Hermione entered the Great Hall and froze in indecision, unable to take the first step. Hogwarts was glittering in all shades of red, orange, and yellow festive lights. A flock of bats descended from the ceiling, making different sounds, like dripping water, then the howling of the wind, or the laugh of an old crone. Luna was particularly proud of this enchantment — it was her exam project for Professor Flitwick.
The third-years lurked in a corner near the table with an alcoholic punch, intending to grab a glass for themselves, but Pomona Sprout's stern look made them scatter. Head of Hufflepuff was often underestimated as a typical representative of the kind-hearted "badgers", but it was even more often forgotten that the badger, forced to protect its cubs, becomes more terrible than a lioness and more resourceful than a snake. Waving her hand after the scattered students, Pomona smiled good-naturedly, poured herself with some bright green punch, and settled comfortably by the column, with her knitting needles and a haft-knitted sock.
Hermione smiled sadly as she watched the scene.
It seemed that everything in Hogwarts remained the same. The walls of the Great Hall never heard the screams of battle, the Black Lake never saw blood, the children were still inventing pranks - cruel and not so much. Their faces were not frozen with an expression of forever bitterness, and their dreams were not haunted by nightmarish visions from the past.
Hermione felt as if she had only to close her eyes, and Harry and Ron would appear as if out of thin air to re-invent new strategies, break the rules, race along the corridors, and sneak into their common rooms long after curfew. They'd steal chocolate pies from the kitchen and devour them as they laughed by the Gryffindor fireplace. It seemed that her childhood lurked behind a pillar and watched as Pomona Sprout continued her multi-colored project to present to her colleagues for Christmas.
The Halloween Ball was in full swing, but Hermione was feeling lousy.
Hermione had not realized until now how lonely she had become since Ronald's departure. Everyone was busy with their own business, and she never managed to find her place under the sun. Everything she took up seemed pointless and out of line with her ambitions. Hermione shook her head, "Who would have thought Gryffindor and ambition!"
Remus Lupin spotted the familiar chestnut mane from afar and went to meet Hermione. Hermione and Lupin managed to maintain good friendly relations. They had many common interests based on their obsessions with books, on a fascination with the ancient Runes, as well as on an interest in world history. Remus rented a flat directly above the Weasley Wizarding Wheezes shop and often shared stories with George about the crazy Marauders' past when the same store sold pranks from Zonko's, and Lupin and Black could boast that they had invested a lot of their own talent in magic trinkets.
Teddy often visited Harry, who now lived in the house on Grimmauld. On weekends, Hermione invariably took her godson to her place and drag him to museums, galleries, and parks. She fed him ice cream and showed him Disney cartoons from her muggle childhood. In the evening, Remus would come for his son, and Hermione would always invite him for a cup of mint tea and treat him to chocolate chip cookies. The werewolf was an eerie sweet tooth, and Granger encouraged his little whims. Hermione loved their friendship with Remus, it was very exciting to find someone to match her intelligence and thirst for knowledge.
"My favorite Apprentice is already here!" Remus greeted happily, stepping closer and kissing Hermione on the cheek.
"Well, well, Professor Lupin, we are standing in the middle of the Great Hall, there are a lot of children around us, and you dare greet me with kisses," Hermione shook her finger at him and smiled broadly.
"Nia," he greeted. The one-year-old Teddy gave Hermione her nickname five years ago, and the name somehow stuck. "The students are too busy with pranks, and the teachers with their cherry punch, believe my experience," Remus grinned back. "Are you ready to dance until you drop?"
"I'm hardly here for dancing, Remus, I'm here for work, I'm a duty teacher, I'm not likely to have time for at least one dance," Hermione sighed.
"What a pity, I wanted to engage you for a waltz," Remus said and smoothed his sandy hair nervously, immediately looking fifteen years younger.
"I would very much like to agree, but alas. So, can you treat me to the famous punch instead?"
"I'd love to," Remus replied and took Hermione by the elbow.
Severus Snape watched this tooth-rotting sweet scene of frank display of friendship, hiding in a secluded corner, right at the table with the aforementioned punch. After all, the cherries and chocolate added to the drink were his inventions, and he was quite proud of that fact.
Severus felt annoyance boil in his veins. He hated dances, he hated dancing. He would much rather go barefoot to Antarctica than catch overly hormonal teenagers in the bushes. And he most certainly could not stand Lupin. How, great Merlin, how did this werewolf manage to win the attention of every woman with almost no effort? Lupin was adored by the entire female half of the teachers, senior students lined up to study Defense Against the Dark Arts with him, and all he ever did was to smile radiantly and answer something vague. Poppy, of course, advised Severus to be more sociable and to try and talk to people. Severus called her advice sheer nonsense and disappeared into the laboratory. Of course, it was nonsense. As if he ever needed to talk to his students, headless dunderheads. If they did not blow up Hogwarts, then they would surely blow up the Potions classroom. No, his hard work required a steady hand and iron endurance.
"Ah, Miss Granger, it's just wonderful, you deigned to be late for your own duty. You did not report to Minerva, and instead of starting your direct duties, you are indulging in idleness with your future mentor, what an unheard recklessness," Snape chided pompously when Remus and Hermione lined up with the table.
"Professor Snape, I came just a few minutes ago, and I just decided to say hello to an old friend," Hermione replied, her glass punch freezing midway to her mouth.
"Severus, really, the Ball has just begun, let the poor girl take her drink, we still have plenty of time before this senseless chaperone anyway," Remus began with patience.
"Nothing has changed in the Gryffindor camp, I see," Snape whispered menacingly.
"Professor, why start this senseless conversation about inter-faculty quarrels?" Hermione arched an eyebrow.
"This conversation is absolutely useless, Miss Granger, you, oddly enough, are right, therefore, I will be waiting for you in forty minutes outside, and Circe forbid you from being late. Otherwise, I am eager to speak to the Headmistress in regard to your future apprenticeship. I suppose Professor McGonagall will be happy to know that her best graduate neglects her direct responsibilities for the sake of cherry punch and idly leisure!" With those words, Snape turned on his heels and walked out, his famous robes billowing.
"Ugh, how dare he ?!" Hermione cried indignantly, getting ready to run after Snape and demand an apology. Remus just smiled indulgently, following his colleague with a thoughtful look.
"Never mind, Nia, it's just Severus. Years pass, eras change, and Professor Snape still grumbles if someone stroked him the wrong way."
"I doubt it's even possible to stroke him," Hermione mused aloud. "Put your finger in his mouth, so he bites off your hand."
"You know this is a misconception. Severus' bark is louder than his bite."
"I still can't believe it," Hermione muttered, and raised her glass. "Happy Halloween Remus!"
"Yes, I'll drink to this. To your apprenticeship, Hermione."
Snape strode through the grounds, frightening the students with his mere sight. How dare this lousy werewolf talk to his woman? And Hermione, Hermione was too good for her own sake. "Why start this senseless conversation about inter-faculty strife, Professor?"
Severus sighed: no matter how they tried to remove the Sorting, the internal disposition and natural talents still impacted the students.
Snape skirted the rosebush and stealthily crept closer to the kissing sixth years.
"Astonishing! Mr. Edgecombe, minus thirty points from Ravenclaw and detention with Professor Lovegood at seven tomorrow night. Write your mentor an essay about garden fairies and the difference between them and field fairies."
"Miss Greengrass, what an impudence! Cover yourself immediately! Minus thirty points from Slytherin, my detention is at seven o'clock tomorrow, and yes, I'll write to your sister Astoria, she definitely needs to take care of your manners."
"Professor, please don't write to Tori! Professor Snape!"
"Off you go. Both of you. Right now!"
Straightening their crumpled robes and buttoning the buttons on the go, the couple hurriedly left the formidable Head of Slytherin, without ceasing to hold hands.
Snape sat down wearily on the side of the fountain and closed his eyes. No matter how hard the Wizarding world tried to pretend that life went on, and everything returned to normal, the only thing that they could manage was to play pretend. The battle wounds were healed, the School was rebuilt, the Ministry issued a couple of laws, they began to protect the Muggle-borns with all their might, they compiled a register of magical creatures and ceased to consider werewolves as outcasts. that was all they managed to do. Politicians went their own way, wizards and witches went theirs. Children remained left to their own devices, as always.
He and Minerva were directly involved in reorganizing the School's policy. The portrait of Albus tried to advise them, but was covered with a black cloth and was closed in his own office. Snape, Poppy, Arthur Weasley, Filius Flitwick, Lucius Malfoy, Andromeda Tonks, Remus-damn-him-Lupin, and, of course, Minerva, spent days and nights working on new curricula, reading books on Muggle pedagogy and modern trends in education.
Snape and his colleagues had a long debate about inter-faculty feuds and faculty assignments as such. Each held his own line, but in the end, the gift of persuasion of the Slytherins and the wisdom of Filius Flitwick did their job: they left the Sorting, but relaxed the rules, allowing senior students to re-elect their house if the need arises.
That is why now Snape found himself solving more and more problems. In fact, he was the official deputy of Minerva and the unofficial Headmaster of Hogwarts, although most of the time he preferred not to think about it. The castle itself once accepted him, ghosts obeyed him, Peeves was afraid of him, and the children of all houses, as if feeling that Snape could protect them, fled to him with any problem.
After watching Daphne Greengrass and Edgar Edgecombe disappear from his view, Snape went leisurely to check the surroundings. He did not have the slightest desire to look for couples in love or to remove points and prescribe detentions. Teachers, like the rest of the Wizarding World, desperately tried to pretend that life went on, that students were busy with studies, exams, and strict rules, but in fact, the children only needed someone who would understand them and not condemn them. Most of his Slytherins were left orphans, their parents were either sent to Azkaban, or they simply did not survive Voldemort's rage. And it would be a big mistake to say that only Slytherins were Death Eaters.
Both Daphne and Edgar lost their parents. Edgar was cared for by his grandmother, Daphne was cared for by Astoria and Draco, who had married only six months ago. Both of them felt lonely and miserable. Somehow, all the children of Hogwarts became close to each other, looking for support among the same outcast as they were.
No, Severus would not write letters to Astoria, he would allow the children the crumbs of friendship and romantic feelings that were available to them in this crazy world trying to recover from the Battle.
Hermione ran through the grounds of Hogwarts, scaring away the naughty children with her mere appearance. Her robes were fluttering in the wind, her tousled hair stuck out in different directions - Halloween night was not conducive to walks in the fresh air, bluish flashes of uncontrolled magic erupted from her fingertips. Hermione was angry with the whole world.
Snape dared to scold her in front of Remus and other teachers. He did not give her a word to spread with future colleagues, and at the end he simply disappeared into the crowd, leaving her to take care of the children. Hermione took the students to their common rooms. An hour later, she consoled the third-year girls who were unpaired that evening. Then she helped Pomona Sprout deal with her slightly drunken Hufflepuffs and looked for sciatica ointment for Professor Flitwick. By the end of the evening, Hermione was already collapsing from fatigue. A first-year girl from Slytherin ran to her and, with tears in her eyes, announced that her brother had disappeared, having slipped away for a walk outside.
Remus, with his characteristic nobility, of course, offered Hermione his help, but she stubbornly decided to deal with everything herself, and then present Snape with an angry rebuke, and let Professor McGonagall decide which one of the teachers neglected their direct duties.
How dare he, anyway?
However, the indignation boiling inside Hermione did nothing to help the cause. The boy just disappeared. Hermione had already visited the Astronomy Tower and had inadvertently almost fallen out of there, leaning dangerously far over the windowsill. After that, she looked for him on the Quidditch field and stomped at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. With raising horror Hermione was going to visit Black Lake, especially frightening at night, when suddenly some blurry light emanating from the greenhouses caught her attention.
From the talks with Luna, Hermione knew that Neville was successfully studying under Madame Sprout's tutelage. He was already teaching Herbology for the first years, and in his free time, he was engaged in breeding rare plants and improving the existing ones. The greenhouses, given to him by the compassionate Head of Hufflepuff, now had all the climatic zones known to the magical and Muggle communities. Neville enjoyed his herbological experiments: in the greenhouses, cacti of all sorts and colors bloomed, mandrake screamed, fruit trees bloomed, some rare Singing Palm sang songs, in a word, in the vicinity of Hogwarts there was everything that the grass-loving Longbottom's imagination was enough for.
Madam Pomfrey was beside herself with happiness, having acquired full possession of all kinds of magical plants, and Professor Snape, who after the War turned his anger into mercy, often looked into greenhouses in search of this or that blade of grass, root or leaf.
So, Hermione rushed to the greenhouses, anticipating that Neville's breeding talents were definitely out of control this time, and the bright light flickering through the fogged windows only confirmed her guesses.
Rushing on the greenhouses, Granger stepped inside, and the door immediately slammed shut behind her. Inside, everything shimmered and flickered in the dim moonlight, the windows were covered with frosty patterns, her breath immediately turned into clouds of steam, chilly escaping from her parted mouth.
Hermione froze as if rooted to the spot when a huge clearing covered with snow opened up.
Her party dress was hardly suitable for the cold weather, and her robes were too thin to keep any warmth.
Since the Last Battle, Hermione had a difficult relationship with the cold. Winter reminded her of the Cruciatus, the snow reminded her of her time spent in the middle of the woods, and the cold brought her panic attacks, taking away the ability to think sanely and use magic.
As soon as the temperature crawled menacingly down, Hermione immediately started looking for her antidepressant potion, wrapped herself in warm clothes, and sat by the fireplace, trying to keep warm and to stay calm. So now, not noticing the snowdrops blossoming under the snow, Granger grabbed the doorframe, trying to get out, but the door, magically enchanted, did not budge.
Her heart sank, the wand fell out of her numb fingers and disappeared into the snow, everything went dark, cold sweat broke out, followed by a fever, it became difficult to breathe. Unreasonable fear pinned Hermione to the spot, she irrationally felt that Bellatrix would emerge from the darkness, and this time no one would be around to save her.
Notes: Oh no! A cliffy! Love it? Like it? Hate it? Let me know =) Now betaed! =)