Ch. 1

This was almost better than getting her Hogwarts letter! After several exams and tedious tests, Hermione was going to teach at Hogwarts.

After the last wizarding war her friends had worked to set themselves up as aurors and were still undergoing training of their own. They were disappointed but understood when she decided to follow a different path than them. Both Harry and Ron couldn't have been happier for her.

Things were awkward with Ron in the beginning, but they realized early on that a relationship just wasn't going to work out long term. She drove him crazy over the littlest things, and he didn't seem to take anything serious enough for her. After several 'breaks,' they resolved to continue to be great friends and kept in touch from time to time.

"Mom, Dad," she called out, wanting to show them her letter.

Hermione's dad walked into the room "Yeah honey…what do you have there?" He asked, seeing her clutch a piece of paper in her hand.

"I did it dad, I'm a Hogwarts teacher!" she put the letter in his hands while she hugged him.

"I heard from the other room. I'm so proud of you!" Her mom reached out and joined in on the hug.

"I have to get ready to leave tomorrow, there are a lot of preparations that teachers have to make to the castle before students arrive." She released her dad and mom. "I've got to start packing!" she said as she briskly walked out of the room.

The next day, her parents took her to platform 9 ¾ to board the train, except this time the station wasn't very packed and it was only adult teachers who were boarding. She saw Neville with his trunk and went over to say hi.

"Neville! It's good to see you. We should be seeing more of each other now that I'll be teaching at Hogwarts too."

"I've heard that you got McGonagal's old position, transfiguration teacher. That's great Hermione, I knew you'd be a great fit." He beamed at her, happy to have a class mate as a fellow teacher.

Then she saw Draco Malfoy boarding the train.

"Why is he here?" She didn't hold back the disgust in her voice as she asked Neville the question.

"Didn't I mention it in any of my letters?" He made a skeptical look at Hermione.

"Mention what exactly?"

"Draco teaches at Hogwarts also, he's the potion's master and head of Slytherin house."

"They made him a head of house?" she was incredulous as she followed Neville onto the train and took a seat.

"It wasn't like they had much of a choice, he's the only Slytherin teacher," he said as they found a seat. "Well, what did you do this summer?" He tried to change the subject.

She took the bait. "Mostly just testing and training to get approved to teach. Did you know our credentials will allow us to teach in muggle schools as well? It's really quite fascinating."

"Fascinating? I didn't know you were coming to Hogwarts Granger. Are you doing outreach to the house elves?" A cold drawling voice called from the door of the compartment.

She didn't need to look over to know who that voice belonged to, but she did anyways. "Malfoy, kindly shut the door," she said in a mock polite voice and a glare that matched his sneer.

"Don't speak to me like I'm a servant," he said as he edged his way inside and sat down.

"Do you mind, we're having a private conversation here!" His rudeness had grown to a new level.

"So, this is your first year teaching Granger? It's not all they teach you in the training. McGonigal isn't exactly an easy headmistress to work for, she expects a lot out of a Hogwarts teacher. Are you sure you're really up to snuff?" He asked coldly.

"Why? Worried I'll raise the standard and you'll have to work harder?" She retorted.

He didn't say anything but acted like her voice was nothing more than the wind as he opened up a news paper and appeared to start reading it.

She looked back and forth between Neville and Malfoy, stunned he was still riding with them.

"Do you mind?" She repeated again, wanting him to leave the compartment.

"No, not at all, carry on," he replied as he continued to pretend to read the paper. He was enjoying getting on her nerves.

"Unbelievable" she uttered as she looked back at Neville, clearly disgusted.

Neville spoke up, "You two are going to have to learn to get along. If McGonigal knows you have trouble getting along, she might make you work together..."

Both Hermione and Malfoy scoffed at Neville's suggestion. "Get along" just wasn't in the cards.

"Nice one Longbottom," Malfoy replied, not realizing this wasn't a joke.

Even Hermione smiled.

The rest of the ride was pretty quiet and when they arrived at the castle Hagrid greeted them with the threstrals. To Hermione, if felt just like being back at school again.

"Hagrid!" Hermione half shouted as she ran up to give him a hug.

"Professor Granger?" Hagrid had been keen to pronounce the "professor" part very slowly for emphasis. "How 'ave you been Hermione?" he asked as she beamed. They used the rest of their walk to chat as they made their way to the castle.

"I've been training all summer so I could pass the teaching exams, how was your summer?"

"Me and Gwapy worked part 'o the summer to build him a house just inside the forest. He likes it in the forest, recon he enjoys the quiet." He said as he pointed over to the forbidden forest.

When they arrived at the castle the headmistress greeted them and told them a small feast would be awaiting all the teachers inside and that their belongings were being stored in their quarters. Hermione realized that she didn't know where her quarters were.

There were about 20 teachers that filtered into the great hall for dinner. Professor Hagrid still taught the care of magical creatures class, while Neville taught Herbology. Pumona Sprout, who used to teach herbology was now the assistant to the headmistress. Professor Flitwick still taught charms class, professor Bins, although long since passed away, continued in his post as the history of magic teacher. Malfoy was in his second year of teaching potions, and Hermione had just signed on to teach transfiguration.

A table was set up in the middle of the hall for the whole group. The headmistress got up to make a toast to the group teaching this year and then the food appeared on the table. One thing she missed very much was the food from Hogwarts; it was the best.

Hermione got lost in conversation with many people at the table and when the feast ended at midnight she almost left the great hall without asking the headmistress where her quarters were.

"I will have Professor Malfoy show you to your quarters," she said as she motioned to Malfoy who had a sour look on his face. "I also need to see you first thing in the morning to settle some business Professor Granger."

"Of course, thank you headmistress." Hermione uttered as she looked at Malfoy. She was sure McGonigal knew how she felt about Malfoy. She didn't know who was being punished more, her, or Malfoy.

"This way," he called out as he briskly walked past her. It was easier to limit conversation when you didn't have to walk side by side. Hermione didn't mind. Most of the other teachers had hung around the great hall and it was just the two of them in the hallway, he seemed to be leading her to the center of the castle. On the second floor Malfoy stopped in front of a painting of a Hogwarts crest that was down a small hallway. There was nothing interesting about this area and Hermione had passed it many times while attending the school without giving it a second look. "Chocolate Cauldrons" he said to the picture and it swung open to let them in.

Inside was beautiful and there was a mix of every house color from the walls down to the furniture. The crests of all the houses decorated different areas of the room, and there was a fire going in the fire place. There was a big open area and what looked like small spiral staircases that had doors atop each one, as if there was a room on each level. It reminded her of the staircases from Gryffindor tower, except that it was an inside out version.

It was clear to her that these were the quarters that the staff shared and they had their individual rooms within this part of the castle.

"Yours is over there," he pointed to her and then slammed the door to his unit shut and disappeared inside before she could ask him any questions.

She felt relieved that he was gone.

After she opened the door and closed it, she took a quick chance to look around. The room was bigger than she expected from the outside. When she entered it was into a large living room with its own small fireplace. Off to the side she found a small kitchenette, she couldn't imagine what she would use it for since she had always eaten meals in the great hall when she attended as a student. Past the living room was a bedroom with an attached bathroom. The whole apartment was simply furnished with a four poster bed and dresser made of oak in the bedroom, and a fluffy couch in the front room. After checking that her trunk was in her room, she crashed on the bed and fell asleep.

She woke up early to prepare herself to see the headmistress, wanting to look her best on her first day on duty. She pulled her hair back into a thick pony tail, wanting to try a different look as a teacher from when she was a student.

School didn't officially start for another couple weeks, but there were several preparations that needed to be completed before students arrived. She walked up the hallway to where the stone gargoyle was and realized she didn't have the password. "The headmistress is expecting me," she tried to reason with the statue, but it remained unmovable. She remembered that Dumbledore had always used names of candy as his passwords and began to try a few herself. "Fizzing Wizzbee," "Cockroach cluster," when the gargoyle sprang aside. "Seriously?" she asked when she realized she hadn't guessed right at all. The headmistress was winding her way down the stairs and just happened to run into Hermione.

"I'm glad you're here, you didn't get the password?" She asked.

"No, had you sent it?"

"I passed Professor Malfoy in the hall this morning and asked him to relay it to you. Never mind now, please follow me."