As Hogwarts was so old, Hermione didn't notice any differences as she made her way to the Great Hall.
"Drat!"
Standing at the door of the Great Hall, Hermione surveyed the empty room and lowered lighting, she had missed dinner.
"What's wrong?"
It was a boys voice, the question asked from directly behind her, and for a moment Hermione thought of Professor Snape.
He also seemed quite fond of asking her questions when he was standing directly behind her, often scaring her half to death.
Hermione shook her head to clear it of the image and feelings and turned around to find herself facing a younger version of Snape.
And gasped.
"Are you alright?" he asked solemnly, his dark eyes searching her face.
"If this wasn't Hogwarts" he continued with a smile " I'd say it looked like you'd seen a ghost."
Hermione could only stare.
Usually she was pretty good at recognizing faces, but she couldn't remember seeing him in the halls or classrooms of Hogwarts at all. And with his long black lashes curling above his dark eyes and strong cheekbones she was sure she would have remembered his face.
"Uh, I've missed dinner" Hermione explained, "and I'm rather hungry."
"Oh, why not just go to the kitchen?"
She looked at him in shock, students weren't allowed in the kitchens. Seeing the look on her face a smile flickered across his.
"The house elves always leave some food in the pantry in case someone misses dinner" he explained.
Before she could even open her mouth to say she didn't even know where the kitchen was, he rushed on, a look of anxiety crossing his face.
"How come your here now anyway, dinner was hours ago."
He studied her carefully, as if trying to figure out if she were up to something.
"Your out past curfew, you know" he added, then looked at her suspiciously when she grinned and nodded at him.
"So are you."
Hermione smiled again, her eyes meeting his as he flushed slightly and quickly looked away.
"If you won't tell, I won't."
They spoke at the same time, grinned at each other then stopped.
His gaze shifted slightly as they heard a sound from the hallway then he was pushing her further into the Great Hall and under the Slytherin table. Hermione sat under the table, the boy beside her, her heart pounding as she listened to his quick breathing and the sound of footsteps as they neared the doorway.
A pool of light from a lantern held high touched their end of the table, but not enough to expose them to whoever was there.
The person "tsk tsked" rather exactly like her Head of House, Professor McGonagall, and for a moment Hermione started to shift her weight in order to climb out from under the table. She found herself stopped by his hand on her arm and looked back at him in surprise. He shook his vehemently at her.
The footsteps were heard again as the pool of light shrunk and faded away leaving them again in the semi-dark and quiet of the Great Hall.
"What were you thinking?"
His voice was sharp and strained as he pulled her back beside him, his face pale, his dark eyes large pools of night that Hermione felt she could lose herself in forever.
"If you'd been seen, MacGonagall would've been more than happy to take away Slytherin House points" he hissed angrily at her.
"I was just going to explain that I had fallen asleep in the library and was going to ask her about some dinner" she explained, then frowned at him.
"She's really nice, I'm sure she'd understand."
He snorted and shook his head at her.
"If we were in Gryffindor House, sure; she might even invite us up for tea."
His sarcastic tone didn't shock Hermione, it was the 'If' part. Of course she was in Gryffindor, she'd only just been sorted that fall.
Confused, Hermione got up and followed him out from under the table and in the candle light was able to see the crest on her blazer, the crest of the snake of Slytherin House.
The same crest he had on his blazer.
What was going on?
Hermione followed the boy as he slipped from the Great Hall and hurried down to the dungeons, keeping to the shadows as much as they could. They saw no one as they hurried silently down a semi-dark hallway to a large set of double doors. Opening one and pushing her through ahead of him, he pulled them closed before pulling out his wand and whispring "lumos".
Hermione looked around and could see that they were in a room almost as large as the Great Hall but with several tables and fireplaces as well as an amazing number of dishes, pots and pans gleaming dully in the light from his wand.
"The pantry is over there" he explained quietly as he indicated a normal sized set of double doors.
He seemed to be expecting her to do something but Hermione could only stand and stare at him in confusion.
'This is a dream' Hermione told herself firmly and took a very deep breath as she closed her eyes.
'I'm still on that bench in the library and when I release this breath I will wake up.'
Hermione released the breath she held and carefully opened her eyes to see him looking at her curiously. She was still in the kitchen, and she didn't know how to wake up.
Hermione suddenly felt panicked and swayed slightly as her head whirled and a pack of butterflies seemed to have taken up residence in her stomach.
He grabbed her arm as she swayed and she felt an electric jolt surge through her body at his touch. As they both jumped in shock Hermione could only guess that he had felt it too.
He pulled a chair out for her, avoiding her eyes and motioned for her to sit down.
Hermione sat, bemused, on the wooden chair he held for her, then watched as he hurried about gathering dishes then food and setting a plate down before her. A quickly muttered spell from him and Hermione's stomach began to growl at the wonderful smells reaching her from the now hot food. He sat down opposite her, and loaded his plate with food. Hermione followed suit as her stomach rumbled loudly again.
"Thank you" she said warmly before taking a forkful of food.
She looked up at him from her plate as he paused and looked at her, a forkful of food inches from his mouth. Lowering his fork he gazed back at her, his dark eyes unreadable.
"Your welcome."
She could see a high colour splashed across his cheeks and was surprised to see he was blushing.
"Uh, what is your name anyway?" he asked.
The question was asked diffidently, yet, Hermione could sense he really wanted to know, he just didn't want to be too obvious about it.
"Hermione" she told him, then smiled mischievously, her brown eyes dancing as she looked into his.
"And, uh, what's your name anyway?" she asked, mimicking his tone of voice.
"Severus."
He had caught the laughter in her eyes and laughed quietly, a low, melodious sound that curled up her spine and caused her heart to pick up it's suddenly pounding beat.
"Severus Snape."
For a moment Hermione wondered if she was hearing things, then she wondered if she was delusional or perhaps simply insane. He had said his name was Severus Snape, but, of course, that wasn't possible because he was the same age as her!
Not for the first time that night Hermione wondered just what was going on.
"Hermione."
Severus had whispered her name several times, the girl seemed to be somewhere else. Reaching over the table he gently touched the top of one hand with his fingertips, and felt the same electric jolt he had felt earlier.
At his touch she jumped then looked up at him, a question in her eyes.
"We need to head back to the dorms, Hermione."
With a quick wave of his wand the dishes were dealt with.
Grabbing her hand in his, Severus hurried along the echoing hallways until they reached the tapestry covering the entrance to the Slytherin common room.
Severus said the password, "scales", quietly, and the wall behind the tapestry became a door.
Pulling her along with him he hurried into the common room and shut the door behind them.
They were alone.
With a sigh of relief Severus flopped down onto a dark green couch, pulling Hermione down with him. She fell awkwardly, startled by the sudden yank and landed partly on his lap.
"Oooof."
Landing on him had knocked the wind out of both of them and for several minutes Hermione rested against Severus as she attempted to regain her breath.
Hermione relaxed as she realised that it felt nice leaning against Severus that way.
The few candles flickering in the wall sconces cast shadows across their faces and the quiet scrabbling of rats were not enough to disturb Hermione. For a moment she wondered about the adult Severus, but somehow, sitting there connecting with this Severus pushed those thoughts away.
"What are you thinking about Hermione?"
Severus had looked down at the pretty girl leaning against him, happy that she hadn't moved, then noticed her frown.
"I guess I'm just tired. I was just thinking of all the homework I still have to do."
Severus nodded.
"Me too."
He stood up awkwardly then turned and offered his hand to her.
'He's so polite' Hermione mused as Severus helped her up.
He dropped her hand, reluctantly it seemed to Hermione, and started for the boys stairs. He stopped and turned to look back at Hermione.
"Good-night, Hermione."
His voice was warm as was the smile he shot her way before hurrying away up the stairs.
'I've actually held a girls hand' Severus thought in disbelief as he made his way up to his bed his heart pounding in excitement.
As he crawled into the large canopy bed his last thoughts before drifting off to sleep were that he, too, couldn't remember seeing Hermione among the first years.
As Severus turned away and disappeared up the stairs Hermione watched him, a small smile playing about her lips.
A boy had held her hand.
Shaking her head, Hermione looked about her, attempting to understand the situation she found herself in.
'Now what?' Hermione wondered as she looked up the stairs towards the girls dorms.
At that moment, Hermione felt rather like the character Alice from one of her favorite childhood Muggle books, 'Alice in Wonderland'.
Though, in her case, it was truer to say of her that she was 'Hermione in Slytherin Land'.
So far there hadn't been a white rabbit with a pocket watch hurrying by, yet Hermione had a feeling that seeing him would definatley be less shocking than meeting an eleven year old Severus Snape!
Not at all sure what to do, Hermione decided to head back to the library.
As she reached the door to the Slytherin common room Hermione suddenly felt light headed and everything became dark.
Reaching out she felt, not the rough wood of the door she had expected to feel, but the worn fabric of the bench where she had fallen asleep.
The same bench she once again found herself sitting on.
It felt solid and pushing herself up, Hermione could see through the shimmering material of Harry's invisibility cloak that it was still afternoon.
She thought she heard her name being called, but distantly, as though from a great distance.
