Ginny Potter stood in her new surroundings with her hand resting on her belly. She never thought that she'd be living at Hogwarts again, at least not before she was an elderly woman with grandchildren but to be young and pregnant. It was amazing. Harry was getting ready to teach his very first class, they'd spent the whole last weekend of September cleaning out and closing up their house and all Sunday had been spent cleaning out his office. With a smile, Ginny took James's hand and went off to Snape and Hermione's private chambers hoping to have tea with her friend and discuss what was going on in the world. She knocked on the portrait door because she didn't know the password then waited, after about five minutes Ginny walked down to the dungeons and knocked on Snape's office door which was opened with the use of magic.
"Oh, Mrs. Potter" Severus greeted, he was moving around his desk collecting papers "To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?" He sounded kind but she saw the twitch near his right eye that told her he'd rather not have her there "I have a class in ten minutes"
"I was wondering if Hermione is home" Ginny asked, he raised his dark eyes to hers and stared for a moment before a small frown tugged at the corners of his mouth.
"No, Mrs. Potter" He answered "My wife is at work all day, I teach all day and Aibhlinn is at the daycare center at the ministry until Hermione comes home" He walked through a door that led to the classroom and started setting up the notes and fixing things that were needed for that class.
"Oh" Ginny looked around and bit her lip.
"Mrs. Potter" Severus turned and looked at her "It is going to take a while to fall into a relatively normal routine as a spouse here. Take the time to walk around and visit places that you loved to visit as a student, nothing is out of bounds for you anymore...go on an adventure for your first day"
"Sounds good for a first day" Ginny agreed "But what about my second day?"
"I don't know what interests you, Mrs. Potter" He told her, not unkindly, but in a way that told her she was annoying him "The ministry offers at home University classes, take one. Find a job in town or here if there is one for your skill set, you'll have to figure it out yourself while I teach my class" Ginny looked around and realized that some students had come in and were looking at her like she was an alien.
"Thank you, Professor" She muttered "Have a good class"
Ginny walked through the castle towards her husbands classroom and she peeked in. She'd been hoping that he'd be in-between classes but as her luck would have it, he was right in the middle of one. Ginny watched him teaching and realized he may have found his calling, the classroom still wasn't set up the way he said he wanted it to be, but he looked perfectly in place. He stood, talking animatedly to the class. She smiled as she walked back to their shared chambers, James needed a nap and she really needed to think about what Professor Snape had told her. When she got James into bed and got to the sitting room there was a note waiting for her, no owl so that made her think it was from someone within the castle and she was right. The small, spiky cramped handwriting wasn't as recognizable to her as it would have been to Hermione but she remembered Snape's writing from the many essays she'd handed in and he'd torn apart with cruel words before giving it back to her.
Mrs. Potter-
I did not mean to be so short when you visited. I am always short before the first class of the day, I am writing this while the students take notes. I wasn't lying you do need to find something to do to take your mind off of the boredom you'll find here. I've watched multiple marriages end after the professor comes here, it seems like such a good idea, you loved Hogwarts as a student so of course you'll love it as an adult. However, unless you're the professor it can be very boring here and I promise you that it gets worse as the school year moves into the winter months. You need to find something to occupy your mind, I know that when your child comes it'll likely be better for a while but then it'll get worse.
Hermione suffered the loneliness here greatly but remember that Tonks is here sometimes and Remus is here though in the Headmasters office. But like I said, find something to keep your interest and occupy your mind and if you need help I'm sure any of the Professors, myself included, will be here to help you.
-Severus Snape.
~~~/ /~~~
Hermione was sitting in her office overlooking the Hogwarts paperwork. They'd done a 'silent poll' on how the wizarding world felt about Hermione taking Dumbledore out of the Headmasters office and was surprised to see that many were happy about it. However, they weren't happy with his replacement, not that she expected them to be. Werewolves were still seen as horrible beasts, and they were, but the people that were the werewolves weren't always monsters and she wanted people to realize that. This would be his first day as Headmaster, the first week, and she knew that there were going to be issues. Hermione was just waiting for the first shoe to drop so she could work on that while the second one was sure to drop. This was going to be one hell of a week, she'd already warned Severus that her attitude may be a bit testy but that she loved him and would make it up to him as soon as things smoothed out.
"Minister" Her assistant greeted from the doorway "Rita Skeeter is here for an interview, should I let her in?"
"Give me a few minutes, I have some things to clean up" Hermione answered, some people thought it was strange that she did about eighty percent of her interviews with only Rita, but Hermione preferred the evil she knew to the one she didn't.
"Yes, ma'am" Carly answered with a small head bob as she walked back out of the office.
Hermione set to picking up the papers she'd rather not have Rita see. Hermione didn't particularly like the reporter, but they'd learned to get along with one another, Hermione kept Rita in business with her stories and Rita knew that if she said something wrong then the minister would make her life a living hell. It worked for them both. She set aside the notebook where she kept all her notes that concerned whatever she was working on and then put something over it so the reporter wouldn't see it. Then she pressed the little red button that alerted Carly she was ready for the reporter to come in and waited for the door to open. Rita was decked out in her usual ghastly colored outfit with her blonde hair pulled tightly back from her perfectly made up face and she wore a big smile.
"Minister Snape" Rita greeted "How are you?"
"I am good, Miss Skeeter" Hermione answered "And yourself?"
"Doing great, as usual" Rita answered, she sat down and opened her purse, pulling out her notebook and quill "Whenever you're ready, Minister"
"What is your first question then?" Hermione asked, as she sat herself down on the other side of the desk. It was something she learned in those early months of her life as a minister while Severus had still been in the hospital fighting for his life. Rita was a damn-good reporter and noticed everything from what the person she was interviewing was saying to the body language. One of Hermione's ticks was rearranging her feet, smoothing her skirt and pulling her feet out of her shoes then putting them back on. Rita wrote about her nervousness and it took her entirely too long to convince the wizarding world that she wasn't too nervous to lead.
"As you know" Rita started "The public is feeling a little...nervous about a werewolf overseeing their children's safety and education" Hermione nodded enthusiastically "Are you sure that you made the right choice and more than that, why did you make such a decision?"
"There isn't a werewolf overseeing the education and safety of the children in Hogwarts" Hermione answered her "There is a man that suffers from a sickness that, while not curable, is indeed workable. Remus Lupin is a good, intelligent and caring man that is ready, willing and able to offer trust, safety, education, fun and love to the staff, the school and all of its students"
"Some say that he only got the position because of his friendship with you" Rita pointed out "Some have even speculated that we're lucky you didn't give the position to your husband"
"My goodness" Hermione laughed, knowing the reporter was making note of it "I can say that I wouldn't be able to even begin to deal with being a Headmasters wife, I am not entirely sure how he puts up being the Ministers husband" At this moment even Rita chuckled "But Remus Lupins credentials should speak for itself. He was a private tutor to many children before they turned eleven and in Canada when he was younger, he tutored a child from the age of five until the kid was able to take his N.E.W.T's when he was only fifteen" She waited for Rita to catch up "It seems to me that Headmaster Lupin's abilities to teach were so great that child was ready to take his place among working wizards when he was a fifth year student"
"How long are you willing to allow him to be headmaster before considering finding someone new?" Rita asked.
"Unless something absolutely terrible and dangerous happens to the students, he will remain there until he is too old to be Headmaster" Hermione answered.
"Did you know that many of the witches and wizards in the public are threatening to take their children out of Hogwarts until you appoint someone new...someone normal" Rita told her "What are you going to do when that begins to happen?"
"Let me just say this once, Miss Skeeter" Hermione said slowly "And please make sure that you take down every word that I say"
"Of course" Rita said, her eyes watching Hermione very closely.
"I am leading the Wizarding world into the light of the future" Hermione told her "A huge part of that light is acceptance and love. I won't change my mind about who is Headmaster and I say that if parents want to start pulling their children from the school that is fine with me, there are many homeschooled students that are only homeschooled because their parents are unable to pay the tuition at Hogwarts" She took a deep breath "Those very parents would happily let their children go to school at Hogwarts with Remus Lupin as Headmaster"
"But..." Rita started.
"There are always children that will need education and Hogwarts will be there for them" Hermione talked over her "But I want to paint a world for your readers, for the public that are threatening to take their kids out of the school"
"What kind of painting would that be, Minister?" Rita asked her.
"I beg all the parents to think about their time and experiences at Hogwarts" Hermione said "There will always be bullying but there doesn't have to be favoritism. Think of a school where the teachers treated all the students the same way, where detention was given to all the students who deserve it not just because of which house they were in. Where professors inspire students to put on different activities in the area that they are interested in" She smiled to herself "Imagine that there is a Headmaster that the students feel comfortable going to about anything good or bad. Why would anyone not want that?"
"I quite agree, Minister" Rita agreed with her "Now there is one thing that I've noticed that a lot of people are interested about"
"Alright" Hermione said looking at her watch "One more"
"People are thinking that you've forgotten about the marriage law" Rita told her "Have you?"
"I've not" Hermione answered "There will be meetings with ministry officials, I'm accepting letters from the public about their views on the law and then I'll be holding a public meeting where all voices can be heard and only after I feel like I've gotten all the information will I make a decision on the marriage law"
"Thank you, Minister Snape" Rita said.
It was later that evening that Hermione was finally coming home. It was during dinner, she peeked in the great hall and saw Severus sitting at the staff table and she smiled watching him sitting (rather uncomfortably) between Headmaster Lupin and Professor Potter. She gave another smile and walked off towards their shared quarters, Hermione knew that tomorrow morning the interview that she gave earlier would be in the paper and then the 'shit' would hit the fan. The wizarding world was so annoying sometimes, if she should show even a little vulnerability, they complained that she was too weak to run their world and if she showed too much strength then she was insane and going to drive them into the ground. Hermione hadn't lied, she stood behind Remus completely and whatever he chose to do within the school (as long as it wasn't terrible) and it was true that families that couldn't afford tuition would gladly send their kids there at a discounted rate if too many families pulled their kids out. But the fear was there.
"Hey" Ginny greeted as she walked down the hallway "How the hell did you live here for so long without going insane?" She laughed "I was so bored"
"I became Minister" Hermione laughed "What did you do?"
"I got up half an hour after Harry left" Ginny explained as they walked toward Hermione's private chambers "I visited Snape to find out if you were home, watched Harry with his first class" They entered the sitting room and Hermione flicked her wand so tea was made for them both along with some little muffins "Then I put James down for a nap and set up our home, James woke up, I made lunch, visited Remus and then took a nap"
"You just need to figure out something to do" Hermione said around a laugh, which turned into a yawn "I'm sorry, Gin...I need to lay down, my stomach is a bit upset"
"Anything to be worried about?" Ginny asked.
"Nah" Hermione answered as she stood up "I didn't eat all day then before I left work, I ate a bit too much...that's all"
"Well" Ginny said as she stood up and made her way to the portrait "Do you need someone to watch Aibhlinn?"
"No" Hermione answered "Sev will be back before I sleep and she'll stay with me until then" With that Ginny smiled and let the private chambers.
A/N: Tell me what you think?