Chapter Five – Choices Come Hand in Hand With Consequences.

Thank you so much for all your reviews, you rock most profoundly! --- Lynda, Snakecharmer, starfruit, Charlotte Black (you guessed right!!), Chasing Snape is my hobby (Thx for reviewing Charlotte!), Severely Snaped, Pailay, Mandy Snape, Anna Taure.

Once again I do stress that S/H's 'friendship' will surface very soon, and to please stay tuned! It's just slow because personally I can't see Snape just suddenly 'being in love' with her…

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Pressing her ear gently up against the door to Dumbledore's office, Hermione could hear muffled shouting. Scared to knock or enter the room as the note had instructed her to, she decided that it would be best if she waited down the corridor until the other person in the office had left. As she turned from the door and began to tiptoe away, she heard the door swing open and hit the nearby wall with a sharp bang. She spun round in fright and was confronted by Snape's steely glare,

"Miss Granger," Snape moved out of the doorway and signalled into the office with a quick movement of his head, "I would have thought that if the Headmaster labelled a letter 'Urgent', you would have the sense to take heed of it."

Hermione stood where she was, not daring to enter the office while Snape stood there with such a violent look in his eye. Her mouth opened and closed a few times as she stared at him, before she finally replied,

"I did. But…but I heard shouting…I thought perhaps…I didn't want to…"

Snape cut in,

"Priorities are a healthy thing to have," he paused and raised an eyebrow as he glanced into Dumbledore's office, where Hermione could see her Headmaster talking to Fawkes, then he continued, "Your meeting with Dumbledore is considered, or should be considered, as your top priority at the moment – regardless of other things on your agenda…or what anyone else has to tell him."

Hermione held her tongue from saying, 'Like what you had to tell him so colourfully, sir?' then listened while Snape, as if he had read her thoughts, continued with a sneer,

"If you were afraid to interrupt you should add a hint of urgency to your daily actions, it could hardly worsen your personality."

Snape opened his mouth to say something more, but Hermione had had enough of him and choose to ignore him. After all, she did need a sense of urgency added to her personality didn't she? And waiting around listening to insults was only holding her back. Holding her head up high and pushing past Snape to enter, she strode into Dumbledore's office.

"Ah Hermione, you received my letter," Dumbledore smiled, "My idea for an internal mailing system is working then!" He chuckled to softly into himself then pointed at the chair opposite him and said,

"Please, sit down."

Hermione gave him a quick smile then sat down as she was asked to, hearing the door close behind her. Looking over her shoulder she saw Snape standing in the shadows of the doorframe, staring intently at Dumbledore.  Hermione's forehead crinkled in confusion and she turned back to Dumbledore to say something about Snape's presence. Before she could do so, Dumbledore held up a hand to silence her,

"Professor Snape is to stay with us. He does, after all, have a large part to play in what I have to ask of you."

"Oh." Hermione said blankly, not understanding what was going on. From the shadows of where he stood, Snape began to speak slowly and quietly,

"As you may know, I was…wrongfully…accused of a very serious crime."

"The murder of Cornelius Fudge." Hermione stated.

"Yes," Snape sighed, irritated at Hermione for putting it so bluntly, "This has prompted the Ministry to suggest that Dumbledore remove me from the staff at Hogwarts." Snape paused and waited for a reaction from Hermione. Hermione simply shrugged, for she didn't care whether Snape left or not, and asked,

"What has this to do with me?"

Snape looked to Dumbledore, who stood up and smiled down at Hermione,

"Well, as I am in no mood to lose a valued member of my staff - indeed one of the best teachers I have working for me, I have decided to merely temporarily suspend him."

From behind her, Hermione heard Snape mutter angrily over the word 'merely'. That must have been what all the shouting was about, she thought.

"Yes." Hermione said blankly. Dumbledore looked at Snape then back to her. She felt confused, she knew that the two men were trying to get a point across to her, but she didn't know what that point was.

Dumbledore decided that he would try a different approach to the situation, and the best one he could think of was to do with work. He walked over to his bookcase and pulled out a familiar looking book, then handed it to Hermione. Snape gave Dumbledore a curious look, and he replied with a wink.

Hermione picked up the book and glanced at the cover then said,

"It's a copy of the Potion's book that we're working out of this year."

"Yes, it is," Dumbledore sat back down, "Could you show me what chapter you are on?"

Hermione nodded and flicked through the pages of the book until she'd found the start of chapter 3 – the chapter they had just started looking at before the Halloween holidays, then handed it to Dumbledore. He smiled knowingly,

"I meant what chapter that you, Hermione Granger, are on."

Hermione shifted uncomfortably in her seat, and from behind her she could feel Snape's gaze burning into her back. She hated when people brought up the subject of work with her – especially when it was to find out what she was doing privately. Blushing, she took the book back from Dumbledore and turned to one of the last chapters. Snape walked over to Dumbledore's desk and picked up the book.

"Chapter 10?" Snape asked. Hermione nodded. Snape was impressed, he knew that the girl was studious but he never realised that she worked so many chapters ahead of her class. He had suspected that she might have glanced a chapter or two ahead of time, but to work that far in advance was something that he had never even thought about. He closed the book and turned to Dumbledore,

"Very well – you have proved the girl is ahead. And, as I have already explained, that does not mean that I am in the least bit happy about this idea."

"And as I have already explained Severus, there is no other quick way around the lack of a potion's teacher."

Hermione watched as the two men stared at each other for a few seconds, before Snape sagged and turned to Hermione.

"Miss Granger, you have heard me say I do not condone the Headmasters decision."

"Yes, I have. But I still don't know what exactly it is that you aren't condoning."

Dumbledore smiled,

"I am asking you to take on the task of teaching in Professor Snape's stead."

Hermione blinked,

"Pardon?"

"We want you to teach. You are, as we have witnessed, ahead of yourself work-wise in Potions, and I suspect you are equally ahead in your other timetabled subjects. We believe that, in the circumstances, you would be a suitable substitute teacher."

Hermione stood up and held her hands up to the two men, as if trying to block them out, and said,

"I don't know what sort of joke this is…"

Snape shook his head with exasperation and, trying not to lose his temper, said,

"Why would we want to joke? The Headmaster and I are hardly your young Gryffindor friends who do nothing but that. We are asking…I am asking you to do me a favour. One which I am likely to regret, but one which the Headmaster believes to be necessary," Snape paused and stared at Hermione, who was still trying to figure out if what was going on around her was actually real, then continued, "So just sit back down and listen to what Professor Dumbledore has to say."

Hermione sat back down slowly and turned her head to Dumbledore. He sighed,

"As Professor Snape was…very quick to point out," Dumbledore shot Snape a disapproving look, "We are not joking. Far from it. The situation that our dear Professor is in is a very serious one – and one that puts great pressure on the school. This is why we are asking for your assistance. But there are consequences, as with all decisions such as this one."

Hermione nodded,

"I understand."

"Do you?" Dumbledore smiled, "You realise that if you are to take Professor Snape's position, there is no telling when he will be allowed back to teach again –and that you could be teaching until the end of the year."

Hermione thought for a moment, then something inside her brain clicked with what Dumbledore was trying to tell her, and she exclaimed,

"But my exams are at the end of the school year!"

"And your classes are throughout." Dumbledore added.

Hermione suddenly realised what the two were asking of her, and her face fell in understanding. If she were to teach she would not be going to class, for the teaching would have to be full-time. Dumbledore sighed,

"I see you now appreciate what is being asked of you. There are two options open to you if you decide to take up the job. One being that you could work steadily throughout the year at night and weekends with your teachers, for help in parts of the course that you are unable to comprehend by yourself. Then at the end of the school year you can choose to sit the exams. These, as you know, are non re-sit. That means the grades that you gain in the exams will stick with you for the rest of your life – there is no changing them," Dumbledore watched Hermione for a reaction, but her face remained focused in waiting for the second option. He smiled wanly, and then continued, " Option two is to teach this year, and skip doing the exams. This will mean that you will have to repeat your seventh year next year."

"Repeat a year?" Hermione cried out in horror, "The thought of…I mean I don't mean to sound disrespectful to the school…but I could never repeat a year! I would look, for want of a better word of course, thick!"

Dumbledore let out a short laugh,

"I thought your reaction would be as such," he smiled at Hermione, "Then are you willing to teach and to sit the exams at the end of the year?"

"I think so…but I don't know everything about Potions…" she replied uncertainly. Snape stood forward and said,

"Of course you don't know everything. But I…" Snape looked to Dumbledore, seemingly unhappy about what he had to say, "I…will help you through tuition. And although I am not to teach in a class, I will not see you having to mark all the work submitted to you," Snape gave Hermione a cold smile, "I do not want to see favouritism appearing in my class…it would appear rather coincidental if your friends in Gryffindor jumped from a fail to a pass, would it not?"

Hermione nodded and smiled politely, but inside there was only one word that she would use to describe Snape – and that was hypocrite.

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