This is, of course, almost AU. Ignoring the steadily darkening tone of the later books, it assumes that Voldemort was defeated in such a way that the HP world did not erupt into complete and total chaos, everyone survived, and all couples that were meant to be got together except Ron and Hermione. Because I'm not that good of a writer yet that I can deal with the emotional trauma of all the characters and also the political upheaval.
That said, carry on!
Dumbledore's steady refusal to simply tell Severus the name of the new DADA teacher absolutely infuriated him.
Which was why, at dinner, Severus was almost anxiously waiting for him/her to walk into the room. And, indeed, a new face walked into the room and sat right by Dumbledore, and they began to chat.
From his limited view of the back of her head and also as she arrived, she looked quite familiar, but that was to be expected. She was probably one of his students at one point.
He waited with nearly baited breath for Dumbledore's speech to begin, introducing the new teacher.
Come on, old man... Hurry up...
"I now have the pleasure of introducing to you all the new Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher. Please stand up," he said (finally!), gesturing towards her.
Snape noticed that she had a pretty face, with long brown hair that fell to about the middle of her back.
"Professor Hermione Granger."
Snape sat up absolutely straight, jaw nearly to his knees.
"Severus, please do control yourself," murmured Minerva to his left, about to delve into her delicious-looking dinner. "Are you so surprised? She was always a clever girl, you know. And she has experience with the Dark Arts. Hardly qualified with regards to schooling, but her test scores surely should have told you something while she was here."
Absolute shock caused the words to fly out of his mouth.
"That's not it- Merlin's pants, I thought she was... attractive."
He had never seen Minerva laugh so hard in his life.
"My dear, I hope you find your lodgings satisfactory," Professor Dumbledore kindly told her as he showed her personally to her office after dinner.
"Oh, yes! They're perfect. It's really been lovely, coming back. And it's nice that Neville's here, too."
Dumbledore nodded. "Always knew that boy would find his talent someday."
Hermione nodded.
A pause, then-
"Say, Professor?"
"Yes, my dear girl?"
"Do you know why McGonagall was laughing during dinner?"
Should set some of the tone for this one. Short chapter, but I don't know if anyone will want to read this or not. :) Please review if you liked it!