Disclaimer: Harry Potter and characters are the property of J.K. Rowling and co. although I wish I had made them up. Enjoy!!
The SecretChapter Fifteen; News
Hermione slammed her books onto the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall and flung herself into her seat with a huff.
Hermione was having a very…interesting…day. At most, one would call it mildly entertaining. However, someone who was already stressed and overtired would not quite agree with this statement.
Being the recipient of prophetic dreams and making trips to the Headmaster's office two nights in a row was starting to have its affect on Hermione. The lack of sleep along with the stress and worry that accompanied the information from the dreams, had Hermione wound up pretty tight. Being dragged down to breakfast sandwiched between starry-eyed, boy and clothes crazy teenage girls did nothing to improve her mood.
Her day hadn't improved in the slightest when they went out side for Care of Magical Creatures directly after breakfast, with the Slytherins, of course. The fact that they seemed to thrive off of her already low sprits did not bode well either.
Then again, having your robe scorched and the edges of your hair singed by a new species of animal, if you could call it that, that happened to be closely related to a Blast-Ended-Skrewt wouldn't exactly put the calmest person into the best of moods.
To say that Hermione disliked the comments about her now slightly shorter hair and her burnt robes would be the understatement of the century.
Things had slightly calmed down during Transfigurations with the Ravenclaws. Seeing her grandmother and not having to deal with the Slytherins allowed Hermione to relax somewhat and actually enjoy the lesson.
She felt slightly odd at first, being taught for the first time by McGonagall after finding out that the woman was actually her grandmother. For four years, Hermione had looked up to Minerva as a type of mentor and mother figure, and she had been one of Hermione's favorite teachers. It had also been common knowledge that the Transfiguration teacher had a slight soft spot for her. It was odd, but not unwelcome, to suddenly have the knowledge that she had been taught by a grandmother she never existed.
And while she knew her uncle would purposely not act any different towards her whatsoever, she was extremely pleased when Minerva awarded her with a smile on her way out of the classroom. Granted, it was a small smile, but it was a smile nonetheless.
During their free period after Transfigurations and before lunch, Harry and Ron had been baffled and extremely curios as to why the professor had bestowed Hermione with a seldom seen smile. For while she never scowled like the Potions Master, Minerva McGonagall was not exactly known for smiling at students, at least not within the first couple of months of the term.
When asked why she thought this had happened, Hermione had been bursting to tell the two boys exactly who she was. With a small amount of difficulty, she refrained and somehow managed to convince the two that she didn't know the reason behind the smile.
However, this did not stop the two teenagers from speculating about it and thinking up ridiculous reasons for why such an event had occurred. They then went on to discuss the less pleasing aspects of the Professor, which of course had to then be done to every professor in the school.
By the time lunch rolled around, Hermione's bad mood had returned, thanks to sufficient slandering of her uncle and grandmother. Hence, the throwing down of the books and the annoyed looks she was giving Harry and Ron.
Ginny, who had been sitting and peacefully talking with Neville, glanced up in surprise at the thump and asked her friend, "Everything alright Hermione? You seem upset."
Hermione sighed and replied while rubbing her temples, "Definitely not having a good day. Those blasted creatures burned my robes and my hair and I've just had to put up with those Harry and your brother ragging on every teacher for the last hour," she huffed.
Ginny smothered a giggle as Hermione finished her rant and then looked apologetically at her friend.
"I'm sorry, 'Mione. I didn't mean to laugh," she said solemnly and then immediately perked up. "Look at it this way, now your parents will be forced to get you a new set of robes! And since I know your hair bothers you sometimes, you should think of cutting it, now that the edges are kinda uneven and everything. I'm sure it would look great cut just passed your shoulders!"
Harry, Ron and Neville were surprised when Hermione started talking enthusiastically about hair cuts, then rolled their eyes and started their own conversation about Quidditch and other, more manly topics.
The five Gryffindors enjoyed a pleasant lunch and all of the tension eased as Hermione seemed to relax. Ginny became increasingly amused as she caught Harry and Hermione glancing covertly at one another when they thought no one was looking. She noticed that Ron was completely oblivious, of course.
But when Ginny caught Neville's eye and jerked her head slightly at the two, he smiled and shrugged.
"Kind of thought he had a thing for her last year, but he never really said anything about it," he whispered to her. "Do you think they realize yet that they fancy each other?" he continued as the other three argued good-naturedly about something or other.
"I have no clue. Hermione's smart and all, but when it comes to guys…she's completely clueless," she said with a smirk.
Neville nodded and chuckled. "What about Harry? He obviously likes her, but do you think he realizes she likes him back?"
Ginny looked at Neville with a hint of a grin and answered impishly, "I doubt it. Guys are kind of oblivious as to when a girl likes them."
She laughed to herself as Neville sputtered on his pumpkin juice, his ears rapidly turning a brilliant shade of pink.
Hermione quickly reached over to pat Neville's back. She then looked from Neville, who was still choking slightly, to Ginny, who was smiling evilly, and back to Neville. Looking pointedly at Ginny, she raised an eyebrow that was a fairly good imitation of Snape, to which she was answered with a smiling and blushing Ginny.
When Hermione started laughing softly, Ginny coughed and pointedly looked from her to Harry and back to Hermione again. It was her turn to laugh as Hermione's face flushed in embarrassment.
"You two alright?" Ron asked, interrupting their silent conversation.
Both hastily nodded and grinned at Ron, who shook his head and turned away, muttering under his breath what sounded very close to, "Barking lunatics, both of them!"
* * * *
The rest of the afternoon passed relatively well for Hermione. Arithmancy had been somewhat of a waste of time for her, for the class had spent the whole seventy-five minutes reviewing last year's material.
History of Magic hadn't been any better either, for Binns was as dead-boring as usual (no pun intended).
Having already read and memorized most of the textbook for the year, Hermione let her mind wander as Binns lectured monotonously. She spent the period getting ready for her meeting with Professor Flitwick which would take place right after History of Magic ended.
Hermione was extremely excited for this meeting. By the end of the summer holidays, she had been able to execute several different summoning and banishing charms without her wand, as well as a large number of simple charms usually taught to first years. She was proud of herself for accomplishing so much in such a short period of time, but couldn't wait to try more advanced spells.
When the class was finally over, Hermione said goodbye to the boys, reminding them of her extra tutoring session, and made her way to the Charms classroom. She waited eagerly until the class was dismissed and then walked into the classroom.
She laughed to herself seeing the tiny professor jump off of his raised platform and practically bounce over to her in excitement.
"Hello Professor. I know I'm here early, but we were let out of History early. I hope that's ok," she said, smiling at the small man.
"Of course it is, of course it is," he squeaked merrily, reminding Hermione of one of a story she had read about Santa's Elves. Flitwick's shock of white hair only further aided her imagination with the thought.
He scurried over to the door and shut it firmly, before walking back to where Hermione was waiting.
"Now then, we should get started right away, for we have a lot of work to do. Have you tried doing wand less magic on your own?" he asked, waving her into a seat in the front of the classroom as he levitated himself so that he could sit on the edge of his desk.
Hermione nodded enthusiastically. "I was able to perform several banishing and summoning charms, as well as almost half of the charms you taught us in first year," she said, smiling shyly.
Flitwick beamed appreciatively. "Well done! Then again, I shouldn't have even asked you that questions, of course you've tried! Now, how about you show me some of your spells, and we'll work from there," he said, getting down to business.
* * * *
An hour later, an ecstatic yet exhausted Hermione made her way out of the Charms classroom and towards the Great Hall.
She was incredibly pleased with the results of her lesson with Professor Flitwick. He had taught her different ways to call on her power, ways to get around the barrier of having most of her power bound. When she had learned how to do this, she was surprised by how much stronger and more powerful the spells she cast were.
However, performing so much wand less magic at one time after already being tired had Hermione's energy levels very low and left her feeling completely exhausted. So when she had dragged herself almost all the way to the Great Hall and then someone knocked into her from behind, Hermione didn't even try to fight the fall.
"Oh!," she cried out as she went flying forwards, landing painfully on her right hip and elbow, books flying everywhere.
"Oh! We're so sorry! We weren't looking where we were going," gushed a small female voice.
"Yea, are you alright? We really didn't mean to hurt you, here let us help you up!" said another, almost identical voice.
She felt two hands on each arms as she weakly tried helping them lift her up. When she was finally standing, one of the small girls was leaning down to pick up her books.
"Are you alright?" asked the still standing one, a short, shy girl who looked like she was a first or second year.
"Yes, I'll be fine. And don't worry about it, I wasn't really paying attention either," answered Hermione, absently rubbing her elbow.
The second girl stood up and gave Hermione back her belongings, then went to stand next to the other girl. Hermione noticed that they were identical twins and that they had Gryffindor crests on their robes.
Hermione looked up in surprise and asked, "Are you two the only set of twins in Gryffindor this year?"
They both nodded, looking at Hermione in confusion.
Hermione almost laughed at the situation before she introduced herself to the twins, unsure of whether or not they knew who she was.
"I'm Hermione Granger, I'm a fifth year in your house. What are your names?"
She was slightly disappointed when there was no extra recognition, or no light bulb that seemed to go off in their heads when they heard her name and she figured that her grandmother hadn't told them who she was.
Oh well, there's all year to get to know them, and I'm sure they'll find out by the end of term who I am, she thought to herself as the twins introduced themselves.
"I'm Natasha and that's Theresa McGonagall," said the girl on the left, the one who had helped with Hermione's bags.
"Very pleased to meet you," Hermione said as the three started walking towards the Hall once more. "How do you both like Hogwarts so far?"
"Oh we love it!" exclaimed Natasha.
"But, we've been here before, 'cause we come to visit Grandma Minnie, Professor McGonagall. So the castle isn't all that new to us, but we love our classes though!" continued Theresa excitedly.
"That's good. What's it like having your grandmother as a professor?" she asked, smiling at the girls.
"We haven't had her yet, we have Transfigurations on Wednesday and Friday, so we'll find out tomorrow," said Theresa.
"But she's already taught us a lot of it or the theory behind it, since we weren't able to use our wands to actually do any of it yet. I can't wait to try it!" exclaimed Natasha, as Theresa vigorously nodded her head in agreement.
The three had entered the Great Hall by now, and Natasha and Theresa said goodbye to Hermione before they ran off to sit with the other first years.
Hermione glanced up at the Head Table and smile at her grandmother when she saw that she had been watching them.
The professor smiled back, discreetly of course, and nodded in the direction of the twins, smiling once more.
Hermione turned and found her friends and sat down across from Ron and Harry.
"Oi' Hermione, you look like you're going to fall asleep at the table," said Ron, heaping food onto his plate.
"I feel like I can and I just might," she answered, resting her head in her hand.
"How'd your tutoring thing go?" asked Ginny.
"It was great, but that's why I'm so tired," she answered, finally moving to help herself to some food.
"What did you have to do that made you so tired?" asked Harry.
"I was working with Flitwick today, and we were doing a lot of different spells and charms, working on my endurance and the power behind the spell. It was great, I'm just really tired now."
A few minutes after the group began eating, Hermione was tapped on the shoulder.
Surprised, she looked up into the face of a young boy with a Slytherin crest.
"Are you Hermione?" he asked shyly as Ron and Harry stared at him with distrust on their faces.
She nodded, not saying anything.
"I'm Casper, my sister told me to ask you to meet her outside," he said quietly, unnerved by the looks he was receiving from both the Gryffindor and the Slytherin tables.
Hermione shook herself and mentally cursed. "I completely forgot! Hold on, let me just get my stuff," she said, hurriedly reaching for her books and bag.
"You're not actually going with him, are you?" Ron asked incredulously. "I mean, he's a Slytherin! How do you know he's telling the truth?"
"Ron! I don't care if he's a Slytherin or not! His sister happens to be the girl I walked in with yesterday, and if she sent him in here to get me then of course I'm going to follow him!" she replied angrily.
"But what if its some kind of joke or a trap or something Hermione?" asked Harry quietly, yet worriedly.
"Oh calm down both of you. Nothing is going to happen to me, and if anything does I can take care of myself! You know I know more hexes and curses than most of the people in our year and those above us," she replied exasperated. "I'll see you guys later, alright?"
Before they had a chance to respond, she stood up and motioned for Casper to lead the way, leaving the Gryffindors behind shaking their heads.
When they got out of the Great Hall, Hermione turned to Casper and said, "It's great to meet you Casper."
He nodded excitedly, no longer the shy boy who had entered approached Hermione.
"I couldn't wait to meet you, so Niki said I could be the one to go and get you! Everyone's waiting in the room," he said, talking very fast and almost running towards the room next to the Great Hall.
When they entered the room, Hermione immediately apologized, "I'm so sorry! I just had this meeting with Professor Flitwick and I'm exhausted and I completely forgot! I'm really sorry!" she exclaimed.
Niki and Max both laughed and came up to Hermione.
"Don't worry about it. It's not like you didn't show up at all, and you're not that late," she said, shutting the door and silencing the room before giving Hermione a quick hug.
"Yea, not all of us are like our uncle when it comes to being late," Max joked, playfully punching Hermione's shoulder.
Hermione laughed and relaxed, then turned to the two other boys in the room.
The tallest one stepped forward, hugging Hermione tightly.
"I'm Jordan, Niki's older brother. It's great to see you again, Hermione," he said in a rich baritone voice.
"Again?" Hermione asked, returning the hug with a smile.
"Well, I was two when you nuts (motioning to Hermione and Niki) were born, and I used to play with you guys when you were old enough to crawl. It was obviously before you left for the Muggle world, but I remember you two crawling after me all over the house. We used to cause so much trouble and annoy the hell out of our parents," he said, grinning.
Hermione and Niki both looked at each other and laughed.
The youngest boy in the room was standing shyly next to Max, not really moving, but staring intently at Hermione.
Looking down at him, she gave him an encouraging smile and greeted him
"You must be Max's younger brother, right? You're in Hufflepuff?" she asked.
He nodded and then stepped forward slightly. "I'm Andrew."
"Hello Andrew, it's nice to finally meet you."
He nodded, then looked like he wanted to ask something but was holding back. Finally, he blurted out, "Is it true you know Harry Potter?"
The older students all laughed at his question as Hermione nodded and ruffled his hair. "Yup, I am. He's one of my best friends," she answered.
"Unfortunately for others," came a deep voice from the doorway. Startled, the group turned quickly only to find their uncle standing in the doorway with a scowl.
"What are you all doing in here? You should all be at dinner. I do believe that Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Slytherin will be losing House Points because of this," he said, stalking into the room.
Protests were heard from everyone except Andrew, who was looking in shock at his Uncle, fear written all over his face.
"Silence!" he snapped, quieting the room immediately.
He walked back over the door and locked it, placing another silencing charm on the room. Turning slowly to face his nieces and nephews, he said in a deadly calm voice.
"Well? No one's going to greet their favorite uncle?" he asked. He paused, looking at each person and then broke out into a smile. "You guys really need to lighten up!"
Hermione scowled at him and then laughed, soon joined by the rest. Niki went over to her uncle and punched his arm, scolding him, "Don't do that! How were we supposed to know that you weren't actually going to take points away or give us detention. I should owl grandmum and grandpa!"
Hermione laughed again as she saw her uncle pretend to be frightened. Niki punched his arm again and then gave him a hug, followed by the rest of the nieces and nephews.
"It's good to see all of you," Severus said once everyone had hugged and they were all sitting around the small classroom. "I see you have all met Hermione. How, if I may ask?"
"Max and I have Muggle Studies with her. We walked in and recognized her, so started talking. After the class, we set up this thing so that she could meet Jordan, Casper and Andrew. You came in right after she did, actually," Niki answered.
Severus smiled and ruffled Andrew's hair. "And now that you've all met, I have something to tell you all."
Hermione and Niki glanced at each other before Hermione asked hesitantly, "Is this about Professor Fitz?"
Severus nodded, "I take it you recognized her from your dream?"
"Yes…is everything alright?" Hermione asked worriedly, the others leaning forward anticipating their uncle's answer.
Severus looked their nervous, waiting faces and laughed softly. "Everything is fine. It was quite a surprise to see her standing with Albus after so many years, but we've talked and worked out a number of things."
He paused, and when he didn't continue, Jordan asked exasperated, "Well? What did you work out? What happened?"
Severus chuckled once more before answering. "After spending the day together yesterday, and discussing several options, I proposed to her again and she accepted. We are to be married a week from Saturday."
Niki and Hermione looked at each other again and then squealed in unison, jumping out of their chairs to embrace their uncle. The boys followed in a more composed pace, congratulating and hugging in as well.
"Uncle Sev, that's great! I just can't believe it took you eight years to get back together!" Niki exclaimed.
"Yea! No offense, but everyone who knew you could tell that you two belonged together and were both dolts for separating," added Jordan with a grin.
Severus playfully cuffed the back of Jordan's head before answering with a small smile, "Yes, well, it just took us a little longer to get back together than either of us liked."
"When do I get to meet her?" Hermione asked excitedly.
"Yes, when do we get to see her again? Can we still call her Aunt Rose, even though you guys aren't married yet?" asked Max, also eager.
"You'll get to see her soon, and yes, I'm sure shed love to be called Aunt Rose again. She's missed you lot as much as she's missed me, although it is hard to understand why," he said slyly, then jumped to avoid a punch from Niki, Max and Jordan.
After some more teasing between Severus and the six younger Snapes, Severus realized that they had all missed dinner, and summoned a House Elf from the kitchens for some food. Within minutes, the family was eating a pleasant dinner, catching up and getting acquainted.
It wasn't until Severus noticed Andrew and Casper yawning that he checked the time, and sent them all to their common rooms, and to bed for the younger ones.
After saying goodnight to the others, Severus walked Hermione back to the Gryffindor common room. They talked about her meeting with the other Snapes and what she thought of her cousins. As they reached the Gryffindor tower, Hermione asked a question that had been bothering her since the day before.
"Are you sure you're alright, Uncle Sev? I mean, I saw your face yesterday and you looked…well…not that great," she said, placing a hand on her uncle's arm after looking around to make sure no one was in sight.
Severus smiled and answered her reassuringly, "Everything is fine, Hermione. I must admit it was a huge shock, seeing her there after eight years, especially when things had ended so badly. I could hardly think as I followed Albus into the side room. After I realized that it wasn't all some kind of joke of Albus', rose and I talked. We had a lot to discuss, still have actually. But as of right now, I couldn't be happier, knowing that she's back in my life, hopefully to stay this time."
"I'm happy for you, Uncle Sev," Hermione said, giving her uncle a small hug. "I can't wait to meet her!"
"And she can't wait to meet you. She hasn't seen you since you were a small child, and is looking forward to having you in her classes. I think Albus is setting up a small room one day this week so that you'll be able to meet all of your Snape relatives, so you shall meet her there, unless you have DADA before then. But as for right now, time to get inside. It's almost curfew and I would hate to have to take off House points," he said with a smirk.
Hermione rolled her eyes and replied with a smile, "Oh yes, I can see how much you despise doing that. Goodnight Uncle Sev."
"Goodnight Hermione."
Hermione turned away from her uncle and entered the Common Room. With a smile on her face, she made her way up the steps to her dormitory room and climbed into bed.