Harry Potter and all character within belong to J. Rowling. Not me. I'll gladly take Snape off her hands though.

After re-reading my own and several other fics, I seemed to have gleamed several little details from other fics. I don't remember if I read them before or after I started to write, so if things sound a little familiar (such as Draco) I'm sorry, and speak up, so I can give credit where it's deserved. I did not deliberately steal big ideas, and we all know that Hermione returning as a teacher is not a new idea.

Miserere

Parce, Domine, parce populo tuo
ne in aeternum irascaris nobis
Miserere nostrum, Deus, secundum magnam misericordiam tuam.

(Lord, spare your people,
do not be angry with us forever.
Have mercy on us, O God, according to your great mercy.)

This was not the way Hermione Granger meant to return to Hogwarts. The uprising of Voldemort had taken the lives or injured several of her classmates especially her Housemates, who had fought with typical Gryffindor blind bravery.

Despite how heroically all the Hogwarts staff had fought when a pitched battle had found it's way to the school, there were two or three positions that had to be temporarily or permanently as Hogwarts reopened it's doors. Hermione had been asked to help fill Muggle Studies and a few sections of Arithmancy while Professor Vector healed from an extensive injury. It was as if no one returned unscathed from the battles. Hermione bore her own as part of the trio that defeated the Dark Lord. She unfortunately, was not there as Harry had done, whatever it was that killed him. Indeed, it was a miracle that he had survived. But he refused to talk about it when he returned to consciousness afterwards.

But here was a newly made Professor, just entering the meticulously kept grounds of her former school, searching for a familiar face somewhere among the ashes and broken wands. It had been six years. She had been schooled and fought in a war. It was a full life already.

"My dear, you are early. You weren't supposed to arrive until tomorrow, Miss Granger. But then, you usually were the punctual type." Professor McGonagall caught up with the bushy haired woman.
"Professor…erm I mean, Minerva?" Hermione looked nervously at her former head of house, unsure of what to call her now.

"I assure you, Minerva will be just fine." She motioned for them to start walking again before asking, "How are you managing?"

"As well as can be." A few more steps in the silence, "Do I know any of the new teachers?"

"One. Our new Divination teacher you wouldn't know. She apparently saw what was happening and hid quite well. We were all surprised with Trelawney actaully knew what would happen to her." Her voice paused considering the next statement. "But you will know the new Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher. We've received word from Draco Malfoy…"

"Draco? I knew he had retreated from his father, but to actually come back here? I'm amazed."

Minerva stopped suddenly and looked at the new Professor. "Draco did a lot more than we give him credit for, unfortunately. He didn't just retreat from his father, Hermione, he…he killed him."

Hermione's eyes widened. She hadn't heard that part. As much as she had hated Draco during school, she had heard that he had turned away his fathers' organization. But to kill your own father…unthinkable. Especially a father like Lucius, who controlled his life.

"But he does not want that little token of information leaked out, Hermione, so keep it on the quiet." She yet again motioned to move forward. Hogwarts grounds had never seemed so long, not when Hermione was this nervous.

"Of course…" looking a bit around Hermione noticed something, "Where are the rest of the teachers, anyway?"

"In a meeting. We became aware when you entered the grounds."

Of course, thought Hermione, Dumbledore always seemed to know when someone got here as of late. Security in the months following the attack on Hogwarts had tripled. Nothing seemed safe…the idea that Voldemort (Yes, Hermione thought, I can say that name now) had the gall, the nerve to attack the one place that had been deemed the safe point in Scotland was frightening.

But, Hogwarts had fought back. Hard. It was a stepping stone in the war many believed. Whether or not that was true, didn't matter. The real stepping stone was when the trio came back together, something neither of them liked to talk about anymore.

I'll have to tell someone eventually, the thought reached the tip of her tongue before Hermione bit on it. Minerva looked at her as Hermione winced slightly in pain.

"Is there something?" she asked

"No Minerva, just…bit my tongue. I'm a tad nervous."

Her old Professor smiled, "Well, that's to be expected." Things fell silent again. "There isn't anything else you need to tell me?"

Not yet…

"No." the brunette looked upwards at the castle. "It's quite inspiring. The way Hogwarts looks menacing and yet so much like home at the same time." Hermione smiled, "But I'm ready. I can't wait to teach. Even if it's alongside Draco."

----

Even though the room was familiar, it seemed stark and bare without the chatter Hermione was used to at Hogwarts as a student. The room wasn't the same one she had been placed in before as a student, but all the rooms were similar when empty. True, it was bigger and true, it was a nicer looking room, but it was empty and lonely. There would be no Ron or Harry here to keep her from her books, causing mischief and sorting out the mysteries of Hogwarts. There was just her now, some new Divination teacher and Draco Malfoy.

Draco Malfoy, the scourge of her time spent as a student, was going to be teaching alongside her. Not a happy course of events, but one she would have to manage with anyway. "He's likely changed much more than I have." She mused to herself, "After all, what with his father…"

Resigning to her bed, a very tiny owl entered her room. "Pig!" The tireless owl, no bigger than it had been when she was a student dropped off a small letter and scurried back out the window.

The letter was thin, with only a single sheet of paper. Ron wasn't much for words these days. After a first glance she realized that dealing with the French witch had turned him into a bigger bumbling fool.

Just a quick note before you start your new job 'Mione: Everything is status quo now. Harry still bustles in and out of nightmare-filled sleep. Gabrielle keeps dragging me around hoping to find a place to have the wedding. I told her that I'd have it anywhere, but you're a woman, you know how you people are.

Things must be going tough around Hogwarts. I know you'll be a great teacher, after all you helped me with my N.E.W.T's. If you can do that…you can do anything. I know you have your own issues and secrets to deal with, but I hope you'll send back an owl or two when you settle.

Ron Weasley

"My secret to keep. That Ron Weasley! " Hermione shook her head. "Worthless git of a friend." She smiled, "But it is better than making up ways of how he'll be killed."

So here was Hermione Granger, 2 weeks before the start of her first term teaching, musing about her own schooling.

---Prior by 2 weeks---

Ellen Knightford looked over a letter that was slipped through the mailslot. It was her 11th birthday, and she was expecting many cards, but this one was different. Her father always told her that if she happened to find a letter, addressed like this, to show it to him, and not to inform her mother. She opened the door and found an owl on the streetlight nearby. "How odd…." She noted, setting off to find her father. "Father!"

"In the study!" Benjamin Knightford replied. A few seconds later, his daughter appeared in the doorway.

"I received this." The brunette with slight curls held up her letter. Her father smiled softly.

"So it is to be." Standing up, his smile turned into a grin. "In sorry, honey, but you won't be attending your normal school from now on."

"What! Why?" Ellen looked shocked.

"Open the letter"

She did as her father continued. "What you have in front of you is an amazing opportunity dearest. You are a witch, and you will be trained as one. Hogwarts is a fine school, and all the trouble has past." He looked at his daughter with great joy. "I know you wouldn't end up without any magic."

"Magic…it's real?"

"Of course, why wouldn't it be?" Benjamin walked to a bookshelf and took down a slender, long box. "This is my wand. I remember being at your age, receiving my wand. I gave up being a wizard when I met your mother though. But you are going to Hogwarts. Why it's the finest school there is!"

---Start of Term—

Hermione Granger had not seen Draco Malfoy…or for that matter, Severus Snape. Neither had shone their heads. Snape, she had been told was in his dungeon room, preparing lessons for the fifth years. Draco, however, hadn't disappeared. He gave word that he'd be arriving on the Hogwarts Express, due to unavoidable circumstances.

Hermione however decided to stick with the normal lesson plan that the unfortunate teacher had left behind. She'd eventually change them, to keep up with the times. In order to, she started receiving a weekly magazine published by disguised witches and wizards in Britain.

Now it was the day that term started and all the teachers were gathering to "welcome" the new students. She took her place at the teachers' table, noticing that the place card next to her said "Snape" and the other said "Malfoy"

Oh this will be interesting indeed.

Next on Miserere: What does the sorting hat reveal about Ellen? Stuck Between Slytherins, and just what is Hermione's secret?