From now on, the story will be coming from YOUNGER SNAPE'S POV, unless
otherwise stated. Please keep that in mind.
1 Chapter 1-The Beginning
Mealtimes were never my favorite time. Since I didn't really get along very well with my housemates, it seemed only logical that the only time I was FORCED to interact with them would be my least favorite. I was eating quietly on the first day, of my last year at Hogwarts, when some unknown teacher summoned Dumbledore. He was only gone for approximately 5-10 minutes, but when he came back, he remained standing to make another announcement.
"As I said before, welcome! It has just come to my attention that we have a new 7th year student. She has just been sorted into Gryffindor, and will be staying with us for an indefinite amount of time. Her name is Hermione Granger, and I ask that you show her around and be kind to her throughout her stay."
A pretty girl with bushy brown hair stepped out from behind the headmaster. Many people clapped as she waved, but most of us were completely baffled. A new 7th year student? All I could think about though, was how pretty she was. I made a mental note to go introduce myself immediately after we were dismissed. And as she sat down next to Lily, I knew exactly how.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Lily, wait up!" My one and only Gryffindor friend stopped and turned. Hermione turned as well, while I could see Lily's boyfriend, James, sigh.
"Hi Sev! Hermione, this is my good friend Severus Snape."
I saw her eyes get a little wider, and her skin a little paler. Lily noticed too, and laughed.
"Sev, she's done that to everyone. When we introduced ourselves at dinner, I could have sworn her eyes were going to pop out of her head they were so wide."
Hermione blushed, looking very cute. "I don't usually do that, it's just that it feels like I know you all already. So, I have all of these pre- conceived notions about what you're like. So, if I ever seem a little startled, it's just because one of my little notions was just disproved."
Sensing something, she quickly changed the subject. "If someone would show me where the common room is, I'm going to go get ahead on my homework."
I saw the opportunity immediately. She, like I, was a little bookworm, devouring every book the library had to offer. "A girl after my own heart. I've been looking for YEARS for another who loved to earn high marks as much as I. Would you care to join me in the library tomorrow evening to do homework?"
"There goes one of my notions…but okay. That sounds like fun. So I'll see you tomorrow Severus?"
"You can count on it."
Hermione smiled. "Well, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go snuggle up in bed with my stuffed animals."
"I'll excuse you, as soon as you tell me your stuffed animals' names."
For some strange reason, Hermione blushed and quickly glanced at James (who I'm sure says much more in the company of his friends, as he IS the leader).
Still red, Hermione began to spout off names. "Well, I've got a dog named Padfoot, a wolf named Moony, a rat named Wormtail, and a deer type thing named Prongs."
James looked absolutely BAFFLED, and I was about to ask what was up with him, but Lily beat me to it. "James honey, what's wrong?"
Hermione turned to look, and as far as I could tell, nearly burst out laughing. "Nothing Lils. I'll be just fine. Can we go upstairs yet, I really need to talk to the guys."
Hermione remembered what her original intent had been. "Of course. I'm sorry. Good night Severus, see you tomorrow."
"Goodnight you all." I watched them walk upstairs before heading off to the dungeons. Tomorrow was going to be a good day.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The next day, I walked into the Potions room and heard Hermione telling Lily how she really didn't mind working with a Slytherin. Lily clearly looked guilty that all 6 of them were already paired up. Lupin-Black, Evans-Potter, and Pettigrew-Longbottom.
"Lily, I'll be okay. You're being so nice. First you offer to move out of your Head-Girl dorms so I won't be alone, and now you're willing to move away from your boyfriend just to work with me. It's really okay. Besides, if I work with a Slytherin, maybe more of my pre-conceived notions will be disproved."
I took this opportunity to butt in. "Lily, she can work with me. Everything will be just fine. I will make SURE that she doesn't mess up her first potion. Come on Hermione, my desk is over here."
"But what about your partner Severus?"
Already she was concerned with how this would look to my housemates. "Don't have one. For potions I don't need one, and," I whispered, "I really don't like them much anyway."
"I knew working with a Slytherin would shoot down some more of my notions."
I laughed as we set our stuff down.
Our teacher, Miss Figg, began the lesson. "Welcome students. I would especially like to welcome Miss Granger there in the back. I hope you are finding Hogwarts pleasant."
Hermione nodded, and Miss Figg began again. "Today, we are going to start learning to make a pain reliever. Ingredients and directions are on the board. When you are done, bottle it up and bring it to the front. All functional potions will be sent to Madame Pomfrey at the end of the lesson."
Hermione sighed, and began working without even looking at the board. "Umm…Hermione, don't you need to see the ingredients?"
"Nope. We did this one last year. My old Potions teacher was a slave driver. Never seemed to think we were far enough along. I always liked the challenge, however little I appreciated his personality."
"Not very nice, was he?"
"That's an understatement. He was downright CRUEL. There was this one boy in my class, who NEVER got anything right because our teacher was always picking on him. And if we spoke when we weren't allowed to, 15 points off. He always favored his own house."
"That's horrible! I'm so sorry. I wish there was something I could do."
From the look on her face, she had something she desperately wanted to say, but couldn't for some reason.
"It's okay. I'm sure it's not your fault. Now, we need to stir the lacewings 3 times counter-clockwise."
I could tell she wanted to change the subject. "So, how are you liking it here so far?"
"It's wonderful! Everyone is so friendly. I've talked with Lily so much, I can already tell you lots of things about her."
"Well, she's generous, kind, and VERY serious about James."
"Explain how you figured all of that out, please."
She giggled. "Well, as far as generous and kind go, she offered to move in to the 7th year girls dorm with me. I'm the only one in there, you know. And then she offered to move away from James so I could work with her. But she told me last night that she's already imagined it all. She and James are going to get married, and live in Godric's Hollow for a period of time before they have one son named Harry James Potter."
"Wow. Lily has it all planned out."
"Yep. Then, while James is playing professional Quidditch, Lily is going to devote her time to being the best mother she can be. All the while, they're going to store up a small fortune in Gringotts. They are going to die old, happy, and surrounded by friends, long after their grandchildren are born."
A tear leaked down her cheek. "Hermione, what's wrong?"
She sniffed, and wiped away the tear. "Well, you might not know it, but I hate Divination. Reason is, is that I'm kind of a Seer of sorts. I know the future for some people, but not all. Well, I hate the class because the teacher is always making us learn a bunch of bull, so I got out."
"So you know that her dream will never come true?" I asked quietly, wanting to know the answer, but at the same time dreading what might come.
"More or less. I hate it! I don't want to know these kinds of things about people who are already my friends!"
"It's okay Hermione. I promise, everything will be okay."
What happened next caught me completely off-guard. Hermione threw her arms around me, and buried her tear-stained face into my robes. Trying to be helpful, I returned her hug and just held her. Miss Figg gave me a look, but immediately excused me as soon as she noticed Hermione's tears. Her sobbing made everyone look at us. Lily gave me a knowing look, while her housemates were simply baffled. The Slytherins looked at me like I was a booger on their shoe.
For awhile, Miss Figg just let them all gape. But eventually, she regained her senses and took control of the class. "Students, get back to work. Mr. Snape, if you would take Miss Granger to the Headmaster's office please. I'll let him know you're coming."
"Thank you, ma'am. Come on, Hermione. We're going to see Dumbledore." Hermione kept clinging, but moved her feet towards the door. The walk was a short one, and Dumbledore was waiting for us outside.
"Miss Granger, before we step inside, would you like Mr. Snape to accompany us in our chat?"
Hermione had a thoughtful look as new tears stopped coming, but in the end she nodded.
"Come then." The walk to his office was short, unfortunately. Hermione had started clinging to me again, but this time, without the tears.
"Miss Granger, would you care to tell us what made you so upset?"
"Well Professor, because of where I came from I know what's going to happen to all of my new friends. Lily, James, Sirius, Remus, Peter, Frank, and Severus here. Hardly any of them are going to be very happy." She looked at me apologetically.
"And realization hit you very hard today?"
She nodded, and Dumbledore began again. "As much I would like to be able to find out the futures of these students, doing so would surely end up with things much worse. But if you would do one thing for me."
"What's that professor?"
"Try not to hold their futures against them." He smiled. "You two are dismissed. I'm sure Miss Figg is eager to have the both of you back in her classroom."
As we exited the headmaster's office, Hermione took my hand in hers. "Thank you for coming with me Severus. That really meant a lot to me."
"Oh, it's no big deal. I'm just being a good friend."
"Well, big deal or not, it still meant a lot to me. Now, let's get to class." As we walked back to the dungeons, Hermione never let go of my hand. Well, at least not until we entered the classroom. Today really was going to be good.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
When I entered the library that evening, Hermione was already there. As if she knew it was me, she quickly noted her page, and shut the heavy volume.
"Hi Severus."
"Hey there Hermione. You know, you're welcome to call me Sev."
She grinned. "Okay Sev. Where are your books?"
Now it was my turn to grin. "I want to show you something. I promise it won't take long, and you need to bring your books."
She looked skeptical, but packed her books back into their bag. Then, she stood up, and moved to stand expectantly by my side. I took her hand again, and led her down dozens of corridors. Soon, we stopped in front of one of my favorite paintings in the whole castle. This one had a lightening bolt down the middle, dividing the picture into two parts. Each part had the same man, but each portrait had a different personality. One side showed the man giving away food and clothing to small children. The other side showed him murdering them all. I had asked Dumbledore what the painting was called, after asking him to charm it so I wouldn't have to watch those poor children being killed. He said it was called "When A Man Loses Love." I thought it was a good title.
"Sev, this is the most insightful painting I've ever seen. I love it."
"It's my favorite in the whole castle. Love returned!" Upon hearing the password, the painting swung open to reveal my small workroom. Here, I studied, brewed potions, and occasionally ate and slept. The painting swung shut as we entered the room.
"I've never shown this place to anyone before. You reminded me the most of myself, and it's always a good place to do homework without distractions."
"Sev, I love it. How'd you find it?"
"I'm not sure exactly. I think the happier half of the painting noticed me feeling left out from my housemates, and helped me find it so I wouldn't have to do homework in my common room."
Hermione dumped her book bag on the floor, still holding my hand. Moments passed as Hermione just gaped at the room in awe. Soon, though, Hermione plopped down onto the couch, and set on finishing her Potions essay. I watched her frantically write down the answer before remembering the large amount of homework that the Arithmacy professor had assigned. As I took out the book, I remembered that Hermione was in that class as well. I waited.
"One more word…done!" She looked up at me. "Aren't you going to do your homework?"
"I was waiting for you."
"Oh." Just then, I moved over RIGHT next to her. By the sounds of her breathing, I could tell she was both nervous and excited. All the signs were telling me that she liked me as much as I had grown to like her today. So I did the obvious thing: I asked her for help on the Arithmacy homework.
"Do you think you can explain what the professor meant by all of this?"
"Well, from what I can tell, you're supposed…"
Hermione leaned over and penciled in some work, explaining every step. Suddenly, it all made sense.
"I get it now! How did you make it sounds so easy? He made it all sound much more difficult than it really is."
"Sometimes I think they do it on purpose, just to make us think a little harder."
"Wonderful! I think this year is going to turn out really great. I mean, there are teachers who present challenges, and (stupid me completely forgot that Hermione WAS the new girl) that new really pretty new girl."
Hermione looked at me. "You think I'm PRETTY?"
I gulped. I really hadn't meant to say that, but if I go back on my words, it will only cause trouble. "Yeah, I do. Is that okay?"
"Well, of course it's okay. I've just never thought of myself as pretty. More plain and brilliant than pretty. I've always wanted to hear someone tell me that besides family. Thank you Severus."
She threw her arms around me for the second time that day and gave me a quick hug before getting back to her Arithmacy.
When we were both done 30 minutes later, neither really wanted to leave.
"Severus, what do you done on the weekends?"
I thought. "Well, sometimes I go to the library. Other times, I brew potions in here with ingredients I asked my parents to send to me. The library and this room are my favorite places in the whole school. Here, there aren't any Slytherins trying to make me join the "Achieve your Dreams" club."
"What's so bad about joining a club?"
"This club is really the meetings to Voldemort's Death Eaters. I try very hard to stay out of that kind of thing."
"I thought all Slytherins were into becoming Death Eaters. I guess that disproves yet another notion of mine."
"Glad to do it. So what do you do on weekends?"
"Before I came here, I would go out with my friends under an invisibility cloak and squash the evil that was brewing. We would spend HOURS in the library looking things up, snooping about, and hoping our evil Potions master didn't find out after hours."
I laughed. "What kind of things would you do to snoop about?"
"Well, in our second year, we made a Polyjuice potion to become members of OUR school's evil house, and then went and questioned their best friend."
"In your SECOND year?! That's amazing! You should come and work one potions with me this weekend. I've got my very own copies of some of the most advanced Potions books in the world. It'll be fun. You've got to come."
She looked glad just to have plans for the weekend. "I'll come, don't worry. It's not like I had anything else to do."
"Wonderful! Can you meet me in the Great Hall Saturday morning at 9? Then, I can lead you down here until you learn the way yourself."
"I'll be there. Don't you worry." Hermione began packing her books into her bookbag.
"Leaving already?"
She smiled. "If I don't go, my housemates will get suspicious. Especially James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter. Ever since they found out the names of my stuffed animals, they seem to think that they have special rights to my protection."
"Whatever gave them that idea?"
"I really have no idea, but I wish I did. I keep getting the feeling that it's going to get in the way one of these days."
"Probably. Well, good night Hermione. I'll see you in the morning." I gave her a quick hug, before letting her exit the small workroom. I sat around a few minutes longer, going over every minute of the evening. It had been bliss. Whoever said Mondays were awful must have been kidding. From that day on, Mondays were the best days in my life.
End Chapter 1
I hope you like it! Any constructive criticism and help will be greatly appreciated! And I just realized that it's only the first day of school, and they both already have huge crushes on one another. Don't ask me how that works…it's just weird like that.
Thank you to my reviewers and VenusDeMilo for giving me some of the ideas the I revised a bit.
~HerbieWerbie
1 Chapter 1-The Beginning
Mealtimes were never my favorite time. Since I didn't really get along very well with my housemates, it seemed only logical that the only time I was FORCED to interact with them would be my least favorite. I was eating quietly on the first day, of my last year at Hogwarts, when some unknown teacher summoned Dumbledore. He was only gone for approximately 5-10 minutes, but when he came back, he remained standing to make another announcement.
"As I said before, welcome! It has just come to my attention that we have a new 7th year student. She has just been sorted into Gryffindor, and will be staying with us for an indefinite amount of time. Her name is Hermione Granger, and I ask that you show her around and be kind to her throughout her stay."
A pretty girl with bushy brown hair stepped out from behind the headmaster. Many people clapped as she waved, but most of us were completely baffled. A new 7th year student? All I could think about though, was how pretty she was. I made a mental note to go introduce myself immediately after we were dismissed. And as she sat down next to Lily, I knew exactly how.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Lily, wait up!" My one and only Gryffindor friend stopped and turned. Hermione turned as well, while I could see Lily's boyfriend, James, sigh.
"Hi Sev! Hermione, this is my good friend Severus Snape."
I saw her eyes get a little wider, and her skin a little paler. Lily noticed too, and laughed.
"Sev, she's done that to everyone. When we introduced ourselves at dinner, I could have sworn her eyes were going to pop out of her head they were so wide."
Hermione blushed, looking very cute. "I don't usually do that, it's just that it feels like I know you all already. So, I have all of these pre- conceived notions about what you're like. So, if I ever seem a little startled, it's just because one of my little notions was just disproved."
Sensing something, she quickly changed the subject. "If someone would show me where the common room is, I'm going to go get ahead on my homework."
I saw the opportunity immediately. She, like I, was a little bookworm, devouring every book the library had to offer. "A girl after my own heart. I've been looking for YEARS for another who loved to earn high marks as much as I. Would you care to join me in the library tomorrow evening to do homework?"
"There goes one of my notions…but okay. That sounds like fun. So I'll see you tomorrow Severus?"
"You can count on it."
Hermione smiled. "Well, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go snuggle up in bed with my stuffed animals."
"I'll excuse you, as soon as you tell me your stuffed animals' names."
For some strange reason, Hermione blushed and quickly glanced at James (who I'm sure says much more in the company of his friends, as he IS the leader).
Still red, Hermione began to spout off names. "Well, I've got a dog named Padfoot, a wolf named Moony, a rat named Wormtail, and a deer type thing named Prongs."
James looked absolutely BAFFLED, and I was about to ask what was up with him, but Lily beat me to it. "James honey, what's wrong?"
Hermione turned to look, and as far as I could tell, nearly burst out laughing. "Nothing Lils. I'll be just fine. Can we go upstairs yet, I really need to talk to the guys."
Hermione remembered what her original intent had been. "Of course. I'm sorry. Good night Severus, see you tomorrow."
"Goodnight you all." I watched them walk upstairs before heading off to the dungeons. Tomorrow was going to be a good day.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The next day, I walked into the Potions room and heard Hermione telling Lily how she really didn't mind working with a Slytherin. Lily clearly looked guilty that all 6 of them were already paired up. Lupin-Black, Evans-Potter, and Pettigrew-Longbottom.
"Lily, I'll be okay. You're being so nice. First you offer to move out of your Head-Girl dorms so I won't be alone, and now you're willing to move away from your boyfriend just to work with me. It's really okay. Besides, if I work with a Slytherin, maybe more of my pre-conceived notions will be disproved."
I took this opportunity to butt in. "Lily, she can work with me. Everything will be just fine. I will make SURE that she doesn't mess up her first potion. Come on Hermione, my desk is over here."
"But what about your partner Severus?"
Already she was concerned with how this would look to my housemates. "Don't have one. For potions I don't need one, and," I whispered, "I really don't like them much anyway."
"I knew working with a Slytherin would shoot down some more of my notions."
I laughed as we set our stuff down.
Our teacher, Miss Figg, began the lesson. "Welcome students. I would especially like to welcome Miss Granger there in the back. I hope you are finding Hogwarts pleasant."
Hermione nodded, and Miss Figg began again. "Today, we are going to start learning to make a pain reliever. Ingredients and directions are on the board. When you are done, bottle it up and bring it to the front. All functional potions will be sent to Madame Pomfrey at the end of the lesson."
Hermione sighed, and began working without even looking at the board. "Umm…Hermione, don't you need to see the ingredients?"
"Nope. We did this one last year. My old Potions teacher was a slave driver. Never seemed to think we were far enough along. I always liked the challenge, however little I appreciated his personality."
"Not very nice, was he?"
"That's an understatement. He was downright CRUEL. There was this one boy in my class, who NEVER got anything right because our teacher was always picking on him. And if we spoke when we weren't allowed to, 15 points off. He always favored his own house."
"That's horrible! I'm so sorry. I wish there was something I could do."
From the look on her face, she had something she desperately wanted to say, but couldn't for some reason.
"It's okay. I'm sure it's not your fault. Now, we need to stir the lacewings 3 times counter-clockwise."
I could tell she wanted to change the subject. "So, how are you liking it here so far?"
"It's wonderful! Everyone is so friendly. I've talked with Lily so much, I can already tell you lots of things about her."
"Well, she's generous, kind, and VERY serious about James."
"Explain how you figured all of that out, please."
She giggled. "Well, as far as generous and kind go, she offered to move in to the 7th year girls dorm with me. I'm the only one in there, you know. And then she offered to move away from James so I could work with her. But she told me last night that she's already imagined it all. She and James are going to get married, and live in Godric's Hollow for a period of time before they have one son named Harry James Potter."
"Wow. Lily has it all planned out."
"Yep. Then, while James is playing professional Quidditch, Lily is going to devote her time to being the best mother she can be. All the while, they're going to store up a small fortune in Gringotts. They are going to die old, happy, and surrounded by friends, long after their grandchildren are born."
A tear leaked down her cheek. "Hermione, what's wrong?"
She sniffed, and wiped away the tear. "Well, you might not know it, but I hate Divination. Reason is, is that I'm kind of a Seer of sorts. I know the future for some people, but not all. Well, I hate the class because the teacher is always making us learn a bunch of bull, so I got out."
"So you know that her dream will never come true?" I asked quietly, wanting to know the answer, but at the same time dreading what might come.
"More or less. I hate it! I don't want to know these kinds of things about people who are already my friends!"
"It's okay Hermione. I promise, everything will be okay."
What happened next caught me completely off-guard. Hermione threw her arms around me, and buried her tear-stained face into my robes. Trying to be helpful, I returned her hug and just held her. Miss Figg gave me a look, but immediately excused me as soon as she noticed Hermione's tears. Her sobbing made everyone look at us. Lily gave me a knowing look, while her housemates were simply baffled. The Slytherins looked at me like I was a booger on their shoe.
For awhile, Miss Figg just let them all gape. But eventually, she regained her senses and took control of the class. "Students, get back to work. Mr. Snape, if you would take Miss Granger to the Headmaster's office please. I'll let him know you're coming."
"Thank you, ma'am. Come on, Hermione. We're going to see Dumbledore." Hermione kept clinging, but moved her feet towards the door. The walk was a short one, and Dumbledore was waiting for us outside.
"Miss Granger, before we step inside, would you like Mr. Snape to accompany us in our chat?"
Hermione had a thoughtful look as new tears stopped coming, but in the end she nodded.
"Come then." The walk to his office was short, unfortunately. Hermione had started clinging to me again, but this time, without the tears.
"Miss Granger, would you care to tell us what made you so upset?"
"Well Professor, because of where I came from I know what's going to happen to all of my new friends. Lily, James, Sirius, Remus, Peter, Frank, and Severus here. Hardly any of them are going to be very happy." She looked at me apologetically.
"And realization hit you very hard today?"
She nodded, and Dumbledore began again. "As much I would like to be able to find out the futures of these students, doing so would surely end up with things much worse. But if you would do one thing for me."
"What's that professor?"
"Try not to hold their futures against them." He smiled. "You two are dismissed. I'm sure Miss Figg is eager to have the both of you back in her classroom."
As we exited the headmaster's office, Hermione took my hand in hers. "Thank you for coming with me Severus. That really meant a lot to me."
"Oh, it's no big deal. I'm just being a good friend."
"Well, big deal or not, it still meant a lot to me. Now, let's get to class." As we walked back to the dungeons, Hermione never let go of my hand. Well, at least not until we entered the classroom. Today really was going to be good.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
When I entered the library that evening, Hermione was already there. As if she knew it was me, she quickly noted her page, and shut the heavy volume.
"Hi Severus."
"Hey there Hermione. You know, you're welcome to call me Sev."
She grinned. "Okay Sev. Where are your books?"
Now it was my turn to grin. "I want to show you something. I promise it won't take long, and you need to bring your books."
She looked skeptical, but packed her books back into their bag. Then, she stood up, and moved to stand expectantly by my side. I took her hand again, and led her down dozens of corridors. Soon, we stopped in front of one of my favorite paintings in the whole castle. This one had a lightening bolt down the middle, dividing the picture into two parts. Each part had the same man, but each portrait had a different personality. One side showed the man giving away food and clothing to small children. The other side showed him murdering them all. I had asked Dumbledore what the painting was called, after asking him to charm it so I wouldn't have to watch those poor children being killed. He said it was called "When A Man Loses Love." I thought it was a good title.
"Sev, this is the most insightful painting I've ever seen. I love it."
"It's my favorite in the whole castle. Love returned!" Upon hearing the password, the painting swung open to reveal my small workroom. Here, I studied, brewed potions, and occasionally ate and slept. The painting swung shut as we entered the room.
"I've never shown this place to anyone before. You reminded me the most of myself, and it's always a good place to do homework without distractions."
"Sev, I love it. How'd you find it?"
"I'm not sure exactly. I think the happier half of the painting noticed me feeling left out from my housemates, and helped me find it so I wouldn't have to do homework in my common room."
Hermione dumped her book bag on the floor, still holding my hand. Moments passed as Hermione just gaped at the room in awe. Soon, though, Hermione plopped down onto the couch, and set on finishing her Potions essay. I watched her frantically write down the answer before remembering the large amount of homework that the Arithmacy professor had assigned. As I took out the book, I remembered that Hermione was in that class as well. I waited.
"One more word…done!" She looked up at me. "Aren't you going to do your homework?"
"I was waiting for you."
"Oh." Just then, I moved over RIGHT next to her. By the sounds of her breathing, I could tell she was both nervous and excited. All the signs were telling me that she liked me as much as I had grown to like her today. So I did the obvious thing: I asked her for help on the Arithmacy homework.
"Do you think you can explain what the professor meant by all of this?"
"Well, from what I can tell, you're supposed…"
Hermione leaned over and penciled in some work, explaining every step. Suddenly, it all made sense.
"I get it now! How did you make it sounds so easy? He made it all sound much more difficult than it really is."
"Sometimes I think they do it on purpose, just to make us think a little harder."
"Wonderful! I think this year is going to turn out really great. I mean, there are teachers who present challenges, and (stupid me completely forgot that Hermione WAS the new girl) that new really pretty new girl."
Hermione looked at me. "You think I'm PRETTY?"
I gulped. I really hadn't meant to say that, but if I go back on my words, it will only cause trouble. "Yeah, I do. Is that okay?"
"Well, of course it's okay. I've just never thought of myself as pretty. More plain and brilliant than pretty. I've always wanted to hear someone tell me that besides family. Thank you Severus."
She threw her arms around me for the second time that day and gave me a quick hug before getting back to her Arithmacy.
When we were both done 30 minutes later, neither really wanted to leave.
"Severus, what do you done on the weekends?"
I thought. "Well, sometimes I go to the library. Other times, I brew potions in here with ingredients I asked my parents to send to me. The library and this room are my favorite places in the whole school. Here, there aren't any Slytherins trying to make me join the "Achieve your Dreams" club."
"What's so bad about joining a club?"
"This club is really the meetings to Voldemort's Death Eaters. I try very hard to stay out of that kind of thing."
"I thought all Slytherins were into becoming Death Eaters. I guess that disproves yet another notion of mine."
"Glad to do it. So what do you do on weekends?"
"Before I came here, I would go out with my friends under an invisibility cloak and squash the evil that was brewing. We would spend HOURS in the library looking things up, snooping about, and hoping our evil Potions master didn't find out after hours."
I laughed. "What kind of things would you do to snoop about?"
"Well, in our second year, we made a Polyjuice potion to become members of OUR school's evil house, and then went and questioned their best friend."
"In your SECOND year?! That's amazing! You should come and work one potions with me this weekend. I've got my very own copies of some of the most advanced Potions books in the world. It'll be fun. You've got to come."
She looked glad just to have plans for the weekend. "I'll come, don't worry. It's not like I had anything else to do."
"Wonderful! Can you meet me in the Great Hall Saturday morning at 9? Then, I can lead you down here until you learn the way yourself."
"I'll be there. Don't you worry." Hermione began packing her books into her bookbag.
"Leaving already?"
She smiled. "If I don't go, my housemates will get suspicious. Especially James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter. Ever since they found out the names of my stuffed animals, they seem to think that they have special rights to my protection."
"Whatever gave them that idea?"
"I really have no idea, but I wish I did. I keep getting the feeling that it's going to get in the way one of these days."
"Probably. Well, good night Hermione. I'll see you in the morning." I gave her a quick hug, before letting her exit the small workroom. I sat around a few minutes longer, going over every minute of the evening. It had been bliss. Whoever said Mondays were awful must have been kidding. From that day on, Mondays were the best days in my life.
End Chapter 1
I hope you like it! Any constructive criticism and help will be greatly appreciated! And I just realized that it's only the first day of school, and they both already have huge crushes on one another. Don't ask me how that works…it's just weird like that.
Thank you to my reviewers and VenusDeMilo for giving me some of the ideas the I revised a bit.
~HerbieWerbie