Okay, I stand corrected. I have been informed that my timeline is off. The marauders were in their seventh year in 1976, not 1985. I give kudos to Snape's Witch for finding this error. If you would like to see the website she gave me, here is the URL(remove the spaces):

www.hp-lexicon.org / timeline.html

Thanx much!

Last time on BIWEB:

"Yeah, but there's something I don't get," said Harry. "I distinctly remember Lupin telling me my mum was head girl."

"Yeah, so? When'd your mum graduate?"

"She started seventh year in '85. And she was in Gryffindor. So, if my mum's in the head girl's room in Gryffindor, then where is Hermione?" Harry leaned back in his chair, thinking about Hermione. 'Either way, come home soon, Mione,' he thought, before turning back to talk to Ron.

A/N: I know Harry and Ron got Hermione's letter at the end of last chapter, but I'm picking up w/Hermione right before dinner on her first day. Just so there's no confusion.

Chapter Three: Dinner, and a Date with Snape

Hermione decided to take a bath before dinner, and found that the giant tub was much like the one in the prefect's bathroom, except there were many more types of bubbles to chose from. She filled the tub, which took surprising little time, brought a towel over, slid her clothes off and got in. she could stand flat-footed on the bottom and the surface of the water hit just above her shoulder-blades. She dunked her hair underwater, then found the shampoo.

She was just finishing scrubbing her body when she heard a knock on the door from Severus's room. "Hermione? Are you decent?"

"What do you want?" she asked, turning on a tap that made nearly the entire surface covered with black bubbles. 'Can't say I favor the color, but at least if he decides to peek, he can't see anything.

"I want to make sure my hair isn't weird," he said. Hermione giggled at the thought of her potions teacher worrying about his hair.

"Fine, whatever. You can come in." he opened the door, and smirked at her when he saw where she was. "There, now. Your hair is perfectly fine," said Hermione. "Now get out. I need to dry off before dinner."

"Oh, but I'm not sure," said Severus teasingly. "I think I might need a few more minutes. You know, to be absolutely certain." He leaned against the sink, smirking at her.

"Fine, then. At least turn around." Severus sighed, but complied with her request. Hermione got out of the bathtub and wrapped her towel around herself. She turned to look at Severus, and realized he had been watching her in the mirror. "Oh, you must think you're clever, don't you?"

"Not particularly. A whiz at potions, sure, but not especially clever, no." he grinned. Hermione gave a sigh of annoyance. She was used to dealing with guys from the past six years with Harry and Ron.

"Fine, if you'll excuse me, I am going to go change." She went back into her room and picked out an outfit. A black tank top, whose straps tied together on top of her shoulders, accompanied by a pleated mini with green fabric in between the pleats. She pulled on the boots she had been wearing. Looking at herself in the mirror, her brows furrowed. In this time period, she would look like a slut. She took her wand and lowered the hem of her skirt by two inches, and changed into a plain black t-shirt.

Studying her reflection in the mirror again, she sighed and changed her boots to look like high heels. Nope, it still didn't look right. There was no hope for it. She was going to have to ask someone. And by someone, she meant...

"Severus!" she called, knocking on his door. "I need your opinion on something!" she smiled when the head boy opened his door. "Do these boots make me look like a whore?" she asked.

Severus blinked twice, taken aback. Then he looked down at her feet. "Not really," he said. "But if you are considering wearing that to dinner, I should stop you now." He pointed to his school robe, which he was now wearing. "We have to wear our robes to meals."

"Oh good," replied Hermione, smiling. "Then that solves my problem, doesn't it? I'm just, you know, gonna put on my robes, then I'm going to dinner."

"Nice of you to let me know your plans," he commented, before closing the door. Hermione stuck her tongue out at the door, then turned to go back to her room.

She pulled the school robes from the wardrobe on, then walked up from the dungeons, and was about to go into the great hall when she heard a very familiar barking laugh coming from the grand staircase. She turned, and saw a younger-looking Sirius, Lupin, and Pettigrew, accompanied by someone who could only be Harry's father. They were laughing as they passed her, when her eyes and Sirius's met.

"Who're you?" he asked, eyeing her suspiciously.

"Granger," she said. "Transfer student from Durmstrang." She noticed the way his eyes roamed down, then back up her figure before he spoke again.

"I'm Black. Sirius Black." He held out his hand, and Hermione was about to take it when she remembered what house she was supposed to be in.

"And I care because?" she left him gaping at her as she walked into the great hall and sat down at the Slytherin table. It was nearly empty, except for a few younger students. She filled her plate with food. She hadn't eaten since breakfast this morning, because Ron and Harry had dragged her down to the quidditch field with them.

She was about to start eating when someone sat down in front of her. She looked up, and saw the face of Lucius Malfoy, about twenty years younger than when she had seen him last. "I hear that you're a transfer student from Durmstrang?" he asked.

"Yes. Granger's the name, Hermione Granger." She held her hand across the table. Lucius took it, and kissed the back of it. Hermione smiled.

"Lucius Malfoy. It's a pleasure." He started to fill his own plate up. "Granger, huh? I don't think I've heard of your family before."

"Well, my father just got reassigned. He works with Gringotts. We used to live in Austria."

"Funny, you don't have an accent." He smirked, daring her to worm her way out of that.

"I'm easily influenced." She returned his smirk, daring him to throw another question at her.

"Fine. So, how are you liking Hogwarts?"

"It's wonderful. Much warmer than Durmstrang." Hermione's eyes flicked to the doors, where Severus was entering the room. He walked over to the two of them and sat down beside Lucius.

"Hullo, Hermione, Lucius," he said, "Getting chummy?"

"Yes," said Hermione, "I was just telling Lucius how I'm a transfer student from Durmstrang." She fervently hoped that Severus would not blow her cover.

"Oh, yeah, that," he said. "Why was it, again? Your mum got a job offer?"

"No, that was why we moved to Austria. This time my dad got transferred." She smiled at Lucius. "You see, my family has moved around a lot. I actually went to Beauxbatons for a couple years, but then Mum got a better job offer in Austria, so I moved to Durmstrang. Then, obviously, we moved here."

The three of them talked for a while. Hermione noticed that Lucius and Severus were far more cheerful as students than they were as adults. 'My god, a few years in the dark lord's service, and they turn callous, spiteful, downright cold-hearted. I wonder what would have happened if they hadn't joined up with him.'

After a while, Crabbe and Goyle had come in, and Severus and Hermione left. Walking back down to the dungeons, she decided that she should ask about going to mail her letter tomorrow.

"Hey, Severus?" she asked, gaining the head boy's attention. "I was wondering, could you take me to Hogsmeade tomorrow? I want to try my post office idea."

"I guess. I finished my work today, so I don't have anything to do tomorrow." He looked sideways at her. "That all you wanna do? Just go to the post office?"

"Well," she said, beginning to get what he was hinting at. "If you want to, I dunno, maybe go to the Three Broomsticks for a butterbeer, or something..."

"I could show you around Hogsmeade," he said, "I'm sure there are a few shops that aren't there in your time." He smiled warily.

"Okay," said Hermione. She knew that she shouldn't, she knew she should have said no and gone straight to Dumbledore and tell him the truth. But there was even more of a chance that she could screw up the future if she was with the Gryffindors. Besides, even if she had only spent a day with the Slytherins, the Gryffindors probably wouldn't roll out the welcome wagon. "So, would this be considered, like, a date?"

"I guess," he said. "I mean, if you want it to be." Hermione smiled.

"Alright, then. It's a date. I'll see you tomorrow."

Next time on BIWEB:

"Excellent. Thank you," said Hermione to the waitress as she set their drinks in front of them. She took a sip of butterbeer and felt warmth spread all the way to her toes. "So, what do you want to do now?" she asked Severus.

Severus looked up from his butterbeer. They were sitting in a booth beside each other, Severus's arm wrapped around Hermione's waist. She was leaning against him, looking up at his face. He smiled, and bent his head to place a gentle kiss on her lips.

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