„Severus! " 

Hermione's voice shrilled from the bedroom and successfully startled Severus, who was completely enthralled in his book. He shot up and ran to the room adjacent in fear that something had happened to her. 

 "What is it, Hermione?" he shouted just as he entered the room, coming to a sudden halt in the doorway. He stood there and looked at the scene before him, primarily looking up and down her body to see whether she was injured. 

She was standing there in the middle of the bedroom with all varieties of clothing articles scattered about the room. 

"I just don't know what to wear! I don't want to look like a schoolgirl, I want to look like a professor. Everyone will laugh at me! It's maddening!" cried the younger witch out frustratedly gripping at her unruly brown hair. 

Severus just stood there in the hallway, not sure whether to laugh at the scene before him or whether to be angry at the witch for scaring him like that. He decided to just be relieved that this seemed to be her dire problem. As he looked at her again, he realized that he just was not able to stay mad at her, so he went over to her and stood in front of her, towering over her small form. 

"Why don't you wear a simple blouse, your pencil skirt and a blazer, like usual? Throw a robe over, and you are going to be perfectly fine, Professor Granger." 

He smiled down at her before kissing her and turning around to walk away again. 

"Hey, thank you," she shouted after him at which he only smiled and walked on. 

She looked after him like a love sick puppy before she started putting all of her clothing back into the wardrobe. Heaving a deep sigh, even the last article found its way in there and Hermione realized that it was nearly time to go up for dinner again as the students were arriving shortly. She changed into black jeans and a dark blue blouse and walked into the living room. 

"Sev, it's time for us to go to the Great Hall, it's nearly dinner time," said the younger witch, already slipping into a pair of black high heels. 

"I'm coming," answered the man, putting away his book after having placed his bookmark. Then he stood up and put on his usual black dress shoes. He always said that he can't wear trainers with his black trousers and his button down shirts, although he has two pairs of trainers put away in his wardrobe. They exited their chambers, and he quickly placed his wards before they made their way up the many flights of stairs. The nearer they got to the hall, the louder it grew, and so they decided to enter the hall through the small entrance at the side only teachers were permitted to use.

Just like they had suspected, the hall was already filled with students waiting for their dinner to appear in front of them. They entered and took their usual seats, Hermione to Minerva's right and Severus right next to Hermione. Now they sat there, waiting for Minerva to welcome everyone back. 

Hermione let her gaze wander over the four house tables. The Ravenclaw table sparked her interest, one student in particular. The boy was sitting at the far end, all alone, staring at the empty plate before him. 

Something isn't right with that boy. He's cowering more than usual, thought Hermione, but before she could think about the why, Minerva stood and clanked a teaspoon against her goblet to garner everyone's attention. 

"Welcome back to Hogwarts for the last few weeks until school is out for summer. However, I am sure that you will be working hard as exams are coming up. I wish you all good luck. And now, let the feast begin," said the elderly witch dressed in her usual green robes. 

The food appeared on the tables and everyone started eating - everyone except one young Ravenclaw, who thought nobody saw that he moved his left arm with great caution. Despite all his looking around at the other students who might have been watching him, he forgot about the teachers and didn't realize that one soon-to-be professor with light brown eyes was looking curiously at him, trying to figure out what was wrong.

After the meal, Severus and Hermione decided to go back down into the dungeons to relax a bit before they had to go do their rounds. 

On the way, Hermione was rather pensive and Severus asked her about it: "Is everything okay, love? You are so quiet." 

"I don't know, Sev. Do you remember that boy from the Christmas table? The one that never talked?" asked the brown haired witch with concern clearly evident in her voice. 

He nodded, not knowing where she was going.  

"Blake Destler, that's his name. Minerva told me that he quite often frequents her office having got into trouble during class. It was just never enough to inform his parents. He's highly intelligent, on top of his year. I watched him during his transfiguration classes. He always makes mistakes he obviously knows not to do. He's way better than that, but he doesn't want to get the full score. I watched him again during dinner today. He was acting even more peculiar than ever. He did only pick at his food and was even more quiet than usual. Something is definitely not right with that boy." 

Hermione looked worriedly at the man next to her, who seemed to be really contemplating what she just told him. 

"I don't know, love. Maybe he's just like me, doing things preferably on his own and I, too, was quite frequently seen in the headmaster's office at that time. Yes, something seems a bit off, but I wasn't that different when I was his age," said Severus granting her exit to their chambers. 

"That's exactly what I am afraid of, Severus. You do remember the things the marauders and your father did to you, don't you? What if he has similar problems? I, even as only a soon-to-be professor, have to watch out for my students," replied Hermione, taking a seat on their couch. 

"Can we wait until tomorrow with any further investigation? I would like to relax a bit before we have to go out on patrol, searching for students out of bed after curfew." 

The black- haired man looked pleadingly at her, to which she just sighed in defeat.

+++++

Three hours later they were wandering about the castle. So far it had been a quite uneventful night with only one unlucky Hufflepuff, who lost 5 points thanks to Hermione as Severus' punishment would have been a bit more severe. At the moment, they were somewhere up in the castle near the Ravenclaw common rooms. They just passed a lavatory when Hermione suddenly stopped walking and pressed her pointer finger to her lips as if to say that Severus shouldn't make a sound, either. As they both were completely silent, they heard someone mutter some incantations. Cautiously Hermione risked a look inside the room.

A boy was standing in front of a mirror, constantly waving his wand and muttering glamour charms over and over again. 

Hermione turned around and told Severus through her gaze that he should go on alone. 

He nodded in understanding, walking ahead, trying to make as few sounds as possible. 

Hermione turned back and lightly knocked against the threshold to get the student's attention without immediately yelling at them as she knew how Harry, Ron and the others always reacted to teachers who yelled at them. That, plus she didn't know just who that student was, even though she had her suspicion. 

Obviously that student wanted to cover up something and Hermione knew that she had to be very cautious in a situation like this. After a while without any reaction coming from the boy, she knocked again and cleared her throat. 

He whipped around, shocked to see someone standing there. 

Hermione was not at all surprised to discover that the student was indeed Blake Destler as she had already suspected. 

The young Ravenclaw stared at her wide-eyed before stuttering: "Pro-professor. I'm sorry, I lost track of time," and started to slink away out of the door. 

"Stay, Mister Destler, I didn't dismiss you. You will accompany me to my office now, and we will have a chat. Follow me," said Hermione, her voice stern, obviously leaving no room for discussion. Deep down she felt proud that the students already respected her, even though she was not even a professor yet - not to mention barely older than the seventh years. 

That wasn't the case with all teachers at Hogwarts, look at Slughorn - nobody really respected him, some even laughed about him. 

But not Hermione, she wasn't going to get mocked. No one ever disrespected her mentor, Professor McGonagall, and she wanted just that. 

Blake Destler followed her with his head hung low.