"I don't care how much or with whom you socialize, Professor, so long as they're not actively plotting murder or mayhem. I see no reason why you shouldn't return the favor." Of course, someone like Trimble would think that it was hiding. People with heads the size of small planets often seemed to think, in Severus' experience, that time spent alone was time wasted. It wasn't surprising. To say that he was tired of that line of criticism would have been a severe understatement. He wouldn't address it further.
"Try to be careful. If you encourage them overmuch, you'll end up coping with all of their problems, which, I assure you, become positively nauseating around third year." He suspected the Heads of Gryffindor and Hufflepuff were headed for just such a fate, but it was their business if that was how they wanted to spend their leisure time.