Disclaimer: See Chapter 1
"I'm so glad you agreed to this Miss Granger. I'm sorry it's on such short notice but I can't say that was what I intended," McGonagall quickly said. "Filius just decided to retire. Just decided. At least he left most of his supplies. It's for the best, I think. He seemed tense and jumpy. He definitely needed a break. I just wish he had let us know this was coming!"
"I'm sorry, Professor."
"Please, Miss Granger, Minerva."
The two women walked toward the Great Hall. Hermione had been invited for lunch and then she would finish packing her things and move in first thing tomorrow.
McGonagall had already shown her to her rooms, given her the password to get into them and her new office. McGonagall would show Hermione how to change the password once everyone was settled.
"Well, Minerva, I'm sorry he left so abruptly. I promise I'll do my best to adapt. It'll be nice working with magic in front of people again, not having to hide it."
"Yes, I guarantee it will," she said, keeping in front of Hermione as they walked through the hall.
The two women spoke no more until they reached the Great Hall and found their seats, Hermione unwillingly. She had to sit next to none other than Professor Trelawney whom, in Hermione's opinion, was still an old fraud more than half the time.
Still, she was glad to be rid of the silence. She hated silence with a passion. At her house, she always had to have something going, either the telly or the radio to keep herself from going crazy.
"Ah, Miss Granger… How nice to see you again… Is your mother well?" Trelawney asked.
Hermione opened her mouth to answer (curtly, no doubt), but McGonagall interrupted her. "How are your parents? You found them in Australia, correct?"
"Yes, yes I did," Hermione said turning to Minerva, leaving Professor Trelawney hurt at the rejection. She did so hope that she and Hermione would make it on better terms. "They're there visiting some of their old friends. I'll have to pick them up from the Muggle airport soon. We're hoping today."
"Now, can you explain to me how Muggle airplanes work?" McGonagall asked.
Hermione tried her best to explain but she lacked a working knowledge of planes and sky-travel. What she did know seemed to satisfy her former professor.
All of the teachers, excluding Trelawney and Hagrid, bombarded Hermione with questions about Muggle things… Clothes, customs, music, and anything else they could think of. It got quite annoying but not as much as it would have if Trelawney had spoken.
After they finished eating their lunches, Hermione had to excuse herself. Her trunk wasn't fully packed and she had a few possessions more that she needed to retrieve from Ginny and Harry.
As she said this, McGonagall laughed. When Hermione asked why, Minerva replied "I didn't have to say you had the job, did I?"
Hermione left it at that, walked out to Hogsmeade, and bought a butterbeer.
Another thing she wouldn't admit? Missing butterbeer. She wasn't a huge fan of it but it was something that reminded her of normalcy and fun and her early days at Hogwarts. She would get to have them a lot now, being a teacher.
She sat down at a table and thought about how fast she jumped back into the Wizarding World. She thought about how she didn't feel ready to do it yet, how utterly frightening it was to her. And as bad as she felt about it, she thought about what Trelawney had asked. The fleeting thought passed, but came back just as quickly.
Trelawney had obviously made her fair share of false predictions. So why did she even think about it in the first place? If she was thirteen again, she would have scoffed at it. Maybe it was because of Harry's prophecy?
No, that couldn't be right…. Trelawney had predicted Harry's imminent death time and time again.
Hermione finished her butterbeer and left Hogsmeade. She apparated back home, gathered the things she needed from the Potters, and finished her packing.
Occasionally, her mind would float back to Trelawney.
It wasn't as if she hadn't made terrible predictions before. After all, she wasn't in a trance, she couldn't remember what was in a trance. But the look on Trelawney's face was serious. Maybe she would need to keep a close eye on her mother, just in case.
If anything, this was just an eye opener for Hermione. Her mother had her at thirty-five. Twenty years later, there could be some health problems. Yes, she would keep a closer watch on her.
But she would never tell Trelawney.
