The next day Hermione woke up tucked in a blanket and with her book neatly bookmarked and placed on the ground with a pepper-up potion. A note was tied to the neck of the little vial which read 'good luck on your tests today! -the girls.' The common room was empty, and the large clock showed she had only five minutes left.

Hermione swore and flung herself off the couch. She raced down the corridors, nearly bowling over some first years in her attempt to meet Professor McGonagall on time. She managed to snatch some bacon of Alice's plate before meeting the stern-looking witch at the head table of the Great Hall.

"Cutting it close, Ms. Granger," she said, frowning. "Follow me."

Hermione spent the entire day in testing. Whenever a professor had a free period, they'd stop by the empty classroom to drill her in every branch of magic. Each time it was the same; after the first few questions, they all realized what a depth of knowledge she had, and the questions got impossibly difficult. By the end of the day, Hermione was struggling to keep her face off her dinner plate.

"How do you think you did?" Dorcas asked, her head tilted slightly to the side in a way that reminded her of Luna.

"Well enough," Hermione finally answered, rubbing her shoulder from where Marlene flicked her to get her attention, "I hadn't done some subjects in a long time, though, and I'm not sure I'll even been in N.E.W.T. level classes for them. Especially potions. Merlin, that was difficult. Is Professor Slughorn always so exact?"

"Oh yes," Dorcas said, "he is ever so nice, though. He likes to offer potions as prizes to students who do well."

Hermione remembered that from her own timeline, still miffed that Harry had stolen the Liquid Luck from her with Professor Snape's textbook. She wondered if Snape's fifth year potions textbook was as interesting as his sixth year's. She turned towards the Slytherin table, realizing she didn't get a look at her old professor during yesterday's meal.

She found Snape quickly enough, sitting at the far edge of the table. He was mostly alone save for a younger boy who seemed to be talking Snape's ear off. He hadn't changed much, with his nose still hooked and his hair still greasy, but it was surprising to see the features on such a young face. The war must have aged him a great deal.

"That's Severus Snape," Dorcas said, following her line of sight. "Are you interested?"

Hermione's face contorted in disgust. "Merlin, no. He just...looks lonely."

"I suppose he is," Dorcas agreed. "He and Lily are friends, sort of."

"Who am I friends with?" asked Lily, coming over and dropping her book bag.

"Severus Snape. Sort of," Dorcas repeated.

Lily's face looked lost for a moment as she sought out the Slytherin across the hall. "We were childhood friends," she agreed softly. "He was the one who recognized I was a witch and explained what that meant. He doesn't talk to me much anymore, though."

Hermione had no idea Snape knew Lily so well. She could just imagine Harry's reaction; he'd probably go mental, pretending to vomit or maybe vomiting for real. Ron would start calling him "Mister Harry Snape" and grab a black mess of Hermione's yarn to stick on his head. Then he'd have to duck before he'd get hit in the nose. She snorted at the mental image, even as her eyes misted over.

"Now what's so funny?" said Harry- no, James Potter as he sat next to her and across from Lily.

Hermione sucked in a breath and the boy's outline blurred underneath her tears.

"Hey, hey!" he said, looking bewildered, "I just heard you laugh! But now you're crying!"

"Just because you have the emotional range of a teaspoon," she muttered.

"I'll have you know I can feel five whole different emotions," he said, puffing out his chest. "And I want to know what you were laughing at. I bet I'm way funnier than whatever it was."

"It was my brother, hence the laughing and crying bit," she said, wiping her eyes. "He would have some very interesting things to say if he ever met that boy Snape over there. We used to know someone like him, and the two of them butted heads constantly."

"Well your brother had right good taste," James said, oblivious to Lily's hard stare. "Did this lot tell you how Snivilus jinxed my broom in the last Slytherin/Gryffindor game last year?"

"No," Lily interjected, "but we could have just as easily told her about how you sabotaged Severus' transfiguration final in third year by transfiguring him into a toad!"

"You know I only did that because he-"

"It doesn't matter! You both are always getting on my nerves! Who cares who did what?" Lily said, getting up and marching out of the hall, her red hair bouncing behind her.

Not knowing what to say to comfort James, who looked like he'd been slapped, she turned her attention back on her peas. The rest of the meal was quiet as the fifth years came and went through. This included a still rambling Remus, who told her all about his terrible potion skills and 'okay' class in defense, but Hermione couldn't find the motivation to get up when he left for the library. Finally, when the last of the plates disappeared and the house elves started to pop in to clean, she decided it was time to go. Snape was still sitting, now totally alone, at the edge of the table with a book. She walked towards him, wanting to feel out whether he was already lost to the death eaters, but something else caught her eye.

Two unknown Slytherin boys were whispering and pointing at Snape from farther down the long table. They looked like seventh years with their five o'clock shadows and their huge robes they were pulling their wands out of. Not thinking, Hermione threw up a protego between Snape and the boys, her mind automatically jumping tracks and putting her in battle mode. A second later, the madidus curse rebounded back on the boys, absolutely soaking them.

"You git!" they shouted, pointing at Snape and shaking off their dripping robes. "You learn wandless, non-verbal magic or something?"

They pulled up into a dueling stance, but Hermione rushed forward, taking a similar position. She conjured a flock of birds with a whispered avis and sent them to attack before the boys could blink.

"What the bloody hell are you doing?" Snape yelled, knocking her over and calling off the attacking birds with a spell she'd never heard of.

The boys were fuming and covered in peck-marks. "Glad your girlfriend's here, Severus." They said it like a curse, and Hermione imagined they already knew she was muggleborn, somehow.

Snape's cheeks were a dark red in an instant. He gritted his teeth and turned on Hermione who was still on the ground. "Get. Out."

Hermione didn't need to be told twice. She'd almost made it to the great doors before Snape yelled after her, "I'll get you back!"

His voice seemed to echo all the way down the hall, and Hermione was still trying to shake how similar it sounded to her old professor when she finally stepped through the Fat Lady's portrait.


The next morning, Hermione got her scores from Professor McGonagall.

"You got... eleven N.E.W.T.s?" Remus asked, the first one of the ten fifth years at the table to break the shocked silence.

"Most of them were only an A," she said, "and I guessed on a lot of them."

"Hermione, you don't just guess your way to eleven N.E.W.T.s," Lily said, looking at her like she'd sprouted wings or turned into a unicorn.

Professor McGonagall nodded. "Miss Evans is correct. You earned those N.E.W.T.s honorably. I was especially impressed with your transfiguration exam. Mr. Black will tell you I am not easily impressed."

"Minne won't even smile at me during class!" he complained, spewing bits of the muffin he'd stuffed in his mouth as he spoke.

"Let me see that," Remus said snatching her evaluation results. His eyes scanned the page before coming to the final score. His mouth opened wide, then closed. He repeated this a few times, looking between Hermione and the page, eventually pointing at it with a confused "huh?" directed towards Professor McGonagall.

"Yes, Mister Lupin, Hermione did indeed earn above an O on her Defense Against the Dark Arts exam. Her dueling is unlike any I've seen from a student in many years."

"Yes, well, let me keep my grades to myself, thank you," Hermione said, snatching the paper out of Remus' hands. Anyone could be listening to their conversation, and she wasn't interested in her dueling abilities being widely known.

"Are you kidding?" Marlene said, "I'd be standing on the table crowing like a rooster if I got scores like that. Hell, I'd be flying off the table and onto a professional quidditch pitch if I already had my N.E.W.T.s."

Hermione shook her head. She'd decided even before getting her scores that she deserved a seventh year at Hogwarts. Plus, Minerva had been right in the hospital wing. Hogwarts was the safest place for her at the moment. "I'd like to take the N.E.W.T. level classes for any subject I didn't earn an O in, if you'll allow it, Professor."

Professor McGonagall didn't look surprised. She pulled a roll of parchment from the sleeve of her robe and handed it to her with a smile. "Hurry up with your breakfast, then. You've got Herbology with Miss Brown first period."

Alice grinned at Hermione. "I'll help you with your seedlings first thing. You'll be a few weeks behind, but Professor Sprout has some grow-vine you can use to catch up. Oh this is going to be so exciting! I don't know anyone in class otherwise!"

Hermione could see Neville shining through his mother then, and for the rest of breakfast. She continued to babble on about how she was allowed to take her herbology O.W.L in third year instead of fifth, how her mandrakes were doing, and how she tamed her wild begonias. She could see Neville's kindness in her too, later when they were at their workbenches elbow deep in magically enhanced soil.

"Lily and I heard you last night, stumbling around and muttering to yourself," she said, barely above a whisper, "and you didn't sound so good. Are you ok?"

"Were you guys the ones who put the pepper-up potion on my book yesterday?" When Alice nodded, Hermione sighed. "I'm... alright. I have nightmares, is all. I forgot to get some Dreamless Sleep from Madam Pomfrey, but I'll be sure to get some before tonight. I don't want you all waking up because of me."

"Oh no, we wake up anyways," she said, smoothing over the flowerbed and Hermione's conscience, "but Lily wanted me to pass on that if you want, you can talk to her. You can talk to me too, of course, but Lily's got some experience in mind-healing."

"Like, counseling?"

"I think that's what the muggles call it, yeah," Alice said, "and that's how Lily got interested in it anyways. But mind-healing involves more than just talking. You'd have to ask Lily for specifics, but I know she's helped out others. Remus, for example."

Hermione felt herself flush a little just hearing his name, and of course Alice had to be perceptive enough to notice. She waggled her eyes.

"You know Defense is his best subject? I thought he was going to start drooling when he saw your scores."

Hermione dug her hand into the soil and scooped out a handful. "Does he have a girlfriend, by any chance?"

"Ooo, Hermione!" she giggled flicking some dirt at her. "You will have to be careful, though. There is a Hufflepuff girl who's been in and out of the picture, but I'm not sure where they are now. Her name's Victoria something. But I've never seen him look at a girl the way he looked at you during breakfast, though. Practically wanted to make a meal out of you."

Blushing furiously, Hermione had to agree with her. Once he stopped gaping at her like a fish, the look in his eyes was something between envy and longing. Her skin broke out in gooseflesh just thinking about that look, and she wondered if his mouth did anything besides just open and shut.

"Oi, quit thinking about your man and help me with this," Alice said. Even though she made a joke of it, Hermione knew how seriously she took herbology. She took a second to clear her mind before focusing back on class. She could find Remus in the library afterwards, she was sure.


A/N: You guys don't actually think I'll give you a nice, pleasant, walk-in-the-park relationship though, do you? Enjoy the fluff while it lasts. You've got two or three chapters til chaos. :)

Also, I realize I never specified what the M rating will be for, so I'll say that now: violence, language, and some sexual scenes.

Thanks for reading!