Disclaimer: I do not own anything in the wonderful wizarding world and all credit must be given to Ms. JK Rowling, however, anything unrecognisable is of my own creation.

A/N: Hey! IMPORTANT INFORMATION! This story is a sequel to HERMIONE GRANGER AND THE EXPLOSION IN TIME. If you haven't read that story, please read it first, else you'll get awfully confused. Thanks.

Chapter 1: Almost Peace and Quiet

I haven't gotten used to waking up to a silent Gryffindor Tower, nor a deserted castle. However, I could get used to having my breakfast delivered to the dormitory; and having free rein of the library, including access to the restricted section, which Dumbledore said I could browse. It's been a fortnight since everyone went home for the summer, and Sirius has already written me many letters. He's begged me several times to save him, which always made me smile. His most recent letter just read:

Help! Save Me! Call the aurors! I'm dying of boredom!

I could tell that Sirius was bored, because his letters were always rather lengthy. Not that I'm complaining, because it's lovely to receive letters from him. I've been attempting to send him lengthy responses, but I haven't had much to tell him about. I've started the process for the animagus transformation: and the mandrake leaf is already annoying me, though, two more weeks and I can spit it out. Sirius says the mandrake leaf drove him and James stir-crazy, and they were almost discovered by Charlus. He suggested that I started practicing the meditation for the next stage, but I wasn't in a rush. I just wanted to get the mandrake leaf stage out of the way.

I have the first of my advanced classes today: which is Defence Against the Dark Arts, with Professor Cullen. I am meeting the ex-professor at the DADA classroom after lunch. I'm curious to see what these advanced classes are like, because I've done some reading into the advanced defence that is covered in auror training: and there's a few things I've been practicing. I've also started an exercise programme, because I figured I would benefit from an improved fitness level. I wondered into the Great Hall for lunch, after returning from a run. I have been having lunch in the Great Hall most days, because usually some of the teaching staff, or Dumbledore join me. I got caught talking to Professor Slughorn yesterday: he's invited me to the Slug Club, once the new school year starts. He explained that he doesn't usually invite muggleborns, unless they are of exceptional talent, which of course he thinks I am. I've listened to Lily complain about Slug Club, because most of the members are purebloods: though, although she complains I know Slughorn is Lily's favourite teacher... and from what I've seen Lily is possibly Slughorn's favourite pupil, even if she's a muggleborn. I do however suspect that Professor Slughorn has an ulterior motive behind inviting me to the Slug Club: he wants Sirius to attend, and Sirius always refuses Slughorn's invitations. I sat down opposite Dumbledore as I reached the table, the headmaster smiled towards me.

'Pleasant run, my dear?' I nodded. Dumbledore caught me mid exercise routine last week: which was kind of awkward, but he'd commended me on my efforts.

'It was lovely, thank you, sir.' The characteristic twinkle appeared in Dumbledore's eyes as he continued our conversation. I helped myself to lunch as I continued the idol chitchat with Dumbledore: we talked about Fawkes, who's been looking off-colour since the weekend, before moving on to talk about the advanced lessons that Dumbledore is planning to teach me. He plans to teach me Occlumency and Legilimency, which surprised me, because they're such advanced skills. I, however, was very interesting in attempting to learn both techniques, and was flattered that Dumbledore wanted to teach them to me.

After lunch I made my way to the DADA classroom, where I found Professor Cullen waiting for me. Professor Cullen smiled as I entered the classroom.

'Afternoon, Hermione.' I grinned.

'Afternoon, professor.' I watched Professor Cullen flinch at this point.

'Please, it's Gemma now, I'm not your professor anymore.' I blushed: Professor Cullen chuckled. 'I'm looking forward to teaching these advanced lessons; I thought for this first lesson we could go over what you're familiar with.' Gemma then gestured towards the sofas that were at the front of the classroom. Gemma sat opposite me, before speaking again. 'So... tell me about your previous Defence Against the Dark Arts professors.' I nodded.

'First year, I was taught by Quirinus Quirrell, whom I believe is currently a fourth year Ravenclaw student.' Gemma nodded.

'Yes. He's a bright young wizard, though a delicate little thing... wouldn't have said he was suitable for the DADA position.' I explained.

'He was being manipulated by the Dark Lord; though, with that being said he wasn't a bad DADA professor. He had a good understanding of Defensive Magic.' I let Gemma think for a moment, before continuing. 'Second year, I was taught by Gilderoy Lockhart. He wasn't a good professor, completely inadequate for the position.' Gemma chuckled.

'I've heard about the Lockhart family: Gilderoy's their only magical child. He's due to begin Hogwarts this September. I accompanied Dumbledore when he visited the family. Gilderoy thinks he's Merlin's gift to the magical world... though, I'm afraid he's in for quite a shock.' I nodded, flinching as I thought about the crush I used to harbor for Gilderoy.

'Third year, Remus was the DADA professor, so I was actually taught the third year curriculum.' Gemma laughed.

'Yes, I would trust Remus to teach a class correctly... who was next?'

'It was meant to be Alastor Moody, but a Death Eater impersonated him and taught the classes. It was a weird year... and then Dolores Umbridge taught my first round of 5th year, though, we weren't allowed to do magic in any of her classes.' Gemma raised her eyebrows.

'Alastor Moody, oh Merlin, bet he made the Hufflepuff students wet themselves.' I laughed.

'He'd earned the nickname Mad Eye, by that time.' Gemma sighed, shaking her head, and her opinion of Dumbledore's sanity didn't improve as I told her about Umbridge, though, to be fair I don't think Dumbledore hired Umbridge. I then moved on to tell Gemma about what Defensive Magic I'm familiar with. I don't think she expected me to have such an extensive arsenal of spells. She decided that with the rest of the afternoon, we'd work on strengthening my protective and concealment spells: which was a good use of time. Gemma taught me several different protective spells, which weren't on the Hogwarts curriculum. I worked on strengthening the protective and concealment spells that I could conjure, and Gemma started to teach me some theory behind the design of wards. I trained with Gemma all afternoon, until it was time for dinner. Gemma said next time we'd move onto hexes, and she'd show me some interesting uncommon hexes, which were capable of breaking through the basic protective spells.

A/N: Hope you've all found your way over to this story. There's a few things in this chapter that I had to mention to set up for later chapters: so it's probably a bit of a filler. Hope you all enjoyed it though. Keep reading if you want to see what happens when a 1st Year Gilderoy Lockhart meets the Marauders... there's going to be trouble :P Remember to review. Love RoxannetheLaugh x.