Chapter Fifty-Five: 1991
(September 1st, 1991)
Severus Snape stood at the narrow window of his rather small office, peering into the dark night's sky. Tonight, Hogwarts would hold its annual Great Feast, which would celebrate the beginning of a new school year. Tonight, she would be there. He could hardly believe it.
Severus went to sit down in his chair, to recall the events of the last fifteen years. The years had not treated him kindly, to say the least. Lily cut off their relationship the day he had yelled at her in front of Potter, and it had broken his already-bruised heart. When he had begged her to reconsider, she only told him that they were meant to go in different paths. He hadn't understood; he hadn't even called her that word! But some things in life were just destined to happen, and this was one of such.
The anticipation of her arrival at the school had reduced to him to a shaking mess, even though he was well aware she would have no idea who he was. And she would never know the past between herself and Severus, or the alternate future rather. In some odd way, Severus was relieved. Hermione would go on to live her life happily, never having known about what had occurred. She would feel no heartache or feeling of loss, and could fall in love with anyone as if it were her first time. There would be no Tobias, or Severus.
Severus studied the pattern of the stars in the dark velvet sky as he tried to calm himself, and he thought about his years as a teacher. The very first day he had started to teach, he had promised himself that he would be the kindest teacher possible, as he so desperately did not want to replicate the horrible version he had seen of himself all those many years ago. If it had not been for Hermione, he would have become into a spiteful, bitter man, and he thanked her every day for that. Eventually the time came when he had to make his way to the Great Hall, and though he tried to breathe deeply to relax, his heart beat even faster still.
He recognised her instantly. The bushy hair and lively eyes could not have been anyone else's. She looked much younger than the image of her in his memory; she was only ten years old, of course. But the shy smile on her face as she greeted a rather hungry red-headed boy instantly made him smile.
"Aren't you going to start eating, Severus?" Professor McGonagall asked him as she picked her fork from the table. "The food looks wonderful."
"Indeed, it does. We must remember to thank the kitchen staff." Severus replied back pleasantly, before he looked back at Hermione.
He watched carefully as her eyebrows rose in amazement as the red-headed boy proceeded to stuff his face with any food that was in his arms' length, and he noted her look of disgust and disapproval. But there was also a hint of amusement in her condescending look, and Severus sighed as he realised that this Hermione was a completely different Hermione. There was no point thinking about the past, in fact their relationship had never even happened. He looked away from her table and began to eat.
