A/N Hello, here is my new story. Forget everything about the end of DH (such as the death of SS, the marriage of HG and RW, etc...) and you will arrive at the beginning of my story which starts roughly five years after the war.

For those of you who are reading my other WIPs, I am afraid that they will be in progress for a long time as I've totally lost the inspiration for them.

Disclaimers: nothing to me, everything to JKR

Edit 9.11.2010: The story is beta read from now on. And for that I send a HUGE thanks to permanentwhiplash!

Bonne lecture!

Chapter One

Today had been a very busy day. Indeed with the end of the year drawing near, the already annoying dunderheads became more annoying than before. And why was that, you might ask? It could only be because it was that terrible one week period called exam week. And during this stressful period it was not rare to find a couple of girls bursting into tears at the end of a class or boys getting more nervous than before – probably because they just realized that they had not been studying enough during the year.

If it was a very tiring period for the students, it was certainly not a joyful one for the staff as well. Especially regarding a particular Potions Master.

Severus Snape despised this accursed period of the year. He did not like seeing all these dunderheads going crazy over exams that were not that difficult if you had taken the time to do your homework properly. In addition, it was even more annoying for him because as Head of the Slytherin House and Deputy Headmaster, he was forced to welcome any distressed students in his office to listen to their worries.

Therefore, that is with great pleasure that Severus Snape always welcomed the evenings. And tonight even more as he was in charge of the patrols in the castle – an occasion to withdraw points from every houses (including his own) because of undisciplined students.

Therefore patrolling in the middle of the night during this period was not unusual for the Potions Master of Hogwarts. No, what was more unusual was what he heard this night in particular.

As he was patrolling near the hospital wing in the search of lovers hiding in some random dark corners snogging, he was suddenly startled by a voice. A voice which he had not expected to hear within these walls. A voice which he only rarely heard, and to be quite honest, rarely wanted to hear. As he came closer to the infirmary, the voice became clearer and clearer until the point where there was no doubt about the owner of the voice.

It was a voice which he usually tried to avoid. Why would he avoid such a voice, you might wonder…Because it was usually one accompanied with trouble, or more precisely two pains in the arse – one green-eyed, the other red-headed.

Indeed, from what he was hearing it seemed that Hermione Granger – the brightest witch of her age, as some would call her, and Severus Snape was not one of these – was at this instant in the infirmary.

As he approached the doors of the infirmary even closer, the voice –or rather voices, as Granger was not talking to herself- became more distinct and the little doubt he had that maybe he was mistaken or was hallucinating disappeared completely. Even more when he heard her laughing. That particular sound that he was forced to endure during each gathering the Order organised to celebrate their victory over the Dark Lord. A sound that he despised above all things as it was the perfect proof of her ignorance of the world and its reality.

Then he started to wonder why she was here. Was she now a part of the teaching staff and he did not know about it? No. As Deputy Headmaster, he would have known of such an addition to the Hogwarts staff. Moreover, there was no vacancy at the moment, though Professor Binns was giving more signs than ever of becoming aware of his condition.

So why was she here? A courtesy visit to Poppy or Minerva? At nearly two in the morning? No, that seemed quite impossible, even for Hermione Granger.

Suddenly, his thoughts were interrupted by the sound of footsteps heading to the doors. Not inclined to being discovered while eavesdropping on someone he had no appreciation for, he moved quickly and silently to the next corridor, feeling oddly like a student avoiding a patrolling teacher.

Here, hiding in the shadows, he tried for a moment to figure out what exactly was the reason of her presence in the castle. But after a couple of minutes he remembered his duties and resumed his patrols. Granger was not worth occupying his thoughts tonight. He would ask Minerva tomorrow; there was no need to waste a nice night dwelling on unpleasant thoughts.

On his way back to his dungeon rooms, he had the privilege-Minerva would disagree most vehemently on this-of catching not one, but two Gryffindor-Ravenclaw couples and deducting fourty points from each house. Feeling considerably more cheerful and proud of himself, he went to bed with thoughts of Granger completely cleared from his mind.

But it would not be for long.

The next morning he went to the Great Hall to take his breakfast as usual. Because it was still rather early, he did not expect to see anyone yet except for a couple of students and professors.

So he settled at his usual place around the Head table and started to put some bacon and eggs in his plate. It was only as he was swallowing his first gulp of coffee that he noticed something different about the Great Hall.

After all his years as a spy it did not take him long to discover the origin of this difference. There were more seats at the Head Table. Curious.

He tried to remember if Minerva had told him about some people coming to visit Hogwarts but could not remember anything. Maybe he should listen more carefully when speaking to the Headmistress. As a former spy you would have expected that he did not forget any single word of a conversation – especially if it dealt with important pieces of information – but now that the war was over, Severus Snape found it very easy to sometimes not listen when he did not actually care.

And this is during these moments such as this morning that he blamed himself of becoming that reckless and that lazy.

He was interrupted in his thoughts by the opening of the side door reserved to the professors. He groaned in his coffee at the sound that meant that he would not have a calm breakfast. He hoped it was not Trelawney. This insecthad recently decided to court him – once again. And he had no desire to deal with her this morning. So he focused hard on the content of his plate, thus avoiding the person entering the Great Hall.

Well, wait a minute. The person? By the footsteps he was hearing, there were more than one person. They were two to be precise. And that meant even more disturbance for his breakfast. Especially now that the footsteps were heading in his direction.

Focusing harder on his plate, he tried not to react when he heard and felt the two individuals sitting not far from him. He really thought he had succeeded in not attracting attention and was happy to spend the rest of his breakfast in the calm. But it was before he heard his name.

'Severus...Severus!'

He slowly raised his head and tried well to conceal his anger of such a disruption to the eyes of the Headmistress.

'Good morning, Minerva!' he said in a fakely cheery tone. "I didn't have the dubious pleasure of hearing you enter the room."

'Of course you didn't,' she answered, knowing full well that her colleague had done everything to avoid conversation this early in the morning.

'Look who's with me!" Minerva added with a bright smile, gesturing to her companion as she leaned over to study the fare laid out on the table.

And slowly Severus turned his head in the direction of the person who had been gestured to. Hermione Granger. At this sight, Severus wondered if he would not have preferred a tête-à-tête with Trelawney rather than see this girl for his breakfast.

'Miss Granger.'

'Professor Snape,' Hermione acknowledged him with a slight nod and a smile.

'Oh, do call him Severus my dear. We are not your professors anymore,' Minerva intervened very quickly.

'I would not dare to do so. With all the respect I have for you both, it seems out of place to call you by your first names'

Severus was surprised by her reaction and –unsurprisingly-agreed with her. Only a few people were on a first-name basis with him and he would not let the know-it-all be one of them. But before he had time to reply, Minerva did.

'But we don't mind. Don't worry my dear. After all, we spent quite a long time altogether not so long ago during the war. You should be comfortable calling us by our names by now.'

Hermione smiled.

Expecting some reactions from her colleague, Minerva turned her head towards Severus. Not wanting to dwell on the subject, Severus Snape asked then the first question that came to his mind and which the answer would hopefully satisfy his curiosity.

'And may I ask why you are here, Miss Granger?'

'Call her Hermione, Severus!' his colleague exclaimed, her hands on her hips.

You would have expected one to correct himself and asked the question again with the proper address. But Severus Snape did not and a tense atmosphere started to settle.

Hermione, who did not want to make anyone uncomfortable, replied nonetheless. 'For the conference sir.'

'The conference? Which conference?' he asked as he turned his head sharply in Minerva's direction.

'Severus!" the older witch said sharply, looking scandalized. Don't tell me you forgot about the conference. You should listen more carefully when people are talking to you or one day something nasty will happen to you. This week a conference about Wizarding history is to be held in the castle and we are welcoming several guests- as I already told you-Hermione here, as part of her studies, decided to attend. She will be here for the remaining of the week. Isn't it wonderful?' Minerva asked with a bright smile.

Severus could not believe what he heard. He would have to eat every meal of the week with strangers from all around the world, Granger included. His day could not have begun more terribly. He rolled his eyes and decided to not lift his gaze from his plate for the rest of his breakfast.

He hoped that this week would go quickly and decided that he would try to avoid human contact as much as possible until the conference was over.

A/N So what do you think? Should I keep writing? Let me know in a review...