Sodalis

Chapter 8

Monday morning, after the tumultuous weekend, saw the extraction of almost 70% of Slytherin House by their parents. But to everyone's surprise, Draco Malfoy had returned. Even more surprising to most were the looks of the Potions Master.

Harry scowled as he ate his breakfast. Dumbledore had made some vague speech about the necessity of strong ties and kind hearts. The few Slytherins that remained were from 'neutral' families. They were obviously sympathizers to Voldemort's cause, but had not gone so far as to join his merry band of murderers.

When Snape had taken his seat at the table after the Headmaster's speech, there had been a rumble of reactions from everyone around him, except Ron who was also scowling. It didn't make him feel any better about the whole Hermione situation to see the girls' approving of the now younger and virile looking professor.

Contrary to what he told Ron, Harry had gone looking for Hermione the night before. But a couple hours of searching and checking the Marauder's Map had only resulted in him somewhere in the charms wing, when she appeared suddenly in her Head Girl dorms near the Gryffindor tower. He had yet to see her this morning.

Suffice to say that Harry was in a bad mood and missed Hermione terribly.

"So what do you know about Snape looking less like he's 60 and more like he's half that?" Ginny whispered conspiratorially as she squeezed her way between him and Ron. "Can you believe that he's 37? I overheard a Ravenclaw say it. I'd thought he was older than dad this whole time! They do say a bad attitude ages you. But, I gotta admit, he looks pretty good. Not drop dead gorgeous or anything, but comparatively, wow."

"Gin!"

"Ginny!"

Both boys looked disgusted while the red headed woman just laughed. "I mean he's always had a dark and mysterious vibe. But now he looks like he's actually slept sometime in this century and eaten his fill. I mean, come on, his hair looks positively...fluffy isn't the right word."

"Touchable!" Lavender dropped into her seat across from them, followed by Parvati.

"I was thinking 'supple' or 'silky'," Parvati chimed in with a teasing look.

"Oh! What about 'velvety'?" Ginny followed up, laughing as Harry and Ron looked more and more aghast.

"No, Gin, 'velvety' would be better for his voice! I mean he may have been a wretch all these years but his voice has always been...effective." Lavender said dreamily as she drank her morning tea.

"You're all mad," Ron said around the pile of eggs he was devouring, "He may look less like he hasn't known peace in 15 years, but I bet he'll be his usual arse self when we see him in class."

"Ron's right," Harry glanced up at the dark haired man, who was listening to something McGonagall was whispering in his ear. "He's still Snape."

While Lavender, Parvati, and Ron continued bantering about the Potions Master, Ginny leaned into Harry's side, "What's going on Harry? Something's happened. The Slytherin's left this morning, Draco is back, and I haven't seen Hermione all weekend."

Before Harry could answer, there was another wave of murmuring from the student body. Something had caught their attention across the room.

"Is that Hermione?" Ginny said, having stood up to get a better look at the new development.

Harry whipped his head around to find Hermione had taken a seat next to Malfoy at the very empty Slytherin table. She said nothing as she filled her plate. Harry was itching to talk to her, but he had no interest in talking to Malfoy, regardless of the boy's change in allegiance.