Chapter 2

"Minerva!" Severus slammed his fists against the oak of Professor. McGonagall's office door. He stood impatiently waiting on the spiral staircase for her to come to the door. "Minerva!" he shouted again and he crouched down to look through the keyhole. "Minerva…"

"Severus Snape, what do you think you are doing?" Severus closed his eyes in exasperated horror and swivelled on the soles of his shoes to look up at McGonagall. Hair had fallen across his pale face in his battle with the door and he quickly flicked it out of his eyes as he stood.

"I thought you were inside." He answered simply but he refused to meet her eye. McGonagall's eyes twinkled with wonder as she walked past Severus and into her office. He groaned into his hands, stood and followed her into the room.

Just as every other time he had visited the headmistress' office since the death of Dumbledore he was struck by just how different it looked. The once heavily decorated and cluttered room had lost the suffocating happy glow of old and although still warm and filled with treasures, without Albus' presence the room just didn't feel the same.

"Now what did you want to talk to me about Severus?" Minerva McGonagall asked as she sat behind her desk and offered him a ginger cat snap. His face pinched and he shook his head, the sickening aroma floating towards him from three feet away. He sat down in a hard wooden chair in front of her desk and looked Minerva dead in the eye.

"Why would you do this to me?" he asked bluntly. Taken aback Minerva pulled her glasses out of her robe pocket and sat them on her nose, her eyes peered closely at Severus.

"What have I supposedly done?" she asked puzzled.

"You hired Granger."

"Yes…"

"You're letting her live here."

"Yes…"

"Teach here!"

"Yes but I don't see…"

"Why would you do this to me?" Minerva crossed her arms and stared Severus down, surprised to see a young whiny student suddenly sprouting out of a man she liked and respected.

"Now you listen here Severus." Minerva suddenly said, her eyes flashed with fire but her face kept her placid headmistress façade. "I hired Hermione Granger because she is a smart, reliable and creative teacher who will help our students actually learn in history!"

"Binns was fine…"

"Do you remember his classes Severus? He was horrible! The day those third years chased him out of school was a day the entire history of wizardkind breathed a sigh of relief and stopped snoring on its desk!"

"Yes but why would you hire…" McGonagall interrupted him with a bitter laugh.

"Because she's perfect for it! She came alive in her interview! The group of fourth years she taught for it were practically begging me to employ her."

"But she's so young!"

"Severus she is twenty-two years old, which if I'm not mistaken means she is older then you were when you first started teaching at Hogwarts." Severus had the courtesy to scowl and cross his arms speechless.

"Now Severus you are going to leave my office and stop sulking because of some kind of petty dislike for your colleague." Severus opened his mouth to speak. McGonagall spotted his I'm-about-to-argue face and quickly looked down. She held up a hand to shush him before picking up a heavy textbook and relaxing in her chair, ignoring him completely.

Severus sat gaping at the cover of the book in shock. Gracefully he pulled himself to his feet and wrapped his cloak around his arms. He scowled at the tall bony woman and stalked towards the door, muttering insults under his breath.

"I heard that." Echoed after him as he slammed the door and turned to storm down the spiral staircase. But something stopped him in his path and he collided heavily with a solid body. Growling loudly he dusted off his robe and glared at a frightened Hermione Granger clutching a box of Ginger Snaps. Suddenly, before his very eyes she hardened, raised an eyebrow and shoved him out of the way to reach the office door. Severus was left travelling to the hallway on the moving spiral staircase reeling in shock.

Later Severus sat at the wooden desk in his office nursing a cup of whiskey as he loosened his collar and ran his hands through his hair. 'What has happened to that girl?' he asked himself. He had come into contact with Granger only a few times since she had arrived the day before, and every time he had been struck by how… different she was. 'It's as though she is a completely different person.' He thought as he sipped at the stiff whiskey and glanced around at his messy office. He was distracted by musings of whether he could be bothered to clean it. Annoyed with himself Severus shook his head from side to side, trying to regain control of his thought pattern. 'Something must have happened to her because she is definitely not afraid of me anymore." A light knock at his door pulled him out of his musings and with a throaty groan he stood from his chair. Casting a longing glance at his whiskey he crossed to the door. He had barely opened it when he was pushed roughly back and Hermione Granger flung herself into his room with a frantic look about her. He scowled at the heavy books filling her arms, and sniffed disdainfully at her hair, tucked up at the back of her head with her wand.

"I need a book." She said quickly as she dumped the heavy load in her arms into his and began racing around his room in search of a book. Severus was decidedly shocked. He flung the texts down onto the floor and walked after her.

"Well whatever book it is you can't have it." He protested, his voice hissing through a clenched jaw. The frizzy woman began to pull heavy tombs from his shelves and discard them into his arms. "I am not your pack mule woman!" he yelled, her nonchalantly raised eyebrows infuriated him even more.

"I know you have it here somewhere Snape because Madam Pince told me you checked it out." She said, the triumph was obvious in her tone, "I don't know where you've hidden it or why but I'm…" she had obviously spotted something so Severus followed her gaze. 'Goblin Wars – A Tragedy?' lay innocently on his desk. Hermione practically flew across the room, her fingers outstretched, ready to snatch it from him. Fury spilt out of Severus and he too propelled himself forward, reaching it just before she could. Severus turned to face Hermione, he stretched out an arm to stop her but it was too late and she barrelled into him. Dazzled Severus blinked warily up at the ceiling.

"Granger! Get off me!" he shouted upon the realisation that he was sprawled across his desk with a young woman on his chest. Things like that just didn't happen to him. But Hermione was already jumping up from the desk, she span around when she was on her feet and stole the book from his grasp. "No! That's mine! I haven't read it yet!" he protested as he scrambled from his position lying across his papers. He was fortunately unaware that his glass of whiskey had smashed on the cold floor.

"I need it Snape! I've left my copy at home and I need it for my third years tomorrow."

"No! It's mine! I have not even started it yet." She raised a disbelieving eyebrow and turned to the final page to see his bookmarker laid against the back of the text, no longer in use. "That's not mine." He said, and he tried to snatch it back from her. She laughed and he watched her lift the book above her head and run across the room, reading the bookmark aloud.

"Property of Severus Snape." She grinned and waved it at him from behind his desk. Scowling Severus lent across it, still trying in vain to pull the book out of her grip. She lifted it out of the way again and made a break for the door.

"Oh no you don't!" he said pulling his wand out of his pocket and shooting a spell at the door. "Give it back now!" she frantically checked her pockets for her wand, juggling the book between both of her hands. Severus sneaked forward and was ready to grab the book from her grasp, but she suddenly stomped down harshly on his foot, successfully distracting him. As he hopped around his office swearing loudly she continued checking her pockets. Severus took a deep breath and stormed towards her. Whilst avoiding her mean feet, he stepped up to her until they were just millimetres apart and snarled. "Give me the book!" she laughed up at him and pushed lightly against the door hoping it would open without magic. He glared down at her and plucked the wand from her hair, sending her curls tumbling down around her face. She smiled weakly and went to take it from him, accidentally bumping into his chest whilst craning her neck to look down at her wand in the hand hanging loosely at his side. Severus smiled sadistically and held it out behind him, he pushed her against the door lightly with one hand. "No. Give me the book back and I'll give you your wand."

"Why can't I just borrow it for a day?" she pleaded, she tried to pull away from the door but found his seemingly light push on the front of her robes too much to fight against.

"You can't borrow it because I don't want you to." She looked up at him in disbelief.

"Do you know how spoilt and bratty you sound?" she asked suddenly, finding a new reason to try and push him away.

"Me spoilt and bratty? You're the one whose wandering around feeling sorry for herself all day, getting in my way and stealing my books!" he yelled at her, she flinched and tears sprouted in her eyes. Shocked he let go of her and her wand as though any part of her burned his fingers to touch. She snatched her wand from the floor, levitated the books she arrived with and ran from his office.

A shell-shocked Severus walked back to his desk, his boots crunching on the broken glass of his whiskey. He sat down in his chair and surveyed his even messier room. He was sure now that there was something wrong with that blasted woman. She needed her bloody head checked. With a still angry smirk he decided it was his duty as deputy head to see how well Miss Granger did in her first lesson tomorrow.