Disclaimer: Just taking JK's characters out for drinks, I'll give her them back soon, promise!
AN: Hello all, this is my third story ever! So hoorah, I'm actually uploading. I promise that I'll have more consistent uploads soon, I'm just in the middle of a lot right now, and barely have time to do anything extra curricular. But if you like my writing, please bear with me. Oh and another, please feel free to point out any spelling mistakes or things to me, because I don't have a beta to check it as of yet, so there are probably many, and if so, I apologise profusely! Read on, dear heart -
Hermione chuckled lightly as Harry and Ron both groaned in annoyance as they received their time tables from professor McGonagall. She looked down upon her own, and saw that their first lesson happened to be potions, hence the groans. On the first day back, how unlucky for them she thought with amusement, they absolutely hated Snape's class.
Secretly Hermione hoped that she could approach headmaster Dumbledore, about whether she would be able to sit her NEWTS a year early, giving her chance to take an apprenticeship through what would be her seventh year.
Yet the possibility of that happening, she thought, was highly unlikely. So she tucked the wandering thought to the back of her mind, just in time too, it was time for lessons to commence.
They had all missed the castle over the Christmas Holiday's, most of which Hermione had spent at the burrow, and a little at Grimauld place. After sending her parents to Australia during the war, and never being able to locate them again after everything had blown over, that where she spent almost all forms of holiday.
Hermione always though of her parents, almost every day in fact. Nothing special sometimes, just "Oh, mum would like that…" and then she'd cringe at the realization of not having a mum. Not anymore. She was determined to find them however. It was the main reason that she wanted to try and apprentice early, so that she'd have an entire extra year during which to search for the missing Grangers.
With renewed hope, she pulled the boys down to the dungeons. It wouldn't be right without professor Snape teaching potions, she reflected. She knew of his want to be the Defence against the Dark Arts professor, and how Dumbledore denied it every time. Professor Lupin had returned to teach for this year, with the war over, he was no longer needed by the order and found his life to be empty without something to do. Minerva had noticed instantly that the resident lycanthrope did not seem nearly has happy as when he had been a teacher, and cordially invited him to join the staff once again. He had accepted gladly, with a tired smile of utter relief.
Before she even noticed, Hermione was waiting outside professor Snape's classroom door, the boys looking at her oddly, and professor Snape himself inside the classroom staring out at her, elegant brow raised in question.
"How nice of you to finally join us Miss Granger." He said sarcastically, voice emotionless, seemingly… fed up, in her opinion. Lacking its usual biting venom.
"Professor I…" she began to explain, but was cut short and interrupted flatly by professor Snape.
"Just sit down Miss Granger; I have no want, or need, for a petty excuse."
She just stood and gaped for a small, unperceivable moment, before snapping her jaw shut and taking her seat. That was rather… un-Snape-like.
He returned up to his lectern at the front of the classroom, flicked his wand effortlessly at the black board, writing appearing on it, instructions and ingredients.
"I believe as you have chosen to continue this subject, I need not dawdle with explanations. You shall brew in silence, and place the vial on my desk, and leave in silence." He said lazily, with a harsh scowl writ upon his face. He sounded tired too, she thought, as though he couldn't even summon the energy to address the class.
She turned to the board and read only the name of today's potion, Alihotsy Draught, the effects of which induce hysteria. After reading the name she already knew its properties, how to brew it, and all of the ingredients. She was Hermione Granger, after all!
She once again became lost in her reverie whilst brewing, the process always relaxed her and was rather… not quite "mechanical" but almost second nature, she only needed a very small proportion of her mind working in order to brew potions, leaving the rest free to wander wherever it so pleased. She was glad for this, as unlike many of her friend she was sure, she did a LOT of thinking. Sometimes they were only mundane little things, but often deep intriguing thoughts.
Professor Snape watched his sixth year Slytherin/Gryffindor class with minor disinterest. Why Albus continued to put the two houses together was beyond him. It often only caused arguments and accidents. Then again, who was he to argue with the old man, even if his attempt at minimising house rivalry had failed? Pretty much all of the students seemed more adept at getting along with one another now anyway, thank god for that, he thought.
He looked up to survey his class, his eyes falling upon Miss Granger, as they often did, if he was being honest. He didn't feel much like being honest today, and so he pushed the thought away, he didn't always look at Granger.
She had that ever so slightly vacant look in her eyes. Not anything like the utterly gormless looks that other pupils seemed to take on, showing that they legitimately understood nothing. Granger's was totally different, it was easy to tell that she could perform the current task in her sleep, hence why her thoughts where elsewhere. She looked… upset. His brow furrowed, well that wouldn't do.
It didn't appear to be some insipid teenage incident that the other girls seemed to suffer with. Much deeper than something like that. He could see the way that her hands seemed to slow, as if along with the pace of her thoughts, until her movements ceased all together. He looked on with mild surprise as her hands rose to her eyes, to wipe the tears from them. He looked to her immediate left, to Potter and the Weasley dolt, surely one of them must have noticed her crying!
The boys were having a whispered conversation when they thought he wasn't looking, and continuing with their potions. Paying poor Miss Granger no mind. Well, he'd always said that they were idiotic.
Finally, about 5 minutes later, Weasley noticed her bowed head and a small sniffle.
Snape watched as the dunderhead opened and closed his mouth in a very fish-like manner several times, before settling on saying nothing, returning to his potion. "What. An. Idiot." He thought, cursing the boy's stupidity.
He continued to watch, unable to do anything. He could not be seen offering comfort to miss Granger, and of course she would never seek it from him in the first place, and secondly, he didn't want to offer her to leave the room to collect her thoughts and compose herself, as that would draw attention to the fact that she was upset and very likely just embarrass her in front of her peers.
She finished, naturally, before everyone else. She looked up from her cauldron eyes wide as she realized that she was done, and that she had been crying. She had been completely and utterly immersed in her thoughts that she hadn't been aware of anything happening around her. That could've been dangerous if there was a potions accident, she scolded herself.
Hermione bottled her potion in her usual vial, and popped the cork into the top. She cast a quick 'evanesco' at the remaining contents, that would not fit in the vial, and rather than levitating her cauldron, she carried it back to the store room, purely to give herself something to do. Sat firmly back in her seat, she pulled her sleeves down so that they covered her wrists more, and wiped her eyes.
Professor Snape watched fondly as she used that familiar muggle sticky label to write her name upon it, and stick it onto the vial. She could easily just use a single one, and erase the text each time. However she seemed to keep a little stack of them. He observed her write her name, the potion contained in the vial, and the date upon the post-it note, in her curly neat script.
She put everything else in her bag, took off her jumper and stuffed that in there too, it was always boiling with so many cauldrons on in one room. Slung the bag unceremoniously over her shoulder, and walked to the front of the class.
For reasons unknown even to him, Severus sat straight up in his seat as she approached. She tentatively placed the vial upon his desk, eyes cast down. He couldn't have that now…
"Thank you, Miss Granger." He said softly, so that the rest of the class couldn't hear.
Her head snapped up and her eyes flew to his, finding no sneer or sarcasm. For the first time in days a genuine smile graced her lips, and in his opinion at least, she looked very pretty when she smiled.
Her smile widened into a grin as she noticed the corners of her professor's mouth tilt upwards, not quite a smile, but it made her stomach flutter. He himself hadn't even noticed that he'd been almost smiling until she had, it made him feel sort of awkward, wanting to smile around her.
"Thank you." Was all she said, ever so quietly, but with such sincerity and intensity that it made his heart swell. He dipped his head in acknowledgement and she turned to leave.
The rest of her day would certainly be better than the beginning had been, she thought. It will all be alright.
She rippled her fingers in a small wave to the boys, Ron with a small apologetic smile upon his face, showing that he did notice her distress and wasn't sure about how to comfort her. She smiled back, in that understanding Hermione way.
ʕ •ᴥ•ʔ - ʕ •ᴥ•ʔ
