Disclaimer: All of the characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
Warning: I am not an English native speaker, so I apologize for any grammar or vocabulary mistake you may find.
Chapter 1:
All of the students were sitting at the Great Hall table, getting ready for a new and long day of classes. The war was over about 5 months ago, enough time to magically rebuild Hogwarts, or the most important parts of it, though some buildings still remained closed in order to keep Hogwarts as a "safe place". However, the students were a complete different topic, many of them ended up physically or mentally affected, reason why there was a complete St. Mungo's wing dedicated for them.
This was not the case of the golden trio, who were doing pretty fine after the war. Of course they required some medical care, and especially psychological treatment to help them realize the war was finally over, for good this time, but once the doctors were convinced there was nothing wrong, they were ready to return to classes and finish their last year at Hogwarts… or start, actually, though they were quite qualified for a war, they were beyond ignorance in other magical aspects, which was only logical considering they had not been attending any class in an extended period of time. Yes, they could handle a Death Eater, but how about a herbology class?
The three of them were sitting at the Gryffindor table, having some breakfast. When the owls arrived, Hermione sighed and sit still; waiting for what she knew was coming. A not minor amount of letters hit the table in front of them, more specifically, in front of Harry.
"Haven't you told them you are dating Ginny yet?" She asked, not bothering in hiding her annoyance.
"I have, but they won't stop sending them." Harry took one of the letters and started reading it in silence. "Here, you see? They are quite aware of it." He handed it to Hermione, but it was taken by Ron, who seemed pretty uncomfortable with the current discussion.
"Dear Harry" He started to read. "I've heard you are dating Ginny Weasley, but I was hoping you may reconsider your options now that you are a true hero of war." Ron didn't mind showing his rising rage, he stopped reading and threw the letter to the pile "Please, tell me you are not falling for this! You may be my best friend, but if you ever cheat on my sister I-".
"Enough, Ron!" He was interrupted by Hermione. "I am sure Harry is not even considering all of this." She stated, looking at Harry with some concern, though.
"I won't! Come on, guys! I really like Ginny, and I don't even know these girls… "
"And you never will!" Ron punched the table, spilling Hermione's juice, who quickly stood up, trying to escape from the mess.
"RONALD WEASLEY!" She was surprised at this, and also mad. She didn't mean to be dramatic or make a fuss about some juice being spilled. No, it was because she has been through a lot in the last months, the war was one thing, but trying to keep a relationship with a boy who was clearly not paying attention to her at all was overwhelming. It was pretty romantic at the beginning, the small details, the silly poems, even the creepy mutual staring, but forgetting her birthday was a complete different thing. The man could spend a whole afternoon watching quidditch, just to finish the day by saying "good match!" and falling asleep. This is certainly not what Hermione was expecting for her relationship. So she ended it up. Things were really awkward for a couple weeks, but they were doing better recently; until the juice incident.
"Jeez, Herms! I'm so so sorry! Lemme help you!" Ron stood up as well, holding a napkin he tried to approach Hermione, but was stopped.
"No! Thank you, I think I can handle this myself, I'll just go change, see you at classes." She was grabbing her stuff, but was interrupted by Harry, receiving some signs by Ron.
"Ehm, Hermione! I know you are in a hurry right now, but… you know we had this homework for Slughorn, and…"
"Aaaaaand…?" She knew where this was going, thus she didn't like it.
"Aaaaand… we are back in the quidditch team, so..."
"Sooooo…?"
"So… Could you lend us yours?" Harry finished asking, though it sounded more like he burped it.
"I'm sorry, guys, but I've already told you, you NEED to do your own homework or you will never learn! Besides, it was not THAT hard, you should thank professor Snape isn't teaching anymore." Though this was not how she felt about him, most students were glad he left. After surviving Nagini's attack he has stayed in St. Mungo's for what seemed an eternity and most people started to believe the rumors of him going insane and some other hideous side effects. However, one thing was certain: He was not returning, Slughorn was quite comfortable in his role. After stating the last, Hermione just grabbed her stuff and rushed to the dorms.
She did have enough time to go change, so that was the plan, but she was not considering some inconveniences as a prefect in her way, such as helping first year students identify ingredients and lecturing third year students on the appropriate use of the levitating charm according to the rules. She loved being a prefect, it meant so much for her, however, it has recently become overwhelming, since this was her final year and she intended to excel in all of her N.E.W.T.s.
After she was done, she was worrying it may be too late, so she ran to the potions classroom, finding out she was the only one "I must be the first one..." She turned around looking for anyone else, and as she didn't bring any watch with her, she decided to simply wait for the others to come, it shouldn't take them long. She sat down in her usual spot, taking out the potions book to read meanwhile, when someone entered the room.
"… Professor?" Right there, a few steps from her, was standing Severus Snape himself.
"Miss Granger" He nodded, as a way of greeting, and then added "May I comment on how eager you seem to be for learning today?" As Hermione remained with her mouth slightly open, trying to figure out what to say, or how to act, in front of the man that she assumed would never see again, Snape continued "Shall I assume because of your silence that my presence here is just as… unexpected as yours?".
"Yes! I mean… yes, sir, I'm sorry, I didn't really mean to be so apparently early for the class, I do not even know what time is it, I just-".
"Save your words, Miss Granger, you must be the first student in Hogwarts history to apologize for being early."
"I wasn't apologizing, I was just-"
"Excusing yourself…? Pardon my misunderstanding, the word sorry is more likely used for apologizing."
"… yes." How is that he always left her feeling down? Even after all these years, she still felt as a silly first year student looking for recognition where obviously there was none. She started to feel numb, so she sat down, just as Snape did at his desk. Hermione was trying not to focus on him, reading through the pages, but it was completely impossible, what was he doing here? Was he going to continue teaching? Was this even real? Because she had to admit that her being alone in a class with the phantom of a man was completely surreal. The numb feeling was becoming dizziness, but she couldn't quite tell why, and especially why now? She couldn't simply pass out in front of professor Snape, would he even notice? He seemed pretty immerse in whatever he was doing with those scrolls.
Hermione stood up, feeling like she was floating on clouds, and though the words "sit down and wait, sit down and wait" didn't stop repeating in her brain, she walked towards Snape's desk, till she was right in front of him.
"Is something the matter, Miss Granger…?" Snape asked, while leaving his feather pen on the table and raising his head.
What happened next was, by far, the weirdest thing that has ever happened to him, even considering all of Voldemort and Dumbledore's missions. Hermione leaned over the desk and kissed him.
It was so unexpected that Snape just remained there for a few seconds, unable to process what was happening, before abruptly moving backwards and exclaiming "What the -". This appeared to have some effect on the young witch, who also removed from the desk, looking rather disoriented.
"Excuse me!" Said before running away, leaving all her stuff behind, and having no clear destination, because there was no place on Earth to hide from the current embarrassment she was feeling.