A Surprise at Hogwarts


Disclaimer: all characters belong to the great J.K. Rowling.

A/N- Not a lot going on in this chapter, more to come- if I get enough reviews, that is :-) r/r please!

The Hogwarts Express was bumping along to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were all sitting in a compartment to themselves, and all were happy to finally be on the way back to school. Harry was probably happiest, having to survive a summer with the Dursleys. Not to mention his new girlfriend, Hermione... He stole a glance at her, and finding that she was watching him, he smiled and turned back to Ron, who was talking about playing Quidditch with his brothers.
"And Bill is gonna teach me to do that Wronski Feint thing! Isn't that cool?" Ron was saying excitedly.
"Isn't that dangerous, though, Ron?" Hermione asked.
"Of course! duh!" Ron replied. The train was coming to a stop. Grabbing their bags and tripping over Crookshanks, the trio piled out of the train.


When they reached the castle, they watched the Sorting Hat ceremony. Harry remembered how, when he had been sorted in his first year, and how disappointed he'd been when Hermione was sorted into Gryffindor. By now, the last of the new first years were being sorted.
"Gryffindor! Gryffndor! Slytherin! Hufflepuff!" the hat cried out. Finally, the ceremony was over, and Harry grabbed Hermione's hand as they went into the Great Hall for the feast.
"What happened to Snape?" Ron asked with his mouth open. Professor Snape's arms were covered in bandages and there was a burn across his long nose. Neville Longbottom, who was sitting next to them, looked up towards where Snape was sitting and blushed.
"Oh-that...." he mumbled..
"What happened, Neville?" Harry asked with amusement in his voice.
"My grandmother wasn't too happy when she saw my report card... I failed potions- miserably..." Neville took a bite.
"And so she thought I could do with a little bit of schooling over the summer. She sent Snape an owl asking him to give me extra lessons.... and well, as you can see, there was an accident... and uh... my potion kind of exploded all over him.." Neville was bright red by now, and Ron was doubled over in laughter.
"Great... job... Neville..." he was saying between gasps of air. Harry was laughing, too, but Hermione had a weird look on her face, like she wanted to laugh but it wasn't an appropriate time to do so.
"It's ok Hermione, you can laugh at Snape...." Ron was reassuring her, but she quickly went about finishing her dinner so she could go to the library ("Library? It's the first day of school!" Ron protested). So Harry and Ron went up to the Gryffindor common room by themselves. They were playing a game of Exploding Snap when Hermione came in.
"Hey Hermione," came Harry's voice.
"Hi Ha-" but she was cut off when the cards exploded. She sat down next to Harry and leaned against his shoulder.
"Double potions tomorrow morning with Slytherin," she said sleepily.
"Aww, why does the first lesson have to bomb so bad?" asked Ron.
"Because Snape loves to take points away from Gryffindor," Harry replied. "Oh yeah, and he likes to give us detentions."
"I'm going to bed, see you guys tomorrow...." Hermione said. She kissed Harry's cheek and went up to her dormitory.


In thr morning, the Gryffindor fifth years were all trying to keep out of trouble in Snape's class. However, Ron was trying to make the situation as light as he could. Hermione shot him a look when he pretended to throw seaweed at Malfoy.
"Now add your worms, live and whole, not cut up." Snape boomed. Neville had cut his up expectantly and now was nervously edging towards Snape's desk for more. Ron dropped his into his cauldron and under his breath, said,
"Help me, help me, I'm drowning in a sleeping draught...." Hermione burst into laughter. Snape turned towards her.
"Granger! Detention for disturbing my class!" He said, giving her an icy look. She was stunned. Harry quickly saw this and out of anger, chucked a handful of worms at the back os Snape's head. They came in contact with a loud SQUISH and Snape turned around.
"Potter...." he growled. "That will be thirty points from Gryffindor and a detention for you, too." Harry simply shrugged. Hermione gave him an open-mouthed look but then smiled. Chances were, they'd have detention together.



"Scrub them clean. EVERY inch, do you understand?" Snape handed them towels.
"And NO MAGIC!" he turned on his heels and left.
"OK, well let's get started, you heard the man. 'Scrubbem clean!'" Harry said, imitating Snape with a stupid grin on his face. Hermione laughed and began scrubbing the entrance doors to the castle. It took them three hours, but the finally scrubbed the doors so that they were now shining.
"Whaddaya say, wanna go for a walk?" Harry asked when the towels disappeared from their hands.
"Sure," she said. He took her hand and hey walked to the edge of the lake.
"I missed you over the summer so much," Hermione said as they sat by the water's edge.
"I missed you too... I thought of inviting you over, but the Dursleys would probably scare you to death," he said. Hermione laughed. There was silence.
"Harry what are you going to be after you get out of Hogwarts?" Hermione asked suddenly. Harry was startled by this question. He had always assumed she knew what he wanted to do. Harry stared into the ripplies of water before replying.
"An auror. I'm gonna be an auror."
"Why?" she asked. "You could get hurt.... or killed..."
"I want to fight against Voldemort,"(Hermione flinches) "I want to fight against Voldemort and his followers.. and I want to be the one to kill Peter Pettigrew." he said between clenched teeth.
"Oh.." Hermione gazed at the lake surface and then at Harry.
"Then I want to be an auror with you," she said. Harry looked at her.
"You want to be an auror?" He asked in surprise.
"Yeah..."
"Why you though? you could be anything, you know so much..."
"Well I just want to be with you." Hermione replied.
"I don't want you to put yourself in danger just because I am," Harry said slowly.
"Well if you are, then I am." Hermione said boldly. Harry smiled. Sometimes she could be stubborn.
"Let's go, it's getting dark,"Harry said. He helped her up and walked back to the castle with her, hand in hand. THey waslked thrugh the portrait hole and stepped into the warm room. Hermione stopped dead in her tracks and gasped. Harry stopped too. What they saw in front of them was probably the last thing they ever thought they'd see in the Gryffindor common room.