"Severus!" Hermione exclaimed surprised, before catching up to him.

"Aha!" Severus said with a smug smile on his face, standing in the doorway, "Aren't you supposed to be helping lost first years or rule breaking fourth years?"

Silence.

Then laughter. Loud laughter, booming laughter even.

"I was about to think you missed the train, Sev," smirked Florence, who sat next to Maggie, opposite Lily and Remus. "But then Remus and Lily told me that the school made you Head Boy, and I am not even sorry for laughing!" she jested, making everyone laugh again. 

"You seem quite envious, Florence, but I doubt that Dumbledore even considered someone as troublesome as you are." Severus joked back, to which she feigned being shot in the heart with an arrow.

"Severus, you wound me. What did I ever do to deserve this austere assessment?"

"Let me make a list, I shall have it ready for you in about 4 to 5 business days and as soon as I get my hands on enough parchment paper and ink."

Severus and Hermione sat down in their friends' compartment, laughing and joking some more, before continuing their stroll without any further incidents. 

At a quarter to 1, they arrived at compartment C, about to enter the Slug-Club. 

Severus knocked on the compartment door, which had its windows covered by beige blinds with the school logo on them. 

Not long after, the door was rather forcefully opened by Professor Slughorn himself. "Ah, I knew that I could count on both of you. Come on in, come on in!"

Already taken aback by this jovial attitude and loud voice, Severus let Hermione pass before following her inside, a slightly painful look on his face. 

Inside, they found themselves in a rather spacious compartment with Horace Slughorn sitting near the door and only three other students sitting to their left, while the plates and food were already sitting on the table. Everyone nodded cordially as Severus and Hermione walked further inside and took the empty seats to their right. As soon as everyone was seated, the elderly professor stood up again, a glass of what they suspected to be butterbeer, and started to do what he liked best: talk. 

It surprised Severus, just how many words this man could use just to say literally nothing. The food, however, had been good, which helped matters slightly. Luckily enough, they could excuse themselves rather early on to go patrol the train again. 

"How does he do it?" he asked as soon as they were on their way. 

"How does he do what exactly?"

"Talk. So. Much. I mean, he talked the whole time, while also eating, drinking and asking us questions. Still, he managed to talk all the time."

"I have no idea, Severus. But it's good to have some sort of contacts. You never know when this might come in handy."

Severus just shrugged at that, scowling slightly. Of course, he knew that she was right, but he would never say that - and she knew that. She had stopped expecting him to, so that on the very rare occasions he did, it would mean even more. 

 Before long, they reached their friends' compartment again and joined them, playing games and eating as many sweets as they could. Just about an hour before they were expected to reach Hogsmeade, they had to leave their friends again and make their way to the front of the train to get changed and instruct the prefects on their duties until and upon arrival.

 "It's crazy to think that this will be our final year here, isn't it?" said Hermione as she straightened out his tie after they had put their robes on. 

"It does feel familiar and different at the same time. Maybe surreal is a good word to describe this? I don't know, but this is all slightly weird to me and quite hard to put into words." he replied, looking out the window into the darkening sky.

"That's true. Are you ready?"

"To leave the train? Sure. To leave school and be on my own? Absolutely not."

"Good thing that you won't be alone then. You've got me."

"That's true," he smiled, stealing a kiss from her lips before turning to the compartment door.