Chapter Twelve: Visitors

It took a few days for Hermione to get used to being called "Professor Granger" instead of "Auror Granger." Even though she was so close to her students' age, she managed to get them to treat her as any other professor. She had successfully gained their respect somehow. Hermione suspected that her authoritativeness during that small confrontation with Anton Zabini had something to do with it. Another was that few students had a crush on her because she was the pretty new teacher. But the most likely cause might have been when a few of her students happened to catch her training in the Quidditch pitch a couple of nights before.

"Professor Granger! Is that you?" yelled a boy approaching the entrance of the Quidditch pitch.

He was accompanied by another boy and two girls. As they neared, she recognized them. They were the four students from Ravenclaw.

"Mr. Boot, Mr. Patil, Ms. Chang, Ms. Goldstein. What are you all doing out here?" asked Hermione when they were approached her.

"We had nothing to do in the common room," said Peter Patil.

"So we decided to take a walk around the castle because it's such a beautiful and clear night," said Paige Goldstein.

"We were just about finish with our walk when we heard some noises and saw lights coming from the Quidditch pitch," said Sydney Chang.

"We decided to investigate and that's when we saw you and I yelled out your name. Where did you learn those moves from, Professor?" asked a wide-eyed Kyle Boot.

"Moves? Oh. It's called martial arts. It's a...uhh...hobby of mine," said Hermione.

"Professor?"

"Yes, Ms Chang?"

"Why are you covered with spots of paint? Where did they come from?"

Hermione looked at herself. Her clothes were still splattered with paintball marks from the pipe bomb she tried to disarm earlier that evening.

"Oh, well...," she began. She paused for a moment and quickly thinking Hermione started to talk again.

"I was playing a game that my friend sent me. It's a congratulatory gift for becoming a professor here. I thought that I'd put it into use. The spots of paint are from the game."

Paige looked like she was about to ask a question. Hermione immediately said, "Why don't you all start heading back inside the castle. I'm going to be leaving soon, myself."

"Yes, Professor," they said in unison.

It spread like wild fire that she "had moves and could kick ass," as she heard a student in hallway say. Everyone knew about her "hobby." Hermione suspected that it was Kyle who headed this particular gossip train.

Protecting Snape during the school year was not as tough a task as she thought it would be. He was right next door when they were teaching and they always walked to meals together. In fact, one was rarely seen without the other. All of the students noticed that and a few more juicy and graphic rumors started up about them. The rumors were the hot topic at the weekly staff meetings.

Hermione had also been religiously sending Director of Judge of the MIB weekly progress reports through the Floo Network. So far, all they all said:

Judge -

Nothing important happened this week.

- Granger

It was now the morning of Hermione's birthday. 'Twenty-three today.' She smiled to herself as she got out of bed. She showered and got dressed. Just as she was about to leave, there was a knock on the connecting door. 'That's weird.'

She walked to the wooden door and opened it. Snape was standing there with hands behind his back.

"Good morning, Granger," he said.

"G'mornin', Snape. Umm...come on in," she said.

He walked to the center of the living room. He held out a medium-sized package.

"This is for you. Happy birthday."

'He got me something for my birthday!?' she thought.

"Oh, thank you."

She immediately opened it. It was a black hard covered book. The title was in gold and read, The Complete Encyclopedia of Charms. She smiled at him.

"How thoughtful. Thank you!" She gave him a hug, like the ones she usually gave to Harry and Ron.

He almost stumbled backwards in surprise. 'She's hugging me again.' He smiled a bit.

"You're welcome. Off to breakfast, then?"

"Yup, let's go."

"So what's the word?" asked Hermione as they neared the entrance of the Great Hall.

"Swordfish. Just like it was yesterday and the day before that," Snape said.

"As long as you know that," said Hermione.

They went up to the High Table. There weren't many students there yet. She noticed that there were two extra settings where she and Snape sat.

"Happy birthday, Hermione. If you would, could you sit here today?" said Dumbledore. She sat down with the two extra setting on each side of her. She looked quizzically at Dumbledore then at Snape, who looked a bit confused.

"I don't know what he's doing," said Snape murmured to Hermione,

A few minutes later, two tall figures walked through the entrance. Hermione was about to take out her wand until she saw who they were.

"Harry! Ron!" she yelled. They ran to the High Table and she met them halfway.

"Happy birthday, Mione," they both said in unison and gave her a kiss on her cheek. They then gave her a bear hug which sandwiched her.

"You guys!" she said. They then let go of her. "Shouldn't you both be at work?"

"Don't worry. We took a day off and even owled Dumbledore in advance," said Harry.

"We're going to spend the whole day with you," said Ron.

"This is great! It's been such a long time since we've seen each other," Hermione said.

"This is just like old times," Harry said as the three of them walked back to the High Table.

"Yup. The Golden Trio, reunited again in the place where it all started; even if it's only for one day," Ron said.

"Oh no," Snape said as he stirred his coffee.

"I'll make sure they stay out of trouble," Hermione said to him.

"You never managed to accomplish that while you were still students here," Snape said.

"Well, they got a mind of their own, these two," Hermione said as she smiled.

When the Great Hall was full, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were very well aware of the stares they were getting, but they chose to ignore them.

"So, Mione, what was it like in The States?" asked Ron in between bites.

"It was wonderful. Everything and everyone was so fast-paced. The office buildings were huge and the parks...breathtaking. I could live there forever."

"You sound like you have from your drawl," said Ron.

"I could switch this accent on and off if I wanted to. I just like the new one I got." She smiled at him.

"Speaking of the park, I heard about what happened to you and Quirrell from Shacklebolt. Are you alright?" asked Harry referring to her encounter with 20 dementors.

"Oh, I'm alright. It was nothing a few patronuses and a bar of chocolate couldn't fix. Quirrell is suspended indefinitely without pay. I'm pretty happy about that."

"He should be in Azkaban for leaving you alone," said Ron.

"How do you know?" asked Hermione.

Ron blushed. "I told him, Mione. I'm sorry, but you know how he is when he worries," said Harry.

"Yeah." She paused. "So I guess you told him why I'm at Hogwarts too, then?"

"Yes," Harry said quietly.

"It's alright. Don't worry about it. Ron would have found out anyway," said Hermione. Harry brightened a bit.

"Yes, I would have. I still have connections to the Ministry, you know." Then Ron leaned over to Hermione and whispered, "So what's it like hanging around that overgrown bat everyday?"

She laughed. "It's not as bad as you would think. When Judge gave me the assignment, I was thinking, 'You have got to be kidding me.' But I've grown to enjoy his company." This caught the eavesdropping Snape's attention.

"'Enjoy his company'?" asked Harry asked in disbelief. "What have you done to the real Hermione?"

"Oh, c'mon guys. You have got to grow up. He's human too, you know," said Hermione.

"I suppose so...," said Ron.

"How's being Keeper for the Chudley Cannons Ron?" asked Hermione, switching the subject.

"Excellent. I've just signed a 5 year contract with them."

"That's terrific," said Hermione.

"With Ron on the team, the Cannons are going to start winning again," said Harry.

"That's right. You have better believe it. I'm an asset to the team, according to Coach," said Ron.

"Harry, how's Secret Auror training?" asked Hermione.

"Tiring, but it's worth it. You should know that, Mione." She nodded knowingly.

As breakfast drew to a close, Dumbledore said to Hermione, "I will take over your guard position for today so you three can catch up."

"Thank you so much, Albus," she said. Harry, Ron, and Hermione got up to leave.

Hermione stayed back and looked at Snape. "Now you behave yourself for Mr. Dumbledore," she teased.

He glared at her. She noticed over the past few weeks that he had different types of glares. The one that he was giving her fell into the "I'm-going-to-pretend-I-didn't-hear-that" category.

Hermione lead the way to her classroom.

"I don't remember having Charms in the dungeons," said Ron.

"It's a security measure," Hermione replied.

"Oh," he said.

They entered the classroom.

"Do you two mind sitting in the back during the lessons?" asked Hermione.

"No problem," Harry said.

"And since the students will be absolutely thrilled to meet you both, I'm going to cut the lesson a bit short and open it up for some Questions and Answers."

"Sounds good. After all, we are celebrities," said Ron, smiling.

Hermione laughed. "When did your ego get so big?" she joked.

A few minutes later, her students started to file in. After half the period was over, Hermione said to the class, "Ok, everyone, wands away. We have two special guests today who I'm sure you will recognize. Mr. Ronald Weasley of the Chudley Cannons and Auror Harry Potter. They will answer any questions you have, as long as they are appropriate."

There was a collective gasp. Ron and Harry walked to the front of the room and fielded questions regarding Quidditch, their Hogwarts years, the British Aurory, what their favorites were, and if they were single. Much to the disappointment of the females, Ron said that his girlfriend was Lavender Brown and Harry said that his was Ginny Weasley.

The rest of the day was conducted in the same fashion. It was not until dinner that the trio had time to themselves.

Meanwhile, Snape had been under the watchful eye of Albus Dumbledore all day. He was sitting in on his lessons and followed him everywhere. He became annoyed and tried to politely tell Dumbledore to go away to no avail. 'He's worse than Hermione,' Snape thought to himself. Dinner couldn't come soon enough for him.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione entered the Great Hall early and sat down at the High Table. Moments later, Snape, with Dumbledore in tow, entered the Great Hall.

"He looks unusually sour," said Hermione.

"I hate to say this, but with Dumbledore following him around all day, I wouldn't blame him," said Ron.

"So, how was your day, Snape?" asked Hermione as he sat down.

"Oh, just tfantastic. I quite enjoyed having the Headmaster sitting in all my classes and watching my every move," said Snape bitterly.

"You did? We should visit more often, then. Don't you agree, Ron?" said Harry.

"I absolutely agree, Harry," Ron said. Both of them were smiling at Snape, who glowered back at them.

After a few minutes of eating, a mischievous grin appeared on Hermione's face.

"Do you two wanna play Hide-and-Seek?" she asked.

"In the castle? It would take days for us to find each other," said Ron.

"No, not in the castle. Outside in the Quidditch pitch. We could use my new Auror training system."

"You got the new system!? I want to play. Let's go now," said Harry pulling her up from her seat.

"Yeah, c'mon," Ron said after stuffing a few more bites into his mouth.

"Ok, ok! Accio package," Hermione said as a large box came flying towards her.

The three of them nearly ran out of the Great Hall, which caught the attention of a few of the students. Snape sighed. He was glad to see Harry and Ron gone. But he did miss Hermione's company.

"You can go to the Quidditch pitch after dinner. I'm sure Hermione would be happy to see you," said Dumbledore.

"Yes, sir," he said. 'I wouldn't be surprised if he was a mind reader,' Snape thought.

Outside, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were setting up.

"So this is how we're going to play. One hides, while the other two seek. Four shots on you and you're out. We'll take turns hiding. Ok?"

"Got it."

"Yeah."

"Here, take one." The three of them now had identical handguns. She used her wrist control and turned on the system.

"Welcome to Auror Special Training, Version 9.0. Please state your difficulty level: Easy, Normal or Hard. Please state your Mission number."

"Setting: Mission One, Task Two. Multiplayer Mode. Three players. Negate objective. Negate difficulty level," said Hermione.

"Mission One: Target Training Using Muggle Firearms. Objective: Negated. Task Two: The Forest. Multiplayer Mode begins in 5...4...3...2...1...GO!"

"Ok, Harry, you hide first. Hermione and I will count to 30," said Ron.

"Go to that big tree and start counting," Harry said.

When Hermione and Ron had their back turned, Harry started running.

"1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30," the two of them said quietly to themselves.

"Do you think we should split up?" whispered Ron, crouching slightly as he walked, holding his gun steadily in his right hand with his elbow locked.

"And let him divide and conquer? Never. We stick together," Hermione whispered back. She was slightly crouching too and had her gun in her right hand with her left hand cupping it and elbow bent.

After a few minutes of walking, they heard a rustling sound to their left.

"This way," whispered Hermione.

"Over there, behind that bush!" said Ron.

He and Hermione shot at the bush while running to it. Harry popped his head up and fired back. He ducked back down and moved to a nearby tree. Unbeknownst to him, Hermione and Ron had split up and were surrounding him. Just as Harry peered out from his tree, he was hit in his back by Ron. When he turned to fire at Ron, Hermione shot his back. She and Ron then shot him again.

"That's a total of four shots, mate," said Ron.

"Don't I know it," said Harry. He was now seated on the ground and leaning on the tree behind him. He was gripping his left shoulder, where Hermione had shot him.

"I want to go next. Restart player three," Hermione said. Harry's wounds suddenly disappeared and the pain he felt was gone.

"Thanks, Mione. C'mon Ron, let's go over there," Harry said.

"Count 'til 30!" Hermione said.

"We will," said Ron.

Hermione quietly sped off to a large willow tree about 50 yards away. She climb up it with ease and could see Harry and Ron slowly moving towards her. With the leaves covering her, Hermione was practically invisible. When Harry and Ron were in close enough range, Hermione shot 4 shots at Harry. All four hit their target on his chest and torso.

"I'm out. It's up to you now," she heard Harry whisper to Ron in pain.

"Where did they come from?" asked Ron.

"I don't know, but we're close," Harry said. He was again sitting on the ground and leaning on a tree.

Ron walked away from Harry slowly and looked all around him. 'Where is she?' Little did he know that he was walking closer to Hermione.

Taking this opportunity, Hermione shot 4 times at Ron. He doubled over in pain, clutching his torso.

Hermione climbed down from her tree and said, "Looks like I win this round. Restart player two. Restart player three."

"How did you do that Mione?" asked Ron.

"I excelled in Stealth and Concealment back in Auror training."

"You'll have to teach me a few tricks of the trade some time," said Harry.

"Of course I will. Ok, Ron, your turn," she said.

When Harry and Hermione went to the willow tree, they began to count to 30. The two of them walked a bit until they saw the silhouette of someone walking slowly. Harry and Hermione at shot at him and saw the figure go down.

"You're out, " yelled Harry.

"You made that way too easy for us, Ron," said Hermione as she and Harry walked towards the man laying on the floor.

Hermione gasped. "Snape!" She bent down and felt for his pulse.

"Did we kill him? Is he dead?" asked Harry.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you, Potter," Snape said quietly as he tried to ignore the pain he was feeling in his chest.

"Nope, he's still alive and kicking," said Hermione humorously.

"What happened here?" asked Ron as he emerged from his hiding place.

"We accidentally shot Snape. We thought it was you," said Hermione.

"Speaking of which..." began Harry. He and Hermione shared a look. They both shot 2 shots each at Ron.

"You're out, mate," said Harry.

"Thanks a lot, Harry," said Ron groaned.

Hermione chuckled. "Ok, that's enough. Restart player two. Restart interloper."

Immediately, Snape and Ron fell much better.

"We have better get going, Mione. Happy Birthday and here," said Harry. He pulled out a very small package from his pocket and gave it to her.

"I shrunk it so it wouldn't weigh as much."

"What is it?" asked Hermione eagerly.

"Just some light reading we both got for you," said Ron.

Hermione took the miniscule package and gave each of them a hug. "Thank you both for the gift and for visiting me."

"Anytime," said Harry.

"Maybe we could come back and visit you again," said Ron.

"Of course, that'd be great! See you guys later. Remember to owl me," said Hermione. She gave them both on final hug and kissed each of them on their cheek.

"We won't forget. Bye, Mione. Snape," said Ron.

"Bye Mione," said Harry.

Harry and Ron Disapparted, leaving Hermione and Snape alone.

"I guess I have to buy you another 'I'm-sorry-you-got-shot' drink," joked Hermione.

"Make that two more drinks," said Snape. "You shot me twice."

"Yeah, sorry about that," said Hermione quietly. "So, you wanna play? You could get some more practice on how to resist the Cruciatus Curse and learn wandless one-on-one combat."

After a moment, Snape nodded. "Wandless one-on-one combat sounds interesting."

"Alright, let's start with that, then. You'll have to take off your cloak though," said Hermione as she removed her robe. She threw it on top of the box. Snape folded his cloak in half and laid on the ground next to the package.

Hermione started to teach Snape beginners martial arts. They were so wrapped up in what each other was doing that they didn't notice a dark figure quietly walking towards them.

The person walked towards their cloaks. He knelt down and picked up Snape's cloak. He looked carefully at it plucked a few hair strands from it. Placing the cloak back down exactly as he had found it, he put the hairs into a plastic bag. He stood up and looked at the two people in the field. He cocked his head in confusion and studied them for a moment. He then placed a Disillusionment Charm on himself and quickly left the scene and walked to the Forbidden Forest and Disapparated.

A/N: Please review. All reviews and suggestions are welcomed. Flames are discouraged.