"Shall I accompany you back to your cabin?" Severus asked after a moment of rather awkward silence on his part. "Since it's on my way and all." He was used to dealing with relative strangers by simply ignoring them, for the most part. And the way he normally dealt with young people around her age, once the conversation was over, was to give them a detention or take House points.
But then again, it wasn't every day that he met someone whom he suspected might belong in the 'Minerva' category. And he hadn't the proper motivation to be brusque with her, or even terse, and certainly not rude. He actually quite liked her -- so far, at least -- and not only because she reminded him a little bit of Lily.