Title: An Unsimple Love Affair

Author: zimagesto

Chapter 1

Hermione had definitely grown. She was no longer the bushy haired, rabbit-toothed eleven year-old girl with no inclinations towards breaking rules that Harry and Ron had first met. They had changed her. They had definitely changed her. And then she had changed herself towards the scary side.

Not that anything was actually wrong. But she had changed. Grown from a studious girl into a first-hand woman of power and brilliance. She was 18 now, in her seventh year at Hogwarts, levitated her books around her instead of carrying them, brushed her hair in such a way that it was wavy and not bushy, walked with a cat-like charm and definitely knew how to handle any situation.

She had grown into a Slytherin Lady.

Perfect looks, mischievous smile, feminine laughter, charm, playfulness, and yet with a terrible way of revenge if anybody did her wrong. It was scary, as Ron and Harry noticed.

But it was still Hermione. Still the S.P.E.W. leader, trying her best to help house elves. Still studying her nights through. Still a bit know-it-all-ish, but now she did it with grace. Still screaming at Ron to stop being an ass. Still helping Harry and Ron with their homework if they begged.

So it came as a bit of a shock to everybody when she entered the Great Hall for the Halloween Feast at the arm of one Lucius Malfoy – who was smiling without irony for once.

Draco nearly fainted. Ron actually did. Dumbledore for the first time lost his speech. McGonagall felt her knees going bye-bye. Harry just stared, and stared, and stared…

"Glad to have escorted you, my Lord Malfoy," she said loudly enough for everybody to hear, with a bit of playfulness. "I trust you can find your way to the Headmaster from here."

"Thank you miss Granger," he replied and went to the old man, while she went to her seat and helped revive Ron.

"What on earth are you doing?" Harry hissed between his teeth.

"Trust me on this one," she replied with a wink and slapped Ron again. "Gods, I love doing this."

In the end, Ron recovered and begged her, "You aren't his lov-… girlfriend, are you? I mean, he seems horrible for a first… I mean… fuck, Hermione!"

"I'm not sure he'd be a horrible fuck," she laughed and he went beetroot red and squeaked slightly. "But no, I'm not his lover. Or girlfriend. We talked a few times and he is quite charming. Apparently, he thinks of me the same."

The boys groaned and the other Gryffindors stared.

You see what I mean, dear reader, when I say she had changed?… Well, you're probably a bit confused here and you mumble about the Headmaster and as to why Hermione ended up like this. Simple, in fact. Dumbledore is not dead. Neither is Sirius Black. Just because I decided that this is AU, so why not include them, too, to make the scene a lot more challenging? Anyway, so I'll tell you quickly what happened. No flashy flashbacks about how anybody recalls the past or thinks about what has been or will be. Just the straight truth.

Not much happened after the fourth year. Voldemort plotted, and plotted, tried to get the Prophecy, but he failed and it was destroyed. Harry trashed Dumbledore's office when the old man explained that he'd kept the prophecy hidden. Hermione started developing in the way I just presented above. In her summer before the sixth year, she made it clear to everybody in the Order – and later, everybody who met her, that she was a Woman. She had a few muggle boyfriends who she wasn't fond of. In a slight desperation of finding only unsuitable, immature boys, she started talking to Sirius, who was very understanding, mostly because he didn't have anything better to do than listen and understand and tutor.

Then, one night, she was a bit pissed, Snape was over at Grimmauld Place and she just dropped the rag with which she was polishing her shoes.

"Why are all boys so idiotic, Professor?" she spat. "Anywhere I turn, I only run into idiots."

Now, Snape was pretty surprised by that outburst, since he wasn't the type of a person that others usually confide in. Yes, I know I'm stating the obvious. Anyway, he thought something along the lines of 'children and their problems'. He would have deducted some points from Gryffindor, but he couldn't do it then, so he just spat out a venomous line. To his surprise, she started chuckling.

"Well, I'm sorry," Hermione said. "I shouldn't bother you with my petty little problems. I am simply frustrated in the lack of brains of boys my age. Well… I guess we have that in common, even if for different reasons, no?"

"Girls aren't much better," Snape decided to reply.

"Ah, yes, your dislike is more extensive than mine. But as I said, we have different reasons, and mine doesn't extend to girls. I don't try dating them."

Snape was in a very good mood that night. Otherwise he would have snapped at her again for making conversation. Well, if he had had any illusions about his words hurting her or scaring her away, he would have done it now, too, but it simply wasn't worth it.

"Perhaps you should try men, if boys are of no use," he answered.

"Oh, men…" Hermione said and looked at him, surprised. She'd never thought of it. But then she laughed, realizing why it had never crossed her mind. "They'd laugh at me because I am a girl, not a woman. Besides, who would I go after? Sirius?… You? I doubt you'd want to date…"

"Miss Granger," he growled warningly.

"…a know-it-all who is just as unnerving as all the dunderheads," she finished. "Sorry to be dragging you into this. Care for a tea, Professor? Or a brandy? Or anything else, for that matter?"

"A tea would be fine, Miss Granger," he answered.

It all started from there, in fact. She would talk to him sometimes, answer wit with wit, and next thing they knew, they were friends of sorts. She managed to squeeze a few tips about what he liked in women out of him. It had been a lot easier with Sirius, who'd spurted the list at the moment she asked.

Snape and Sirius stopped fighting in front of her. She hadn't tried to stop them. She'd been in the kitchen, reading up on something, when the insults started and she just upped and left, muttering between teeth about "boys and their troubles". When challenged by a furious Potions Master, she'd just smiled coyly and said something Draco and Harry being the same. Then something very interesting happened.

Snape started walking furiously toward her. And Hermione, instead of losing the coy smile and backing off, stepped further, grinned, pushed her chest forward and asked seductively: "Are you going to hit me, Professor?" He stood there in shock and she planted a friendly kiss on his cheek, then turned away and left, grabbing her book.

"What the hell?…" Sirius muttered, staring in her trail.

"I have as much of a clue as you do, mutt," Severus answered, wiping his face as if trying to erase the echo of the feeling from his cheek. "She must have gone insane. She is taking too much liberty. I have no desire for such silly outbursts."

"That didn't seem to be an outburst," Sirius noticed.

They never fought again in her presence. Instead, her friendly attitude towards both of them made them put aside some of their differences. Not all, she was no miracle worker or Mary Sue, just a mysterious thing that flabbergasted them both enough so they'd have something in common which they could talk about.

Harry and Ron noticed the warmth towards both of them, fought her over the Snape problem, but lost. She declared that they were both "friends of sorts" and refused to be coaxed out of her new friendships. In order to make Severus understand what she had in mind, she offered to help him if he ever had something to do he shouldn't have been bothered with, but was. At first, he protested, saying he was fine by himself and she was an idiot for thinking otherwise. She replied that he probably had better things to do than prepare Pepper Up for Madam Pomfrey, while she was just reading all day and could use a bit of practice with potions on holidays. So he started, reluctantly, giving her things to do and finding that she was holding up to the task admirably.

Well, she went to Hogwarts, kept in touch with Sirius, befriended Severus up to the point where she could go ask something about Potions or the Dark Arts and he would answer at any point of time. It was an odd friendship, but it was one.

And she had quite a few lovers. She switched through them, searching for a something and never finding it. She got a certain flair for flirting and charming, a bit of experience and became not popular, but respected and admired. Even by teachers. McGonagall criticized her at first for her new-found fashion sense, but then Hermione made it clear she felt a lot better like that and that studying was still one of her greatest passions. She also pointed out the fact that she needed to experience a few things and that the old Head of House shouldn't worry much about her. She would not fall. McGonagall sighed, not believing her, but in the end, she had to admit that Hermione was right.

But now – to come right in the Great Hall with Lucius Malfoy! What was she doing?… Ah, I could tell you. But it's a lot better to keep you hanging, while I write the next chapter. I will tell you, though, that she has something in mind… aaah… wizarding world… beware!