A/N: A big thank you to everyone who has read. Freelancer is going to be gone for the next few weeks, but she promises to have a new chapter by the time she gets back. In other words, there won't be another update for at least a month. Apologies around. :-) Enjoy.
~~~
CHAPTER TWO: HERMIONE'S NEW JOB
- written by galileo -
~~~
Divination. She had agreed to be the Divination instructor. Ginny was going to die.
Hermione found Ginny standing over by the punch bowl with Draco, Harry, and Cho. Ginny smiled when she saw her coming. "Well?" she asked. "Did Dumbledore speak to you?"
Hermione nodded vigorously. "Yes, he did," she said through clenched teeth. "I don't suppose you ever found out what subject the opening was for?"
Ginny shook her head. "No. What is it?"
"Divination!"
Ginny, Draco, Harry, and Cho struggled to hide in laughter.
Hermione glared at them. "It's not funny!" she said. "It's a conspiracy! You... you're all plotting against me!"
"How could we be plotting against you?" Draco asked. "We had no idea."
That was true, but Hermione was too frustrated to be reasonable. "I'm going to get a drink," she said, and started to walk away.
"Punch?" Cho offered, holding a glass out to her.
Hermione stopped walking, turned around, and waved it away. "No, thank you," she said, and turned toward the bar. "I need something stronger." Maybe a few straight shots of tequila.
"Hermione!" Cho called.
Hermione turned around again.
"Don't do anything stupid," Cho said.
"I've already done something stupid," Hermione returned, and resumed walking.
At that moment, Ginny decided to leave, too.
"Where are you going?" asked Harry.
"To find Professor Dumbledore," Ginny answered. "I got her into this mess. I'm going to get her out."
~~~
Ginny found Dumbledore deep in conversation with Neville and Parvati near a group of benches set up in the shade of a willow tree. Parvati was the first to see her. "Hi, Gin!" she called, waving at her. "What's up?"
"Hi, Neville, Parvati, Professor Dumbledore," Ginny said, nodding at each of them. She gave Dumbledore her full attention. "Professor, I need to speak with you. It concerns Hermione."
"What about Hermione?" Parvati asked, concerned.
"Hermione has just agreed to be the newest member of the staff at Hogwarts," Dumbledore answered.
Parvati and Neville looked awestruck. "Wow!" Parvati said. "That's great! What subject?"
"That's the problem," said Ginny. "You see, Professor Dumbledore, Hermione would never have agreed to take that job if she knew she was going to be teaching Divination, and-"
"I am well aware of that, Ginny," Dumbledore interrupted, "and I am afraid there is nothing you can do but trust me. I have a feeling that she will find the experience much more enjoyable than she thinks at this point."
By now, Parvati was as worried as Ginny. "You don't understand, Professor," she said. "Hermione hates Divination. It was the only class she ever dropped. She actually got up and walked out of it! She'd never teach a subject she hates so much!"
Neville, who was beginning to feel left out, voiced his agreement.
Dumbledore was as calm as ever. "I am well aware of Hermione's history with Divination, and trust me, there is a reason I am doing this. Divination is our only opening at the moment, but Professor McGonagall is planning to retire in a few years, and that means-"
"An opening in Transfiguration," Ginny realized.
"Hermione loves Transfiguration," Parvati commented. "And she's really good at it, too."
"Exactly," said Dumbledore. "Minerva feels that Hermione would be the best person for the job, but the catch is that I can only offer a position like that to an experienced teacher. If Hermione takes the Divination job now, I have no doubt that she will be teaching your children Transfiguration."
Ginny looked at Parvati, then Neville, and back at Parvati again. "I think she might change her mind about Divination if she knew this." She turned her attention to Dumbledore. "Were you going to tell her this?"
"Yes, of course," said Dumbledore. "I was going to write her a letter with all the details."
"Transfiguration," an awed Neville said. "I don't think anything would make her happier than being the Transfiguration instructor."
"There's more," said Dumbledore. "As of right now, Minerva is the only person on staff besides myself who is an alumni from Gryffindor house."
"That means Hermione would be head of Gryffindor, too!" Parvati said before Dumbledore could continue.
Dumbledore nodded. "Correct."
"That's it," said Ginny. "I'm going to find Hermione. The idea of being Transfiguration instructor and head of Gryffindor house might be enough to persuade her to endure Divination for a few years."
"And if not, she'll be buried in paperwork for the rest of her life," Parvati mused as Ginny walked away. "Anything beats that."
~~~
By this time, Hermione was on her third shot of tequila and contemplating a fourth. She couldn't believe it. Divination! How could she be so thick as to accept a job without first knowing what the job was? This was quite possibly the stupidest thing she'd ever done.
"Hermione!"
Hermione looked over her shoulder, only to see Ginny Malfoy walking toward her. "Oh, no," she groaned, and her head dropped down onto the bar's counter. "Get away from me."
Ginny ignored the request and sat down on a stool next to her. "There's something you don't know," she said. "There's more to that Divination job than what you think?"
"More?" Hermione repeated, and lifted up her head. "Let me guess: I get to sit next to Snape at the teachers' table, is that it? Lucky me!"
"Well, uh... I don't know about that, but I do know something that might make you feel better," Ginny said.
Hermione picked up her shot glass, emptied the contents, and then set it back down on the counter. "What?" she asked.
"There's a reason Dumbledore asked you to take the Divination job."
"Another drink, Miss?" the bartender asked, coming over. He looked at Ginny. "And will you be having anything?"
"Virgin mimosa, please," Ginny said, placing a hand on her stomach. "Can't have alcohol." She smiled. "Hermione, I think that's enough tequila."
"Martini, then, please," Hermione said to the bartender.
The bartender left and began mixing the drinks.
Hermione heaved a sigh and looked at Ginny. "Okay, what's the perk?"
"Professor McGonagall is planning to retire in a few years," Ginny began. "They want you to teach Transfiguration when she leaves. The catch is that they can only give that job to an experienced teacher, and the only opening is Divination. So if you take Divination now, you can have Transfiguration in a few years. And get this: Dumbledore and McGonagall are the only Gryffindors on staff right now, so when she retires, you'd be head of Gryffindor house. What do you say?"
Hermione was so shocked she couldn't say anything.
"So?" Ginny said. "What do you think?"
Hermione tried to speak, but with every word she began, she changed her mind and started to say something else.
The bartender brought the drinks, and Ginny thanked him. "Are you going to take the Divination job?" she asked Hermione. "Think about it. Transfiguration. Head of Gryffindor."
It was tempting, but... "No," Hermione finally said. "Not even Professor McGonagall's job is worth Divination. The whole thing is a lie, Ginny. I won't be a fraud like that Trelawney." She looked at her martini and poked the bottom of the glass with her finger. "You know, I'm not making anybody happy by being here, and I've got a lot of work to do. Tell everyone I'm very sorry."
"How did you get here?" Ginny asked. "Did you fly? Because if you flew, I really don't think you should be drinking and flying."
"I Apparated, and I have a very high tolerance for alcohol. Family trait. I guess there's some advantage to being a Muggle after all." Hermione got up from the bar and started to walk away.
Ginny sighed and tapped her fingers against the counter. "Hermione..."
"See you later, Ginny."
~~~
Hermione thought about going home, but then decided that she should try to get caught up on her work, so she Apparated to the Ministry of Magic instead. The stack of paperwork on her desk was as high as ever, and as she sat down to get started on it, she found herself wondering if correcting papers would take as long as this did. She quickly pushed those thoughts out of her mind. True, she'd always wanted to be a Hogwarts teacher, but not Divination. Anything but Divination.
"You won't have to be teaching Divination for long," a little voice inside her head whispered. "Just until Professor McGonagall retires. Then you can teach Transfiguration."
"Shut up!" Hermione told the voice. "I'm not going to teach Divination!" She blinked, then scratched her head as she realized she was talking to herself. Perhaps three shots of tequila wasn't such a good idea after all.
"Look around you," the voice said. "Do you really want to be doing this the rest of your life? The same dull thing, day in, day out, never changing, just repeating, an endless cycle of nothing."
Hermione covered her ears. "Go away!"
A passing intern poked his head into her office and said, "Arguing with your alter ego, Granger? You schizophrenic or something?"
"Schizophrenics don't have alter egos; that's dissociative identity disorder," Hermione grumbled.
"Sorry," the intern said, and continued on his way.
Hermione was quite certain she wasn't suffering from either schizophrenia or dissociative identity disorder. At any rate, the voice seemed to have gone away, and she went back to the mountain of paperwork. However, just looking at it was overwhelming, and she realized how tired she was. Perhaps it wouldn't hurt to close her eyes... just for a few minutes...
Before she knew what was happening, she was fast asleep.
~~~
[[ She was sitting at the faculty table; to her left was Professor Flitwick, and to her right, a man she didn't recognize. On the other side of Professor Flitwick sat Professor Snape, and the two of them made eye contact briefly. She could sense something different about Snape; he didn't look quite as surly, and the look in his eyes had softened considerably. She remembered Dumbledore saying something about a significant improvement in Snape's demeanor since the defeat of Voldemort, but she didn't plan on spending enough time around the Potions Master to find out if that was true or not.
She looked away from Snape and instead focused her attention on the man next to her. At the same time, he looked at her, and made the first move. "You're new this year, aren't you?" he asked.
She nodded. "I'm Hermione Granger. Divination."
"Nicolae Cordova, Ancient Runes. I'm new, too. Never even been here before, actually. I'm from Durmstrang."
"Nice to meet you." She couldn't help wondering why they hadn't offered her Ancient Runes. Perhaps the position had already been filled when Trelawney decided to leave. Then, out of the corner of her eye, she noticed something sitting on the table in front of her. It was a letter. She picked it up. It was from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. But that didn't make any sense. Why would she be getting a letter from Hogwarts if she was already there? ]]
~~~
Hermione awoke with a start. She wasn't at Hogwarts. There was no Professor Flitwick to her left and no Nicolae Cordova to her left. And there was definitely no Professor Snape, much to her relief. It was just a dream. Morning sunlight was pouring through the single window in her office. She realized she must have slept the entire night. She groaned. Way to go, Hermione, she thought to herself. Time to get back to work.
She looked down, and when she saw what was lying on her desk, she screamed and fell out of her chair. She stood up, got back into her chair, then rubbed her eyes and stared. It was still there: a letter from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, exactly how it had appeared in her dream.
The letter was from Albus Dumbledore, she found out as she read it. He was still urging her to take the Divination job, mentioning how Transfiguration would be open in a few years and that they wanted her to have that position. Then, she saw a line that made her scream and fall out of her chair again. "In addition to yourself," the letter read, "another new teacher will be joining our ranks this year: Nicolae Cordova from Durmstrang, who will be teaching Ancient Runes."
The letter thing could safely be considered coincidence. But Nicolae Cordova, Durmstrang, and Ancient Runes? That was downright creepy.
Hermione let out a long sigh and looked around her office. "I can't belive I'm doing this," she said out loud as she picked up her quill. It was crazy. She didn't know why she was doing it. All she knew was that she was, and nothing was going to stop her. She glanced at the letter from Hogwarts one last time, then began composing her letter of resignation from the Ministry of Magic.
~~~
CHAPTER TWO: HERMIONE'S NEW JOB
- written by galileo -
~~~
Divination. She had agreed to be the Divination instructor. Ginny was going to die.
Hermione found Ginny standing over by the punch bowl with Draco, Harry, and Cho. Ginny smiled when she saw her coming. "Well?" she asked. "Did Dumbledore speak to you?"
Hermione nodded vigorously. "Yes, he did," she said through clenched teeth. "I don't suppose you ever found out what subject the opening was for?"
Ginny shook her head. "No. What is it?"
"Divination!"
Ginny, Draco, Harry, and Cho struggled to hide in laughter.
Hermione glared at them. "It's not funny!" she said. "It's a conspiracy! You... you're all plotting against me!"
"How could we be plotting against you?" Draco asked. "We had no idea."
That was true, but Hermione was too frustrated to be reasonable. "I'm going to get a drink," she said, and started to walk away.
"Punch?" Cho offered, holding a glass out to her.
Hermione stopped walking, turned around, and waved it away. "No, thank you," she said, and turned toward the bar. "I need something stronger." Maybe a few straight shots of tequila.
"Hermione!" Cho called.
Hermione turned around again.
"Don't do anything stupid," Cho said.
"I've already done something stupid," Hermione returned, and resumed walking.
At that moment, Ginny decided to leave, too.
"Where are you going?" asked Harry.
"To find Professor Dumbledore," Ginny answered. "I got her into this mess. I'm going to get her out."
~~~
Ginny found Dumbledore deep in conversation with Neville and Parvati near a group of benches set up in the shade of a willow tree. Parvati was the first to see her. "Hi, Gin!" she called, waving at her. "What's up?"
"Hi, Neville, Parvati, Professor Dumbledore," Ginny said, nodding at each of them. She gave Dumbledore her full attention. "Professor, I need to speak with you. It concerns Hermione."
"What about Hermione?" Parvati asked, concerned.
"Hermione has just agreed to be the newest member of the staff at Hogwarts," Dumbledore answered.
Parvati and Neville looked awestruck. "Wow!" Parvati said. "That's great! What subject?"
"That's the problem," said Ginny. "You see, Professor Dumbledore, Hermione would never have agreed to take that job if she knew she was going to be teaching Divination, and-"
"I am well aware of that, Ginny," Dumbledore interrupted, "and I am afraid there is nothing you can do but trust me. I have a feeling that she will find the experience much more enjoyable than she thinks at this point."
By now, Parvati was as worried as Ginny. "You don't understand, Professor," she said. "Hermione hates Divination. It was the only class she ever dropped. She actually got up and walked out of it! She'd never teach a subject she hates so much!"
Neville, who was beginning to feel left out, voiced his agreement.
Dumbledore was as calm as ever. "I am well aware of Hermione's history with Divination, and trust me, there is a reason I am doing this. Divination is our only opening at the moment, but Professor McGonagall is planning to retire in a few years, and that means-"
"An opening in Transfiguration," Ginny realized.
"Hermione loves Transfiguration," Parvati commented. "And she's really good at it, too."
"Exactly," said Dumbledore. "Minerva feels that Hermione would be the best person for the job, but the catch is that I can only offer a position like that to an experienced teacher. If Hermione takes the Divination job now, I have no doubt that she will be teaching your children Transfiguration."
Ginny looked at Parvati, then Neville, and back at Parvati again. "I think she might change her mind about Divination if she knew this." She turned her attention to Dumbledore. "Were you going to tell her this?"
"Yes, of course," said Dumbledore. "I was going to write her a letter with all the details."
"Transfiguration," an awed Neville said. "I don't think anything would make her happier than being the Transfiguration instructor."
"There's more," said Dumbledore. "As of right now, Minerva is the only person on staff besides myself who is an alumni from Gryffindor house."
"That means Hermione would be head of Gryffindor, too!" Parvati said before Dumbledore could continue.
Dumbledore nodded. "Correct."
"That's it," said Ginny. "I'm going to find Hermione. The idea of being Transfiguration instructor and head of Gryffindor house might be enough to persuade her to endure Divination for a few years."
"And if not, she'll be buried in paperwork for the rest of her life," Parvati mused as Ginny walked away. "Anything beats that."
~~~
By this time, Hermione was on her third shot of tequila and contemplating a fourth. She couldn't believe it. Divination! How could she be so thick as to accept a job without first knowing what the job was? This was quite possibly the stupidest thing she'd ever done.
"Hermione!"
Hermione looked over her shoulder, only to see Ginny Malfoy walking toward her. "Oh, no," she groaned, and her head dropped down onto the bar's counter. "Get away from me."
Ginny ignored the request and sat down on a stool next to her. "There's something you don't know," she said. "There's more to that Divination job than what you think?"
"More?" Hermione repeated, and lifted up her head. "Let me guess: I get to sit next to Snape at the teachers' table, is that it? Lucky me!"
"Well, uh... I don't know about that, but I do know something that might make you feel better," Ginny said.
Hermione picked up her shot glass, emptied the contents, and then set it back down on the counter. "What?" she asked.
"There's a reason Dumbledore asked you to take the Divination job."
"Another drink, Miss?" the bartender asked, coming over. He looked at Ginny. "And will you be having anything?"
"Virgin mimosa, please," Ginny said, placing a hand on her stomach. "Can't have alcohol." She smiled. "Hermione, I think that's enough tequila."
"Martini, then, please," Hermione said to the bartender.
The bartender left and began mixing the drinks.
Hermione heaved a sigh and looked at Ginny. "Okay, what's the perk?"
"Professor McGonagall is planning to retire in a few years," Ginny began. "They want you to teach Transfiguration when she leaves. The catch is that they can only give that job to an experienced teacher, and the only opening is Divination. So if you take Divination now, you can have Transfiguration in a few years. And get this: Dumbledore and McGonagall are the only Gryffindors on staff right now, so when she retires, you'd be head of Gryffindor house. What do you say?"
Hermione was so shocked she couldn't say anything.
"So?" Ginny said. "What do you think?"
Hermione tried to speak, but with every word she began, she changed her mind and started to say something else.
The bartender brought the drinks, and Ginny thanked him. "Are you going to take the Divination job?" she asked Hermione. "Think about it. Transfiguration. Head of Gryffindor."
It was tempting, but... "No," Hermione finally said. "Not even Professor McGonagall's job is worth Divination. The whole thing is a lie, Ginny. I won't be a fraud like that Trelawney." She looked at her martini and poked the bottom of the glass with her finger. "You know, I'm not making anybody happy by being here, and I've got a lot of work to do. Tell everyone I'm very sorry."
"How did you get here?" Ginny asked. "Did you fly? Because if you flew, I really don't think you should be drinking and flying."
"I Apparated, and I have a very high tolerance for alcohol. Family trait. I guess there's some advantage to being a Muggle after all." Hermione got up from the bar and started to walk away.
Ginny sighed and tapped her fingers against the counter. "Hermione..."
"See you later, Ginny."
~~~
Hermione thought about going home, but then decided that she should try to get caught up on her work, so she Apparated to the Ministry of Magic instead. The stack of paperwork on her desk was as high as ever, and as she sat down to get started on it, she found herself wondering if correcting papers would take as long as this did. She quickly pushed those thoughts out of her mind. True, she'd always wanted to be a Hogwarts teacher, but not Divination. Anything but Divination.
"You won't have to be teaching Divination for long," a little voice inside her head whispered. "Just until Professor McGonagall retires. Then you can teach Transfiguration."
"Shut up!" Hermione told the voice. "I'm not going to teach Divination!" She blinked, then scratched her head as she realized she was talking to herself. Perhaps three shots of tequila wasn't such a good idea after all.
"Look around you," the voice said. "Do you really want to be doing this the rest of your life? The same dull thing, day in, day out, never changing, just repeating, an endless cycle of nothing."
Hermione covered her ears. "Go away!"
A passing intern poked his head into her office and said, "Arguing with your alter ego, Granger? You schizophrenic or something?"
"Schizophrenics don't have alter egos; that's dissociative identity disorder," Hermione grumbled.
"Sorry," the intern said, and continued on his way.
Hermione was quite certain she wasn't suffering from either schizophrenia or dissociative identity disorder. At any rate, the voice seemed to have gone away, and she went back to the mountain of paperwork. However, just looking at it was overwhelming, and she realized how tired she was. Perhaps it wouldn't hurt to close her eyes... just for a few minutes...
Before she knew what was happening, she was fast asleep.
~~~
[[ She was sitting at the faculty table; to her left was Professor Flitwick, and to her right, a man she didn't recognize. On the other side of Professor Flitwick sat Professor Snape, and the two of them made eye contact briefly. She could sense something different about Snape; he didn't look quite as surly, and the look in his eyes had softened considerably. She remembered Dumbledore saying something about a significant improvement in Snape's demeanor since the defeat of Voldemort, but she didn't plan on spending enough time around the Potions Master to find out if that was true or not.
She looked away from Snape and instead focused her attention on the man next to her. At the same time, he looked at her, and made the first move. "You're new this year, aren't you?" he asked.
She nodded. "I'm Hermione Granger. Divination."
"Nicolae Cordova, Ancient Runes. I'm new, too. Never even been here before, actually. I'm from Durmstrang."
"Nice to meet you." She couldn't help wondering why they hadn't offered her Ancient Runes. Perhaps the position had already been filled when Trelawney decided to leave. Then, out of the corner of her eye, she noticed something sitting on the table in front of her. It was a letter. She picked it up. It was from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. But that didn't make any sense. Why would she be getting a letter from Hogwarts if she was already there? ]]
~~~
Hermione awoke with a start. She wasn't at Hogwarts. There was no Professor Flitwick to her left and no Nicolae Cordova to her left. And there was definitely no Professor Snape, much to her relief. It was just a dream. Morning sunlight was pouring through the single window in her office. She realized she must have slept the entire night. She groaned. Way to go, Hermione, she thought to herself. Time to get back to work.
She looked down, and when she saw what was lying on her desk, she screamed and fell out of her chair. She stood up, got back into her chair, then rubbed her eyes and stared. It was still there: a letter from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, exactly how it had appeared in her dream.
The letter was from Albus Dumbledore, she found out as she read it. He was still urging her to take the Divination job, mentioning how Transfiguration would be open in a few years and that they wanted her to have that position. Then, she saw a line that made her scream and fall out of her chair again. "In addition to yourself," the letter read, "another new teacher will be joining our ranks this year: Nicolae Cordova from Durmstrang, who will be teaching Ancient Runes."
The letter thing could safely be considered coincidence. But Nicolae Cordova, Durmstrang, and Ancient Runes? That was downright creepy.
Hermione let out a long sigh and looked around her office. "I can't belive I'm doing this," she said out loud as she picked up her quill. It was crazy. She didn't know why she was doing it. All she knew was that she was, and nothing was going to stop her. She glanced at the letter from Hogwarts one last time, then began composing her letter of resignation from the Ministry of Magic.
