Disclaimer: I have never owned Harry Potter and sadly never will. Sigh

Midnight Snack

Chapter One Kitchen Encounter

Hermione Granger had a little secret. It was one that, if it was found out, could get her in a great deal of trouble, not to mention embarrass her. She was a midnight snacker. Now, had she been living at home, this would be no big deal, but as she was currently at Hogwart’s School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where a curfew was firmly in place, she sincerely doubted that her stealing off to the kitchens at night for a cup of tea and maybe a treacle tart or two would be approved of by the staff who imposed the curfew. There was also the fact that she had mocked Ron for his eating habits all these years, surely he would have something to say about her bad habit.

If she could quit she would but no matter how she tried she could never get through a full night without traipsing from her room to the kitchen for a little something to eat. She blamed her father; it was his fault, really. He was a snacker as well and every night when she was younger he would wake her up and feed her a bowl of her favorite cereal or some little treat he’d picked up for her at the market so he could have her company at night. If it hadn’t been for the curfew, her little bad habit wouldn’t have been so bad. It was something that helped relieve her stress and that helped her sleep at night, not to mention, this gave her more of a chance to try to convince the poor house elves that they should demand freedom.

Unfortunately only Dobby would come near her now, but the house elves always made sure to leave her a little plate of food and a cup of tea laid out on the counter before they made sure that they solidly ignored her. Truth be told, they secretly liked that she came there every night, it gave them someone to wait upon and that was their favorite thing to do.

Hermione set out for the kitchens again at midnight on one cold December day not realizing that things would be very different the next morning. The only thing she realized was that she quite fancied the eclairs at dinner and couldn’t wait to get her hands on an extra one, or two. After tickling the pear, it never ceased to amuse her that she could tickle a painting, she entered the kitchen to find nothing amiss and sat at her usual spot where, to her utter delight, there was a plate simply filled with the eclairs she’s been longing for. After pouring herself a cup of Earl Grey she began to tuck in.

Severus Snape was restless. He’d tossed and turned in his bed for what felt like hours, long, sleepless hours. It was nights like this when he wished that he was at his manor where he could always walk to his kitchen and sit down to a lovely plate of sinfully delicious treats that Tildy, his favorite house elf, always had prepared for him. He longed for the warm summer nights when he was home and not locked in his room like a tiger in a cage at the zoo. He supposed that he could go to the kitchen, but the house elf Dobby always seemed to want to talk to him whenever he went there in search of a late night snack. Perhaps Dobby knew that he was one of the few wizards that gave his house elves salaries, or perhaps because he remembered him from the numerous times he’d commanded Lucius stop the elf from harming himself any further. Who knew really what went on behind those tennis balls of eyes the elf possessed? Severus finally threw the sheets from his body and decided to go for a cuppa and some of the divine eclairs from dinner.

He made if halfway through his sitting room before he looked down and realized he had no clothes on. Barely biting back a snort of laughter he spun on his heel and marched directly back to his bedroom to pull on a pair of black silk sleep pants that were decorated with large red and pink hearts, an unfortunate gift from the headmaster one Valentine’s Day, a white T-shirt and a black dressing gown. He left his room with his tummy rumbling and a slight smile on his face at the thought that soon he would sate his hunger with some midnight treats.

When he entered the kitchen however, he found that he was not alone. Hermione Granger was sitting at the counter, her riotous hair in braids wearing little more that shorts, a tank top and a blue dressing gown with…little pink duckies?

Hermione turned at the sound of the door opening and gaped in horror at the sight of her feared potions professor in…was that silk jammy bottoms with pink and red hearts? She almost had to laugh at the thought of the professor that regularly made first years burst into tears wearing those feminine bottoms.

“Ms. Granger, what on earth are you doing here and why are you wearing a robe with those ridiculous pink duckies?”

Before she could stop herself she responded. “As if you’re one to talk with those pajama bottoms sir, and I think it is inherently obvious that I am having a bit of a snack. Would you care to join me?”

He looked at her dubiously before taking a step forward. “If I agree to having a snack with you and not punishing you for being out past curfew will you swear to tell no one that I possess such garish pants?”

“Of course sir, but if you don’t like them, why did you buy them?”

“I didn’t, the headmaster gave them to me for St. Valentine’s Day.”

“Ah, and did you tell him they were better suited as an April Fool’s Day present?”

“Something along those lines, although I was much more colorful with my language.”

Hermione couldn’t help but laugh at that. She could just see the outraged look on his face when he received the outrageous gift.

“Éclair, sir?”

“Yes, thanks.”

“Would you like some tea too?”

“Please.”

“How much cream and sugar.”

“None for me thanks.”

She poured him a cup of tea and handed it to him. He savored the flavor of the rich bergamot of Earl Grey tea.

Hermione poured herself another cup and he watched discretely to see how much cream and sugar she took in her tea. She filled her cup two thirds of the way full with tea and filled the rest of it with two cubes of sugar and enough cream to make it a milky caramel color. He stored this information in the back of his mind without knowing why he did so.

They ate together peacefully in silence for a few moments before Hermione asked him about a potions article that has recently been published. They finished the eclairs first then lingered over two pots of tea, discussing new and more practical was to brew a dreamless sleep draught. After the second pot of tea was gone Severus couldn’t find an excuse to stay and bring up the topic of his experiments with a healing potion he was creating to erase the internal damages cause by the Cruciartus curse, so, despite the fact that he would have liked to hear her opinion on his ingredients and method he excused himself.

It had been an odd sort of night and he found as he began to stroll toward the door that he could no longer think of Ms. Granger as a simple show off know-it-all. Hermione found that she could no longer think of Professor Snape as an egotistical, cold hearted bastard. Before he made it all the way to the door she called out to him.

“Professor, theoretically, if I were to be here tomorrow night, would I find you here at the same time?”

“Yes, theoretically speaking, that could be quite possible, if you would agree to never speak of this night and tomorrow night to anyone and invest in a robe not decorated with pretty pink bath toys.”

“Right then. Sleep well sir.”

“You as well.”

A/N: What do you think? REVIEW for me please. They inspire me so!