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Old Wounds Ch.1

Severus hated the way the students looked at him. Most of them gazed with eyes full of fear, but he could tell that resentment, malice, and contempt, lurked in the corners of their eyes. He heard the whispers too. How could they think he didn't. After the war, he'd spent 6 months in a coma in St. Mungos, and as soon as he was awake had come back to the school to prepare for classes. People asked why he'd survived, the greasy old dungeon bat, but Lupin had to die. Everyone liked Lupin. They'd dedicated an entire wing of the school to him. That had been 7 years ago. The whispers still hadn't gone away and neither had the nightmares.

Hermione spoke out loud as the magic version of a MAC dictated her words for her column. She kept glancing at the clock, hoping hours had passed only to see minutes had changed. It was depressing. The ministry was short on journalists at the moment. More people wanted to be Aurors nowadays. After the war, they wanted to be on the front lines fighting against evil, but Hermione was trying to run as far from it as possible. She'd seen how the war destroyed lives. She was alone. Harry was always out of the country on missions and the Weasleys had packed up and disappeared off the grid after the war. No one had heard from them since. Hermione saw Luna every now and then as she had gotten a job in records. Luna liked the peace in not dealing with many people but the intrigue in reading their life stories.

Hermione's boss came in to give her the next week's assignment, "Good morning, Hermione!"

It was still morning and Hermione wanted to die. Her boss was a cheery brunette, average in every way except for her sparkling clear blue eyes. She was part Veela on her mother's side or something.

"Dear, can you take on another story? You are one of my best writers after all and I think this one will really suit you."

"Well, I sort of have a lot on my plate, but I guess I can take another."

"Great! I knew you'd say yes so I brought you the file," a manilla envelope appeared on the desk," It's an immersion piece that I need you to do."

Hermione inwardly groaned at the thought," And where will I be 'immersed'?"

"Hogwarts. I know that you are a veteran of the war. I want you to talk to the professors at the school and see what they are like now 7 years later. You will be spending 2 weeks there shadowing a professor... Snape."

"Ma'am, I don't think I should..."

"Please, Hermione. This will be one of the biggest stories of the year, front page."

Hermione sighed. She never wanted to go back to Hogwarts. She never wanted to see the place again, but this was her job. she had to do things that she didn't want to more often than not.

Hermione picked up the envelope," Okay, I'll do it. When do I start?"

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