A/N: Thank you to my three reviewers so far, lunar wolf spirit, Cassie and sevslittlewitch! You are awesome! (Unlike those other people who haven't reviewed yet!) Neways, the romance will get more, uh, lets say, apparent, but I have to get Hermione into the freaking school first in order for my evil diabolical plan to work…(Did I just say that? cough I mean, never mind).  Here it goes! Review, Review, Review! NOW!

Chapter 2: Look to Liking

            Hermione waited anxiously for the first years to finish being sorted into the houses; for once in her years at Hogwarts she didn't care and would rather begin eating the feast that always awaited them.

            Finally, when a random first year named Zirconi, Josie was sorted into Ravenclaw; Dumbledore rose to make his speech. As always, he radiated calm and power, and Hermione never doubted for a second that he was the only one the Dark Lord feared. 

            "Another year at Hogwarts, and more students to join us. I have just a few announcements, and we will get on with the food." He paused for effect. "First of all, the forest is forbidden to all students, hence the name Forbidden Forest. Also, Filch has suggested to me to remind you for the six thousand, eight hundred and fifty-second time that there are many items that are not permitted in this school, and there is a lengthy list posted on his office door. Also, that the position of Defense against the Dark Arts teacher is being filled by the returning Professor Remus Lupin!"

And before he could get two more words in, there was uproar of applause and shouting, especially from the Gryffindor table. Then it gave way to waves of urgent whispers, for many had learned that Remus Lupin was a werewolf, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione knew this all too well. Hermione managed to sneak a look at Professor Snape, who was not clapping and had a look on his face that would have made the Dark Lord himself drop over dead. She laughed silently, he was back to his normal self, but she would only know for sure tomorrow.

"And finally, I leave you with these words: Rumplefrazzle Doink!" And the long-awaited food appeared, and everyone dug in with gusto.

By the time everyone had gone to the common rooms and Hermione had returned from Prefect duties with Ron, she was exhausted and practically fell into bed, and was instantly asleep.

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Lavender Brown was shaking Hermione to wake her up; they were late for breakfast. Hermione leaped out of bed and was down into the Great Hall in record time just in time to get her course schedule. She took a seat next to Harry and Ron, and went over her schedule. Harry groaned.

"We have double Potions today first thing! Is life not fair or what??"

"Oh, Harry, it won't be so bad, we actually are able to take Advanced Potions, remember? All three of us got O's on our Potions exam for OWL's."

"Yeah, Hermione, but still…two hours with that prat of a teacher!" butted in Ron indignantly.

"Oh you two are hopeless, he's really not that bad…"

"Unless of course he has a grudge against you," said Harry.

"And a deep hatred that goes farther than his loyalty to the Order," added Ron. Harry nodded in agreement. Hermione had to agree as well; Snape seemed to have it in for Ron, but not as much as Harry.

"He was relatively nice and civil to me during the summer at the Order," she argued.

"Yeah, because he thought Sirius was going to come back from the dead and haunt him if he wasn't nice to people!" He looked at Harry, who suddenly was very depressed and silent. "Sorry, Harry, I forgot you're still, well, grieving and all…"

"It's fine Ron. I almost wish he would do that, then I could see him again," replied Harry gloomily, before he got up from the table and walked away with his hands in his pockets. Ron stared after his best friend's retreating figure for only a second, then turned back to Hermione, a look of suspicion on his face.

"And now why are you making such a big deal about Snape being nice to you all of sudden? You think he's still a greasy git, right?"

"Well, no, not really-" Hermione suddenly realized what she was saying. She was implying she actually liked Professor Snape; she didn't… or did she? All she knew was that she was telling the wrong person about that. 

"Have you gone mad?!" Ron said a little too loudly.

"Ron, all I'm saying is that he's changed; he's not just a prat anymore, and I wish you'd give him more respect, after all, he basically decides if you fail Potions or not! You do want to get into NEWTS Potions?

"Of course I do, but still, the unfair, evil, twisted, greasy-"

"RON!"

"-hooked nosed prat!" Ron finished defiantly. Hermione got up in a huff and began walking to the dungeons to Potions, with Ron not far behind her.

Instead of making a quote "frightening" entrance after class had started as always, he was sitting at his desk, looking with a sneer at every non-Slytherin. Hermione took a place in the front of the room, as always. Snape gave her a look that she had never seen before, a searching and curious look with a slight twinge of fondness in his eyes. She managed a quick smile, but before she had time to even process it, it was gone, only a flicker of something Hermione thought, sadly, that she'd never see again.

"What was that all about? I felt like I melted inside. Was it from fear, or something else?" Hermione was so confused she hardly noticed that Snape had already begun explaining the lesson and everyone was frantically flipping through his or her books. She snapped out of it, muttering, "It was nothing, I probably just imagined it," and opened her book along with everyone else.

Snape, on the other hand, had lost complete control of his emotions at that precise moment when he had looked at Hermione; it had scared him. He had a reputation to uphold, and that look, the emotions he had felt for sure had been plastered on his face, was dangerous. But it was Hermione. She was never interested in boys, or men, he had never really seen her "with" anybody except for Victor Krum, but he was history. He mentally slapped himself, why did he care if she was "with" someone? But in a way, he desperately was.

As the lesson continued, he sat at his desk, constantly peeking over at Hermione. It was hard not to, she was right in front of him.Her brown hair, which had somehow become less bushy than in earlier years, was more silky and soft looking. She had full lips, and she was biting her lower lip; he knew it meant she was concentrating really hard. Her eyes he had never really noticed until the summer at the Order, almond shaped and an auburn brown and gold color that within their depths showed intelligence, maturity, and beauty.

Hermione looked up and their eyes locked, and Snape was so caught off-guard in his daydream, he had no time to sneer, he was trapped in those eyes.

Hermione realized that this was the most actual eye contact she had ever had with her professor, and it made her stomach flutter and her heart beat faster. 

"What on earth is going on?" she thought as she averted her eyes. That eye lock had gone for about a minute, but nobody had seemed to notice. She was glad no one had.

A/N: I will probably from now on put a person's thoughts in italics, and annunciations in bold. This chapter was longer, but it was because more was going on than in Chapter 1.  I also thought I'd try to make Dumbledore sound as close as possible to what he does in the books, especially with his random final words (i.e. Rumplefrazzle Doink) If I get more reviews ahem I will probably put the next chapter up faster! Also, of I missed any other reviewers in the past 24 hours, I'm sorry; I've only officially seen those three people so far. In the future, I will try not to bore your head off with long author notes.