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A Blue Stocking Thing	By : Jeanette Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Snape/Hermione Views: 2421 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Anti-litigation charm; JK Rowling owns the Harry Potter Universe, to her we bow. Warner Brothers and Various Publishers also have their own rights. We are just playing in their backyard and we promise to clean up when we have finished.

This is in response to the REGENCY CHALLENGE on WIKTT.

Plagiarism is sometimes the sincerest form of flattery, Plot elements identifiable from fics on Whispers, WIKTT, and fanfiction.net are likely to be just that. To those who write them........ Wow.

Longtime no write, PhD keeps me up all night.

Now on with the story:

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Letters: A prelude to meeting

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That evening three quills were put to parchment: one quill belonged to Her Grace; the second to Lord Snape, and the final one owned by Viscount Granger. In, and of themselves, these communications were perfectly ordinary but like a snowflake they came together to set an avalanche through the ton.

The Duchess Gryffindor seated at her oaken desk considered the plight of her favorite nephew; if due care and caution were not taken she foresaw the dilution of the Snape line with the blood of the Dursley�s, a circumstance that was to be avoided at all costs even if it required the Duchess to actively meddle in the affairs of others. A careful perusal of the social calendar for the rest of the London season suggested a suitable way to assist Severus out of his current coil; that the Duchess would benefit from strengthening the families ties to another old line was a mere bagatelle.

Lord Patil, a would be Corinthian and current head of the Patil line suffered extremely from want of talent. The result was his pockets were thoroughly to let yet he had twins to launch this season; normally Her Grace would not have considered the family worth much consideration given Lord Patil�s tendencies towards gambling and the pursuit of opera dancers but the family was old and the girls, whilst not of intelligent and grace sufficient to interest Severus, had proven to be quite intelligent and deserving of a chance to find a suitable match. The task at present was nominally impossible after all they were virtually dowerless but if Her Grace was to take an interest they might attract more notice. Deciding that this course was suitable Her Grace wrote to Lady Patil enquiring if she would object to holding her girl�s comeout ball at Gryffindor house along with that of Miss Granger whom the Duchess had decided to sponor.

Lady Patil on receiving this missive required considerable assistance in regaining consciousness, the use of hartshorn, sulphur and even the judicious application of iced water failed to rouse the worthy lady. It wasn�t until her maid suggested burning the offending letter that Lady Patil roused and then it was in such a rage at the suggestion that the maid in question was seen fleeing the house.

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Lord Snape returned home in something of a foul mood, made all the worse by the fact that he just couldn�t take his frustrations out by springing his team; after all it just was not the done thing to run over innocent, and not so innocent, by-standers. Ron recognizing the look in his master�s eye had been rather worried as they traveled down towards Duke Street; that worry had turned into full-blown fear however when they reached Grosvernor square as the Earl of Wolf rode in from Upper Brook Street.

Wolf, astride a powerful grey, spotted Lord Snape and his carriage before that worthy gentleman spied him, and with mischief in mind Wolf released his control of the grey and allowed it cross directly into Snape�s path. It was only Snape�s exquisite skill with the ribbons prevented injury to man or beast. The look on Snape�s face however suggested that if he had been able to ensure the unfortunate demise of Wolf without harm to his team he would have done so and relished the fact.

Ron, sensible to his master�s temper was frantically trying to hide under the box where Snape had kindly engineered a clever set of hand holds. Hearing Wolf hail his master in an overly jubilant voice suggested to Ron that maybe he�d be safer on the ground, somewhere in Glascow.

�Snape,� Wolf hailed as Snape�s team to was bought heel, �I see you are without the divine Miss Dursley. Did she so quickly perceive your character that the more worthy of us have a chance at her favorThe The tone though polite implied clearly Wolf�s thoughts on Snape�s character; that Snape had similar feelings about Wolf was all that prevented one calling the other out, that and they both enjoyed baiting the other even though such thoughts would never be given voice.

�If you believe yourself more worth Wolf I suggest that you ask the lady herself.� Snape said, �Of course that is assuming your manners have improved.� Snape allowed only the faintest trace of a smirk to cross features as he remembered Wolf�s first attempt at the pretty with Silence Trelawney; Wolf had been barred from Almack�s that year as a result of his effrontery and it was rumored that Silence had in her possession unmentionable articles belonging to the Earl obtained as he attempted to regain her favor.

Wolf, well aware of the incident to which Snape referred was required to remain quiet on the subject; after all a lady�s reputation was at stake though if the truth were told he was more worried about his own reputation. Silence could shred it easily and that would be disastrous for himself and Black.

Seeing the look of discomfort that crossed Wolf�s features and realizing he had the upper hand Lord Snape uncharacteristically bade the seething Earl adieu; Snape had had enough banality for the day just in dealing with Miss Dursley. The added notion that his Great Aunt would likely meddle in his affairs was fair to placing Snape in serious need of a quantity of Brandy, a very large quantity. �I will pass on your regards to Miss Dursley,� Snape said, �when I next see her.� That he thought a snowball would have a better chance in Hades than he had of voluntarily seeing the divine Miss Dursley in the near future was not a fact he passed onto the Earl.

With his temper now well and truly set Severus let his team have their heads and the blazers with the Ton. Lord Snape only bought the mettlesome pair to heel when he heard young Ron casting up his accounts from his hide in the box; chagrined at his lack of courtesy Snape found himself having to assist his tiger to dismount the box and into the Manor, a duty many would consider below the consideration of one such as Snape.

Finally having gotten Ron abed Lord Snape was gratified to discover a letter from Mr. Goodson asking for advice on the uses of Jobberknoll feathers. Mr. Goodson theorized that they could be used in conjunction with the Cornicopia potion to create a true sight potion that might allow the user to see through glamours and other enhancers. The line of thought was so original that Lord Snape found his bed only in the very early hours of the next day and then only because an enterprising house-elf had slipped him a draught of sleep.

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Viscount Granger looked over the missive to his daughter with a smile. That she had not been out much amongst society was rather well known to him and Bellfinch had been keeping a sharp eye on the Dursley House; it appeared that events were moving slowly in the direction he hoped. Of course if Miss Granger had even the slightest inclining of her father�s thoughts she would dig her exquisite heels in and he would never get to see his grand children.

A little push however would not go astray and so he had taken up quill and parchment to inform his stubborn, intelligent and all-together willful daughter that he had word that How the Wormwood turned and other tales of rare ingredient, By A Potion�s Maker had been published earlier than expected. That was all he needed to say as he was certain Hermione would move heaven, earth and the Dursley�s to get her hands on the book.

Still smiling to himself he motioned Bellfinch over; the poorly named eagle promptly offered a leg to the Viscount. �To Miss Granger, Bell.� He said as he tied the ribbon.

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Miss Granger did not spend the evening writing letters. She also managed to avoid devising new and interesting hexes for deployment against Miss Dursley for whom she was developing an almost unnatural desire to try her hand at Gentleman Finch�s art; the advantage she saw was that whilst gentleman had to be sporting there were no rules of conduct for ladies in the arena.

Her fit of pique was only mollified when her father�s eagle arrived. The prospect of reading How the Wormwood turned and other tales of rare ingredient, By A Potion�s Maker sending her into a fit of planning. After all it was unlikely that Mrs. Dursley would agree to her going about town without a chaperone and it was equally unlikely that Mrs. Dursley would agree to chaperone her, or allow one of the maids t so, so, for a trip to a bookshop and publishing house. What amused Miss Granger was the suddent thought that Mrs. Dursley would prefer to escort her to a house of the demi-monde or the fashionable impures before she would escort her to Flourish & Blotts.

TBC JustJeanette

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A Blue Stocking Thing