Special delivery for rayvyn2k, part 2 Title: Muggle Movies (Part 2 of 3) Author: Recipient's LJ Name:rayvyn2k Rating:Parts 1-2 are G, Part 3 is NC-17 Pairing:Hermione/Severus Summary: The summer after the Final Battle, Hermione is struck with an idea while living with her best friends. The trio return to Hogwarts for a little bit of normalcy with their own form of Disney magic. Word Count: 2,208 in this part Warnings/Content: OOCness, a bit of fluff, semi-cracky Disclaimer:I do not own Harry Potter or any of it's characters. I do not own any of the Disney characters. No profit is being made from this story. Author's Notes: Since I know nothing about Disneyland Paris, but I liked the idea of working Disney magic in, I went with that prompt. I hope you like what I came up with! Thanks to K for the quick beta job!
Hermione glanced around the Great Hall, observing her handiwork. She had pushed the long House tables up against one wall, where the elves would place refreshments, and she had transfigured the benches into squishy chairs in lines, much like the muggle cinema she attended with her parents during summer hols. She'd just sat down at the staff table to catch her breath when the Headmistress, who was to be the chaperone at this inaugural showing, came through the double doors, the school's Pensieve in her arms. She set it down lightly on the wooden table as she sat next to her pupil with a smile.
"I don't suppose you'll tell me what we are to be watching?" Minerva asked, for what had to be the hundredth time that week. She had been burning with curiosity ever since Hermione had approached her with the idea, and no less so now. She hoped that everything went off without a hitch, as these "Muggle Movie Nights", as the Golden Trio had taken to referring to their events, had the potential to create House unity. That goal was something her predecessor had been striving toward for years, and she had taken up the mantle with the position.
Hermione simply grinned secretively in response and tapped her nose with her index finger. "Sorry, Headmistress, you'll find out the same time as everyone else."
With that, students started trickling into the hall in twos and threes, helping themselves to treats from the table and finding their seats. After roughly forty-five minutes, Hermione glanced at her watch and cleared her throat as she cast a Sonorous charm on herself and stood in front of her chair. She was incredibly happy to see that every chair in the room was full, and several of the smaller children were sitting on the floor in the front. There was still quite a bit of house division, as was evident by large groups of the same color ties or scarves gathered together. Hermione gave herself a mental shrug and started her speech; she couldn't make people get along.
"Thank you all for coming tonight. Harry, Ron, Ginny and I had a hard time deciding which movie to show you tonight, but I think most of you will recognize the story we picked out. And for those of you that don't, see me afterwards and I can direct you to the correct book in the library. Enjoy the film, everyone!" Without further ado, Hermione conjured a large white screen and hung it on the wall in front of her fellow students, then place her wand to her temple to pull out a rather long string of memory. She had practiced pulling memories out of her head in Professor McGonagall's office, and was surprised at how pain-free the process was. It simply tickled, and one had to concentrate to get an entire memory.
The audience held their collective breath as they watched Hermione scrunch up her face and pull out an extremely long string of memory and slowly place it in the Pensieve. It seemed as if everyone let out their breath simultaneously as she flicked her wand and the memory fell into the swirling mist. Grinning happily, Hermione made a complicated motion with her wand, causing it to suck up the mist like a vacuum cleaner, then pointed it at the screen with the same complicated pattern, while thinking projectus maxima as loudly as she could. She almost danced with glee as the particles flew out of her wand and hit the screen, causing it light up with beginning scenes of the film. As Hermione made herself comfortable in her chair, with her feet propped up on the staff table and a handful of chocolate biscuits, the flames in the sconces were magically lowered as the film began.
As the film progressed, Hermione glanced over the crowd, and couldn’t help but grin at the wide-eyed looks on some of the first and second years' faces. If she had to criticise anything, it was that everyone had to get up and make their way to the other side of the hall if they wanted more refreshments, missing parts of the story. As the Genie began to sing her favorite song from the movie, she caught Harry's eye across the room where he sat next to Ginny and Ron and smiled when he waved and gave her two thumbs up before he put his arm around his girlfriend's shoulders. Ron's eyes had yet to wander from the screen as he absentmindedly sipped from his butterbeer bottle. As much as she loved him, it was in a familial way, and she knew Ron would never be more to her than a sweet, sometimes annoying younger brother.
Hermione turned her attention back to the movie, smiling as she watched McGonagall's reactions out of the corner of her eye. The older lady was engrossed in the story, leaning forward over the table, resting her head on one hand. If Hermione was surprised by the casual gesture, she kept it to herself as she watched the characters float about on a magic carpet and sing. She sighed gently, wondering if she would ever meet a prince of her own. She was slightly amused, however, by the numerous feminine sighs she could hear coming from the audience.
As the show came to an end, Hermione noticed that several of the younger students had at some point drifted off to sleep. She would have to find some way of accommodating those who weren't used to staying up so late before the next showing. These few slight bumps considered, Hermione considered the event to be a success, as did the Headmistress if her smile and Dumbledore-esque twinkle were anything to go by.
However, as it was already November and the winter break was approaching, there wouldn't be another chance to have an event until close to spring break. The following Monday morning, Hermione visited the Headmistress in her office as they both went over their respective calendars and agreed that the next film would be shown the Friday evening before Easter. As Hermione left the office, Minerva shared a knowing look with Albus' portrait, as they both knew that she always spent the Easter holiday with her niece in London. In fact, almost all of the staff went home to visit their extended families in the spring, save one.
SS
Severus pinched the bridge of his nose as he racked his brain, trying to come up with a valid excuse, any excuse, really, to avoid what the Headmistress was asking of him. Minerva patiently awaited his reply, the slightly smug look on her face proving that no matter what he came up with, she would argue him down. Releasing the cartilage that had started to ache at the prospect of spending his evening with a large group of dunderheads, he nodded slightly to show his acquiescence.
Minerva released the tension in her shoulders in relief. She had expected more of an argument from him, and knew he would eventually come up with some sort of compensation at her expense. She spoke as she straightened her traveling cloak.
"Thank you, Severus. I promised my niece I would spend Easter holiday with her, and Miss Granger would have been so disappointed if she couldn't have her gathering for the younger students, especially after waiting so long."
Severus, who was now in the process of pouring himself a finger of firewhiskey, nodded shortly without looking up. As Professor McGonagall shut the door to Snape's quarters, she smiled when she heard him softly reply,
"I shall keep my word, Minerva."
HG
The following Friday, Hermione made her way to the kitchen yet again to arrange snacks for her fellow students; the elves were more than happy to accommodate her. She thanked them and made her way to the Great Hall to clear out the House tables. The Potions master fell into step with her in the main foyer.
"What brings you down here this evening, Professor?" Hermione asked the dour looking man, who was now more smirking than scowling at her.
"The Headmistress has asked that I take over her chaperoning duties this evening," he replied shortly. "Although I was told the festivities weren't to start until dinner-time."
Only Snape can make the idea of a party sound nasty, Hermione thought to herself with a slight grimace. She pasted a smile on her face as they fell into step; her mother had always told her she would catch more flies with honey than vinegar.
"The movie is set during dinner, but I need to do a bit of rearranging first. I don't suppose you would be willing to help?" Hermione asked in her cheeriest voice. This only seemed to irritate her professor more, but he maintained his steady composure.
SS
Severus resisted the urge to scowl and turn back toward his private quarters, but a small voice in the back of his head (the one he used to believe to be his conscience and sounded a lot like Albus) reminded him that he'd given his word to Minerva. If he were honest with himself, spending the evening with Miss Granger was not an unappealing venture. He would have preferred it be the two of them, and gladly given up the company of every dunderheaded child on Hogwarts' roster. For Hermione's little gatherings had gone over wonderfully, even in Slytherin house, where the first-years had been constantly trying to guess what the next "moving story" was to be.
Having been raised in a Muggle household, Severus was familiar with cinematics, although he was grown before he saw his first film on a big screen. Between their sixth and seventh year, he and Lily had called a truce just long enough to go see a box office smash by the name of Star Wars. Since that time, his Potions work, then teaching, had eaten up most of his time. He'd seen a few films since, during his summer holidays in a desperate attempt to leave his depressing abode in Spinner's End, but nothing like what his students were so eagerly looking forward to. The name of the movie was something the Golden Trio always kept close to the vest, so, if he had to, Severus had to admit he was curious.
HG
Hermione was a bit surprised that Snape had agreed to chaperone this evening, but she tried not to let it show. She wondered briefly why he was so willing to help out this week, but chalked it up to the Headmistress blackmailing him into it. Hermione didn't exactly mind, she'd always had a small measure of respect for the man helping her banish furniture, and lately she'd found that she was giving into girlish fantasies involving his voice and fathomless eyes. Shaking off the slight feeling of embarrassment, she made herself comfortable at the head table where she had again placed the school's pensieve.
She watched, eyes bright as the students starting wandering in, the Prefects helping the younger students find seats close the front of the hall, where she'd conjured the large white screen. Every time someone would get settled into their respective bean bag chair, a house elf would apparate next to them with two bowls: one full of popcorn and the other full of their favorite sweet, and a bottle of pumpkin juice. Hermione grinned and waved when she saw Harry, Ron and Ginny choose seats in the back of the hall, each accepting their own popcorn and drinks from Kreacher.
Her grin got even wider when she saw the Professor roll his eyes and sigh. If she had any nerve, she thought wryly to herself, she might accuse him of jealousy. Deciding she wanted to avoid a thorough hexing, she instead pointed her wand at her temple and started pulling out the long strand of memory. Having seen this particular film dozens of times, she brought it easily to the forefront of her mind. She repeated the same process as the previous showing and the torches were again magically lowered as the film began.
Severus found himself unable to look away from the screen. He thanked whatever Deity was out there that they students seemed just encompassed in the tale. He found himself identifying with the villain, and he wondered briefly if Potter found himself doing the same with the young king. After all, who wouldn't want to run away from their responsibilities?
Severus snuck a peek at where Potter was sitting with the Weasley girl during the scene of Simba speaking with his deceased father, and was surprised to find tear-tracks running down the young man’s cheeks, glinting silver in the low torchlight. A small stab of what might be considered pity stabbed him in the chest. Feeling as if he were intruding upon a private moment, he turned toward his companion, to find her smiling sadly at him. She reached under the table and briefly squeezed his hand before releasing it. The gesture should have been considered impertinent, but he found it oddly comforting.