Chapter Four - Replacements- Rather cliché I know, but I think it works...

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Dumbledore stood still as he watched the entrance to Azkaban with worried anticipation. He had been unable to stop the Ministry from sending Snape there immediately after his arrest for the murder of Cornelius Fudge on the 31st of October. Luckily no evidence had been found to support the allegations that had been placed at Snape's doorstep, which meant that the Ministry were only allow to detain Snape for 36 hours, before they legally had to release him.

Dumbledore was now having to face the predicament of whether he should stand up for Snape's innocence by keeping him on as the Potions Master at Hogwarts, or to give into the Ministry's threats and suspend him. The case for keeping Snape on was not helped by the amount of mail that had been steadily flowing into Hogwarts from fearful parents over the course of the last day, ever since the report on the murder and arrest had been printed in the Daily Prophet. He had tried to reason with the parents who had sent the first few batches of letters, but this had made many of them more agitated than before, causing the school to even start to receive Howlers.

Sighing as he saw the doors that lead into the prison open slowly, Dumbledore watched as Snape was lead out by Arthur Weasley. Two Dementors lingered at the doors for a moment or two, before closing them with a dull thud. Dumbledore knew Snape would not appreciate a false smile from him, so his face remained looking as grave and as worried as he felt inside. Arthur nodded to Dumbledore,

"Albus."

"Arthur." Dumbledore replied then glanced over at Snape, whose face looked more drained of blood and lifeless than normal. Arthur shook his head and spoke as if he was trying to apologise for Snape's arrest,

"The Ministry thought it was necessary to put him in one of the top security cells, I'm afraid he's still a shaken up from the experience...even if he only spent a matter of hours there."

"I see. Thank you for coming here to walk him out for me, I would prefer not to have to face others from the Ministry who are threatening to take away the one thing that means the most to me."

Arthur nodded and gave Dumbledore a sad smile. He then watched as Dumbledore reached out and put an arm around Snape's shoulders then lead him to a portkey that had been set up that morning, to transport the two straight to Hogwarts.

~~~~~

Hermione leant against the wall outside Snape's dungeon reading her potion's book. None of her classmates had turned up for Monday morning's lesson (bar Ron and Harry, who were only there to try and persuade her to leave) - for they knew that Snape was not going to teach, and that Dumbledore hadn't yet found a replacement teacher. Harry thumped the wall out of boredom and whined,

"Come on Hermione, there's no point in us being here! Why are you forcing Ron and I to miss a free period?"

"I'm not forcing you two to do anything. And neither am not stopping you from leaving," Hermione paused and closed her book, "It's not my fault if I want to learn. I don't want to get behind just because Snape has managed to get himself caught up in this ridiculous murder case."

"What do you mean 'caught up'? You can only get caught up in a murder if you didn't commit the crime." Harry said winking to Ron. Hermione gave him a withering look,

"I know you're only saying that to get a reaction out of me, you know. So I'm not going to bite the bait." Hermione picked up her bag and slung it onto her shoulder then began to walk away. Ron gasped mockingly,

"I thought you weren't going to leave here until the end of the period!"

"I wasn't, but you two are distracting me so much that I figured I'd get more work done in the peace and quiet of the library. If you two even know what that is - apart from a haven for books that the two of you shouldn't be reading," Hermione gave them a quick sarcastic smile, then added,

"And I don't think Snape did commit the murder. And I know you two don't either."

After Hermione had rounded the corner at the end of the corridor, Ron turned to Harry shaking his head and said,

"She really needs to learn how to live a little."

~~~~~

"What do you mean you have to 'suspend' me?" Snape said angrily, rising out of his chair. Dumbledore smiled calmly from across the table,

"There really is no other option Severus. I cannot let the Ministry take Hogwarts away from me, especially now that Lucius Malfoy is running for Minister of Magic. Merlin only knows what will happen if he gets into office and takes control of things here..."

Snape put his head in his hands and murmured,

"You can't take my job away from me Albus..."

"I have no choice."

"But you know I didn't kill Fudge!" Snape pushed his hair out of his face and stared helplessly at Dumbledore. Dumbledore stood up and smiled sympathetically,

"I know you didn't Severus. All the staff knows that you didn't. But our students may not, and their parents don't. There is nothing else I can do."

Snape thought for a moment in silence then said,

"There is no one else to teach in my place."

Dumbledore sighed and shook his head,

"If the worst comes to the worst Severus, then I will teach."

Snape let out a sharp laugh,

"Albus, I know you hate potions - you'd sooner be seen voting for Lucius than to willingly take up the position as a potions professor."

"Sometimes it is necessary to do things that we don't like, in order to hold on to the things that we do."

Snape slumped back into his chair and gave in. Then sighing he took a letter out of his pocket and handed it to Dumbledore,

"It's from my Housekeeper. My home has been bombarded by the public - I can't go home, death threats have been pouring in through every entrance...or so she says."

Dumbledore nodded as he read the letter,

"Yes...I feel it is too dangerous to let you go home," Dumbledore looked up at Snape and smiled, "You are welcome to stay here as long as you need to Severus. I see no reason why you cannot remain living here; you are, after all, only suspended. I have not fired you yet, and nor do I intend to," Dumbledore paused and thought for a moment, "And as for me teaching potions...well, I have been looking into an alternative..."

Snape raised an inquisitive eyebrow and leaned forward to hear what Dumbledore had to suggest.

~~~~~

Hermione glanced up at the clock hanging on the wall at the far side of the library. She had five minutes left before her scheduled potions class was supposed to end. Hermione was already working on the chapters they were to be covering in potions class in March - for she'd always believed it was good to be ahead of the game. It also helped her stay on the right side of Snape - at least when it came down to her abilities in potions. Although he didn't like her, and she knew it, he could never pin her down with any detentions or take away points from her over the quality and level of her work. She always got an amazing sense of satisfaction when she would outsmart him by answering him correctly whenever he would try to trick her by asking questions on topics that they hadn't yet covered in class.

Twirling her quill in thought, she began to wonder about Fudge's murder. For sure, she didn't believe that Snape was capable of killing anybody in such a brutal fashion...and indeed, in a muggle fashion. In her mind, if Snape had wanted to kill Fudge he would have killed him using showy curses - to prove his capabilities as a wizard. Snape took a lot of pride in everything he did; Hermione would give him credit for that, regardless of anything else that she thought about him.

"Hermione...isn't it?"

Hermione jumped and looked up to see a familiar looking face smiling at her.

"Yes...and you're..." Hermione bit her lip, trying to remember what the man was called, "You're..."

"Marc."

"Marc! Yes, sorry, I remember now," she laughed, "How are you?"

"I'm grand. But I didn't really come over here for a social call - this just arrived in the internal mail. Don't know how whoever sent you this figured out that you were here."

Hermione took the letter from Marc's hand and, on opening it, glanced at the signature. She rolled her eyes,

"The sender knows me all to well," Hermione stood up and gathered her things, then smiled at Marc, "Thanks for bringing it over to me."

"No problem...are you going so soon?"

Hermione flashed the letter at Marc and gave him a confused shrug,

"They say it's urgent."

~~~~~

I know this is going rather slow at the moment...but the Snape/Hermione element will be surfacing within the next few chapters...Rushing it will just make it seem illogical lol... but I promise it will get good.

Thanks to: Tegan, Matt4Tai, Snapebelongstome, VanilaLips, Charlotte Black, Laura, Footmonster, Lynda, Snakecharmer.

Reader feedback would be MUCH appreciated, thank you ^_^