Lend me your love tonight

by Katta (KET on ff.net)

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters. They all belong to J.K. Rowling, of course, of course. I'm sorry if I've borrowed them for a bit, but I am making no money from it.

Chapter 4: Departures and arrivals

The next couple of months were the busiest Hermione had ever known. Having been on the point of dismissing her, the Ministry didn't seem to want to let go of her. They created all sorts of difficulties about her using her leave during her period of notice. In the end they grudgingly agreed that she could finish on 31st August, so that she could catch the Hogwarts' Express with all her luggage on 1st September. And during that period she had to finish off all her projects at the Ministry, write her lesson plans for Hogwarts, and sell her flat and dispose of any of her belongings that she wasn't bringing with her. As a result, she spent her evenings working late at the ministry and her weekends planning arithmancy lessons and brewing fresh coffee to make her flat smell nice for prospective buyers. She went up to see Professor Vector several times, which was nice, but she didn't meet many of the other teachers, as most seemed to have left for the summer.

By the time Hermione finally stowed her trunk in the overhead rack and sank into her seat on the train, she felt she needed a holiday, not a new job, She had chosen and empty compartment, but the train was full and after a little while four students, two girls and two boys, entered. They looked dubiously at her sitting in the corner reading her book and then sat down at the far end of the compartment. She was reminded of her third year journey to Hogwarts when they had sat in a compartment with Lupin who had pretended to be asleep almost the whole way. She guessed these children were third or fourth years, too.

Eventually curiosity got the better of the children and after much nudging and giggling, a girl with long fair plaits, who seemed to be the bravest, was sent over to her.

'Are you a new teacher, Miss?' she asked. Hermione nodded.

'What's your name?' asked the girl.

'Ms … ehr …Professor Granger,' said Hermione. I'm going to teach arithmancy.

'Oh, ' said the girl goggle-eyed. 'I'm started arithmancy this year!. My name is Sarah Myson. I'm in Hufflepuff – we all are. What house were you in, Miss? If you were at Hogwarts, that is.'

'Yes, I most certainly was at Hogwarts, about ten years ago. I was in Gryffindor.'

'I know who you are,' said a small dark boy. 'You're Harry Potter's friend! I saw him play Puddlemere United over the summer. He is brilliant!'

Hermione smiled. She thought that Harry would be delighted that this generation of children knew him for his exploits on the quidditch field, not for his role in Voldemort's downfall.

'I'm not doing arithmancy,' said the other boy, who Hermione thought looked muggle-born by his clothes. 'I didn't really know what it was when we were choosing.'

'I'm not doing it, either,' said the first boy sadly. 'I wanted to, but my father said I wasn't clever enough.'

Hermione silently cursed this father who had so clearly underminded his son's confidence.

'What's your name?' she asked.

'Melkior Morgan,' said the boy.

The muggle-looking boy and the second girl, who had so far been quite, gave their names as Paul Smith and Melissa Tenby. Then the tea trolley came past and they seemed to lose interest in Hermione.

~@~@~@~

Because she had travelled up on the Hogwarts Express with her luggage, Hermione only arrived in time for the sorting. She soon gathered that there had been a staff meeting earlier in the day, which she had missed, but no one seemed to have time to fill her in on what had transpired. In fact, no one seemed very interested in making her feel welcome at all. Most of the teachers she had known from her school days had left and the new people were a very unfriendly lot.

Feeling rather lonely and miserable, she sat in her seat at the end of the staff table and watched the first years being sorted into their houses. She wasn't sure whether she had been biased, but she did think that when she started, Gryffindor was the house to be in. Now it seemed to Ravenclaw for some reason – not Slytherin as you might have expected with Snape as head master.

Snape, by the way – he sat in the centre of the staff table looking as bad-tempered as ever. He only gave a short speech with no jokes, which focussed on the importance of study and following the rules. He did introduce Hermione, but not with any real enthusiasm.

As soon as the meal was over, Snape swept away from the table. As he passed Hermione, he leant forward and hissed, 'It was most inconvenient that you were not at the staff meeting. There is a matter I want to discuss with you. Be in my office in ten minutes.' And then he strode off.

Hermione was left sitting there with her mouth slightly open. He couldn't be civil about it, could he? She felt like a first year who had just been given a detention. Well, maybe not a first year, because then she would be terrified. She wasn't terrified, just annoyed.

However, there was no point antagonising her new boss any more than necessary, so she presented herself at his office promptly ten minutes later. As she entered, he looked at his watch as if to imply that she was late. Since she wasn't, she ignored himand sat down. That took Snape by surprise – he appeared to think she should have waited to be asked to sit. But if there was one thing Hermione had learnt at the ministry, it was not to allow herself to be bullied by unpleasant bosses.

Snape cleared his throat.

'As you would have known had you been at the staff meeting, Professor Lickust has had to retire through ill health following an unexpected heart attack.'

Hermione looked merely bemused – she had no idea who Professor Lickust was.

'He taught astronomy. That is not the problem – we shall cover the astronomy lessons on a rota between us until he is replaced.' Hermione groaned inwardly – astronomy lectures at midnight on top of the rest of her duties as a teacher.

'But he was also head of Gryffindor for which I have no easy replacement,' continued Snape.

Here he paused for this to sink in. It took a moment for Hermione to catch on.

'Are you offering me the post?' she asked.

Snape nodded reluctantly. 'I have no choice. It is a post I can't leave vacant and you are the only suitable candidate.'

Don't sound so enthusiastic, thought Hermione.

'The post would add 3,000 galleons to your annual salary,' he added.

With the cut in pay she had just taken, 3,000 galleons was not to be sniffed at.

'What would I have to do?' she asked.

'I would have thought that as a former head girl, you would know roughly what the job involves,' said Snape sarcastically. 'The most important thing is that you have to live on the premises and so it is not really compatible with being married, ' he added smugly. He had at least found a reason to ask about marital status that was directly related to the post. Up yours, Ministry of Magic HR Department!

'I thought all the teachers lived on the premises,' said Hermione surprised.

Snape sighed slightly. 'That may well have been the case when you were a student. Nowadays most of them are married and apparate to Hogsmeade each morning.'

'Well, I'm not married – any more,' said Hermione. 'And I need the money – I'll take it.'

'In that case you need to get back to your common room and welcome the students,' said Snape sourly.

Hermione stood to leave, but as she turned her attention was caught by a slight yelp in the corner. She looked over to see two chess figures have a go at each other on a wizarding chess board. She couldn't stop herself from taking a step in their direction to see what was going on, but Snape swept past her.

'Stop disrupting the game,' he shouted at the chessmen.

Despite herself, Hermione was intrigued.

'Who are you playing against?' she asked.

'I'm replaying famous matches,' said Snape with a superior air that was meant to convey the idea that he was above such things as opponents in chess games.

Hermione was now fascinated by the set-up on the board. With her usual impulsiveness she said, 'It is ages since I played chess. I would give you a game if you like!'

She didn't for a moment expect Snape to take her up on the offer. But the fact was that he was getting rather bored replaying famous matches. He had even considered going down to the staff room to see if he could find an opponent, but he couldn't bring himself to show such weakness. In a moment of madness, he answered Hermione.

'Tomorrow night at nine o'clock in my office, then.'

It wasn't until she was outside the door that Hermione actually understood what she had got herself into. She was going to have to play Snape at chess the next day!