A/N

Long time no see, eh? If you've read my other story you'll know it's abandoned. I've lost my muse. It just doesn't appeal to me anymore. Sorry if you liked it :(

But anyways this is a Snanger fic. I love reading them so decided to write one. I already have the 2nd chapter almost done ;) for once it won't be a 3month wait for a thousand word chapter...

"Mione!" Harry Potter, the-boy-who-lived-twice, called as he searched for his close friend, losing sight of her amongst the busy crowd of parents and children. It was the first day of September and the Golden Trio were at Kings Cross Station waiting to board the Hogwarts Express, returning to finish their 7th Year. Despite having defeated Voldemort and losing several friends in the Final Battle at Hogwarts, they were still forced to go back and complete their NEWTS. Much to Harry and Ron's chagrin, Hermione had begun studying only weeks after Voldemort's defeat and urged them to start too.

While they and many others had gone away, grieved for lost friends and rebuilt the Wizarding World, Hermione Granger had thrown herself into studying. She rarely left the Black family library at Grimmauld Place and when she did it was for meals, sleeping and on the odd occasion, a trip to Diagon Alley. Her hair had become an oily bushy disaster and her skin had an unhealthy look about due to a lack of Vitamin D.

Harry didn't know what exactly she was studying but he doubted it was just school work. No one, not even Hermione, could spend so much time studying the year's coursework. The old Hermione would've finished that within days and then came out of the library and helped them with their studying, which she insisted they start, or with cleaning Grimmauld Place. The new Hermione only told them to study and didn't bother to check if they did or not, too busy caught up in her own studying.

Harry was worried. Not only did he saw more of Kreacher than he did of her, but she hadn't even remembered Hogwarts had started in a few days. Hermione Granger, know-it-all extraordinaire and walking encyclopaedia, had forgotten about Hogwarts. When Ron had brought it up at dinner one night, moaning about homework and Filch (who had somehow survived the Final Battle, unfortunately), she had nearly choked on her kidney pie.

"Hogwarts! What are you talking about! Hogwarts doesn't start until...oh! Oh! OH! I haven't even started packing yet! Oh no I'll never finish in time!" she'd shrieked, sprinting upstairs to her bedroom, leaving a shocked Ron and Harry and a confused Kreacher (Mistress did not like her kidney pie? Bad Kreacher!).

She had stayed in her room all the next day, skipping both breakfast and lunch in favour of packing. When she had finally trudged down for dinner, tiredly exclaiming she had finished and was so hungry she could eat a Hippogriff, an owl arrived. It was addressed to Hermione and looked strangely familiar, but it was only when Hermione exclaimed "Oh, look! It's from Professor McGonagall!" that Harry realised it was one of the school's owls.

Ron had promptly demanded to know what the letter said in his usual impatient manner, mouth full of food. Hermione replied after a moment's silence saying that she hadn't been selected as Head Girl and that it was instead going to Padma Patil, as McGonagall thought it was best that Hermione could focus solely on her NEWTS without the stress of the duties involved with being Head Girl. This had dampened the mood quite quickly and the trio eventually parted ways as they went off to do their own separate things.

Harry frowned, wondering where Hermione was. He decided to check the train, to see if she had already boarded and found them a compartment. Just as he was about to step foot on the train he heard someone call his name.

"Harry!" screamed a familiar voice and Harry turned to see a small flash of red almost ball him over in a hug. "Oh Harry I've missed you so much! It's not the same without you and Ron at the Burrow! It's so much quieter. It's only me, mum and dad. George's living with Alicia Spinnet. Remember her? She was in our House? Played Quidditch. Was a Chaser. Pretty good, too." Ginny Weasley lowered her voice. "I don't think George could handle been at home without Fred. Whenever he was home mum kept going to call him Fred. Even though..." she trailed off and Harry had the distinct feeling she wasn't telling him something. Suddenly she grinned, smiling at something behind Harry. He turned, wondering what it was.

"Hullo Ginny. Hullo Harry. Surprised to see me? Or should I say see through me?" the ghost of Fred Weasley laughed.

Ginny grinned. "Hello Fred. Come to scare some innocent firsties before they get to Hogwarts?" she asked. Harry stared at the ghost in front of him. He hadn't known that Fred had come back as a ghost. He frowned and wondered if Ron knew. Surely he'd have said something, but Harry couldn't remember Ron saying "Guess what, mate! Fred's a ghost".

"Bloody Hell!" a voice exclaimed loudly. Ah, Harry thought. Question answered. Ron hadn't known either.

Hermione sat alone in a compartment, staring at the wall in front of her. Consciously, she raised a hand to her hair and tried to flatten it down a little. She knew that she hadn't been taking proper care of it for a while but never had she imagined it to be so...bad. Her brush hadn't survived. The amount of times she'd to Reparo it the night before...To put it simply, putting a sparkly pink collar on Sirius Black would've been easier than brushing her hair. Her hair was a matted jungle. It was wild and untameable. It was a disaster.

And it was all Hermione could think about. She felt like, for once, she understood why other girls spent so much time fussing about their hairs. How they always needed so many compliments to reassure themselves that it looked alright. Because despite what Ron had said that morning, her hair was most certainly not fine.

She looked up as the door slid open. With his platinum blonde hair, grey eyes and pointed chin Draco Malfoy was every bit the aristocrat he'd been raised, but something was different. Hermione wasn't sure if it was his eyes, relaxed and amused, like she'd never seen them before or if it was just an air about him. It was only a slight difference, but somehow significant at the same time.

"Granger," he greeted cordially, "what in the name of Merlin's saggy pants happened to you? For a moment I thought you were Hagrid!" he exclaimed.

Hermione flushed a bright red "Come now, it's not that bad...is it?" she asked wearily.

"It's not bad, Granger, its worse!" He replied with a slight smirk.

She scowled, becoming defensive "My hair is fine." She lied "What are you doing in here anyway, Malfoy?" she rebutted.

"I was wondering why you aren't in the Head's Compartment and Padma Patil is. It seems you're full of surprises, Granger. First that, now this. I hardly even recognise you, and I've known you for years. But anyway, but to my original question. Why is Padma Patil Head Girl? If I remember correctly, you've been pining after that position since you first heard about Hogwarts" he drawled.

Hermione looked down into her lap "I got a letter from Professor McGonagall. She thought it would be better if Padma got the position, so I could have more time to study for my Newts."

"So you could have more time to study? Bloody hell Granger, you spent years fighting him and still managed to beat everyone in everything! Except Potions, I bet you in that. Uncl- I mean Snape was so proud, he even bought me back some ingredients from his trip to Africa. Enough about me and my amazing life though. So you're honest to Merlin telling me that Padma Patil got picked over you so you got extra time to study? Blimey, I'm a Slytherin and even I don't think that's fair! Great! Now I'm actually going to have to do something!" he moaned. This brought a small smile to Hermione's face. The thought of a Malfoy having to do work was amusing.

"Catch you later, Granger. If you see Patil, tell her I'm sorting out a problem with the Slytherins." He said slyly, swaggering off to a bunch of 7th year Slytherin girls and linking arms with two of them. Hermione sighed. Some things, or rather some people, never changed.

Not recognising some of the girls, Hermione wondered what had happened to Pansy Parkinson. From Hermione's limited access with Slytherins, she'd always seen the pug faced girl the Slytherin's Prince. As if on command she appeared suddenly, snapping at the other girls who quickly untangled themselves from Malfoy and rushed off to their compartments. Pansy clutched onto Malfoy possessively who turned and kissed her passionately. Hermione looked away and out her window. Bad idea. A raven haired man was snogging a red headed girl senseless. Harry and Ginny. She thought back to McGonagall's words, 'to allow you to meet more people. It is not healthy to study as much and I one day fear you will become...' Sighing, she turned to face the compartment wall again, once again patting down her hair.

Alone in the cold dungeons, Severus Snape sat in his quarters, nursing a glass of Firewhisky and warming himself in front of a fire. He was tired. He was tired of students, of Hogwarts, of Longbottom and his disasters, of dunderheads, of Gryffindors, and of incompetent Defence Against the Dark Arts teachers. But mostly, he was tired of being alone.

Lily had been gone for nigh on twenty years and he had finally come to accept that she was gone. During his brief stint with death, she'd visited him and at that moment he'd wanted nothing more than to die and be with her forever. He'd thought, even expected, that after 20 years of spying he'd earned a break. A forever long break where he could live in peace with the woman he loved. With Lily.

But, as usual in the life of Severus Snape, nothing went his way. He'd survived the war, much to his disappointment, and had been reinstated as Potions Master.

And the worst thing? He hadn't even gotten a raise.

A/N

Hey, 19/12/11. I've just edited it and hopefully it's a little bit better. It was abandoned for several months but now I'm back and hopefully I'll manage a few more chapters ;) Summer break and all. I don't know if I'll edit all the chapters but hopefully I'll post chapter 6 by the end of this week (I had already written half of it before my abrupt departure.)