Back to School
Revised July 13, 2004.
Hermione woke early, even though she hadn't gotten much sleep the night before. She always looked forward to a new school day.
Hermione finished dressing (in the ugly robes she despised) and went over to Lily's bed. "Lily, wake up," Hermione called cheerfully. "Time for school!"
Lily groaned. "How can you be so disgustingly cheerful at this hour?"
"Because it's time for school." Hermione said, as if Lily knew how much Hermione loved school.
Hermione looked over her schedule. Dumbledore had been able to duplicate all the subjects on her schedule. It was back to the grindstone for Hermione.
Hermione and Lily headed down to breakfast in the Great Hall. The scene cheered her; it was so much like breakfast at home. Home. Hermione put the thought out of her mind and followed Lily to the Gryffindor table.
Lily sat down next to James. Across from James was Remus, whose nose was already buried in a book. Across from Lily was Peter, hungrily eating up his cornflakes. And next to Peter, across from Hermione, was Sirius.
Hermione smiled shyly at Sirius. He gave her a flashing grin before finishing off his roast potatoes."Good morning, Sirius," she said, as if nothing had happened the night before. "Hello, Hermione. Sleep well?" Sirius asked, before chuckling. Hermione beamed and then turned to Lily. "Lily, what's the first class of the day?"
"Potions," Lily replied promptly. "With the Slytherins. Big fun."
Hermione rolled her eyes. "The Slytherins? This day's turning out nicely already." She grabbed a piece of toast.
"Wait till Defense Against the Dark Arts," Sirius said. "With the Slytherins, and a nosy git of a teacher."
Hermione groaned. "How do you stand it?"
"The scenery from over here's nice," He replied unblushingly.
Hermione couldn't decide whether to smile or gag. She chose neither. "You're shameless," Hermione said.
"You know it."
He was maddening, yet so charming. Quite a combination.
James finished off his orange juice and turned to Sirius. "So Padfoot, do you have a thing for Hermione?"
Sirius choked on his toast. "For that unpleasant thing? Please, James."
James laughed. "So that's why you stayed up with her all last night?"
"Who told you that?"
"Hermione told Lily, who told me."
"Should have known."
"So," James continued, "do you like her?"
"I don't know, Prongs. She's different. She didn't fall for any of my lines. I don't know what to do with her."
"Seems to me," Remus said from across the table, "that you date all these girls because you know what they like. Hermione, she's a closed book. You're trying to decide whether she is worth it."
"That's the thing, Moony," Sirius said heavily, "she is."
Hermione entered the Potions dungeon late; she'd had to run and change after she'd accidentally spilled pumpkin juice over herself.
Hermione walked in, blushing furiously. She was never late. "Please, Professor, I had to run and change. And it's my first day here."
The teacher, Professor Figwit, apparently didn't care if it was her one hundredth day here. "Ten points from Gryffindor, Miss..."
"Granger, sir."
"Miss Granger, take the seat next to Severus."
Hermione blinked. "Who?" She heard the professor, but didn't want to understand what he'd said.
"Sorry, you don't know who he is yet. Raise your hand Severus."
A boy with greasy hair and a hooked nose raised his hand. "Over here."
Hermione walked through the classroom, past Lily and James' sympathetic looks. She sat down next to Severus.
This was it, her worst nightmare. Having to be taught by Snape was one thing, but having him as her partner?
Hermione sat down; to her left, Sirius winked at her. She managed a shaky smile before turning to the Professor.
"Can anyone correctly identify the contents of this beaker?"
Hermione raised her hand. "It's blood from the Chinese Fireball."
"Incorrect."
Hermione gasped inwardly. Incorrect? That had not happened in—well, it never happened. Hermione prided herself on knowing everything. That would prepare her for the real world. Sirius raised his hand lazily. "It's blood from the Swedish Short-Snout. "
The professor nodded. "Correct. Today we are going to apply it to a difficult potion. . ."
The teacher droned on, as Hermione took careful notes. When the teacher finished lecturing, he pointed to a potion recipe on the board and told them to get started.
Hermione sighed, and turned to Sna—Severus. "Well, we'd better get started," she said, not wanting to lose any time, no matter who her partner was.
"I'm Severus, by the way," Snape said. He sounded surprisingly friendly. "What school did you come from?"
Hermione remembered her story. "From Beauxbatons," she replied.
He nodded. "Well, I'll give you some advice about the people here. Stay away from him."
He pointed to Sirius, who was helping his partner Patsy add drops of liquid to their potion. He stood behind her and held the breaker with her.
Hermione, who still didn't know what to think about Sirius, asked, "Why?"
"He's a complete troublemaker. And he goes through girls like tissue. Consider yourself warned." Severus turned back to their potion.
Sirius caught her eye and winked again.
Confused, Hermione turned back to Severus. "How many drops of monkswood should we add?" she asked, for she knew how good he was at potion making. She held the beaker. "Two. Here, let me help you." Severus offered, and put his hands over hers and the beaker. "It's all in technique." He helped her pour.
Sirius cleared his throat from behind them. "All right, Snivellus?"
Hermione blanched.
Severus simply went back to the potion. "So we add two drops of monkswood juice to the potion—"
"It's a wonder you can see under all that grease, Snivellus." Sirius continued.
Severus whispered, "Ignore him, it's all right, I don't mind–" He said, more loudly, "And I think we're about done with the potion, Hermione."
Through all of this Hermione tried to act calm and tried to remember what a git Snape would become in his later years. But he was becoming so visibly distraught and Sirius knew that. Hermione hated teasing more than anything in the world, even if it did come from someone she was beginning to care for. She had been teased all her life.
Hermione decided to speak up for Severus.
I'll probably regret this, she thought.
"Leave him alone," Hermione said to Sirius quietly.
Sirius cut himself off during a sentence. "What, Hermione?"
"I said, leave him alone." Hermione's hand accidentally knocked over the completed Potion. To Severus' and Hermione's horrors it spread over the table and headed for Hermione. Sirius grabbed Hermione and pushed her out of the way of the spilled potion.
"Oh, no!" cried Hermione. Both Sirius and Severus looked mortified. Hermione tried sopping up some of the potion, but to no avail.
"Class is dismissed," the professor called. " Miss Granger and Mr. Snape, I'd like to see you two for a moment."
Sirius left the classroom, for once in his life not saying anything.
"I'd like you two to make up the potion by the end of the week." the professor said. "Do you think you can handle that?"
Hermione and Severus said, "Yes!" at the same time.
Hermione arrived in Transfiguration just in time to see Sirius hex Derek Creevey for 'talking excessively.' Hermione was so angry at him for that; it wasn't fair to Derek, and Hermione quickly muttered the counter curse. Sirius didn't seem to notice; he was deep in conversation with yet another girl.
The rest of the day was all right. Hermione made sure to avoid Sirius; she was able to partner up with Lily a few times. The two of them were becoming close. Lily was fun to be around, kind and loyal. At dinner she made Hermione give her the full report of classes. "And what about Charms; that's my favorite," Lily said, taking a bite of roast chicken.
"I found charms to be really easy, and Professor Flitwick is nice."
"He's not as grumpy as some of the other teachers." Lily agreed.
Sirius kept up his usual commentary with James, teasing Lily on her hair, and Remus on his study habits.
Severus came up to Hermione just then. The Marauders and Lily went silent; Slytherins never came to other houses' tables and certainly not Severus.
"Er–Hermione?" Severus said. "Could I have a word?"
Hermione had been in the middle of telling Remus about the function of a telephone. She turned around in surprise. "Sure, Severus." She stood up and followed him out of the Hall, leaving James, Lily, Remus, Peter and especially Sirius dumbstruck.
"What's with Hermione and Snivelly?" James asked Sirius quietly.
"Beats me. Don't know why he thinks he's got a shot with her," Sirius said, twisting uncomfortably.
"What is it Severus?" Hermione asked outside the Hall.
"I was wondering when you wanted to finish the potion."
"Oh, yes! I was thinking tonight, we could meet in the dungeon and finish it."
"All right. Around six, then?"
"Sure," Hermione agreed, and turned to go back to her steak-and-kidney pie.
"Hermione?"
"Yes?"
"Thank you for sticking up for me. That doesn't happen very often."
"You're welcome." Hermione decided she liked 1975 Severus a whole lot better than the one she knew back home.
Hermione walked back to her table and sat down. She picked up her fork, oblivious of the stares.
"Well?" Lily asked.
"Well what?" Hermione said, taking a bite.
Lily threw down her napkin in exasperation. James finished her thought for her. "What did old Severus want, Hermione? Padfoot and I will take care of him if he's up to no good."
Hermione smiled gratefully at James. "We're just going to work on our potion. As you know, it met with an unfortunate accident," she said.
"Good luck, then. Severus seems nice enough, but he probably just wants to get close to Sirius' girlfriend." James said.
The table went silent.
"Who?" Hermione asked.
James instantly knew he'd said something wrong. Lily stomped on his foot; Remus looked disapproving, and Sirius glared daggers at him.
Hermione looked at Sirius. "What's this about?"
"Nothing," Sirius said quickly.
James was the one to bring it out in the open. "Sirius, do you like Hermione?"
My reviewers:
Emma: thank you! I will. Evilive: thank you for thinkin' my story's good. It helps me a lot. Please keep reviewing! s.s. harry: nope, not good to make tony mad, i saw the episode where he killed his best friend . . .ugh. Avery: she has to be there for one year. Hermione does like Sirius. But you know she's with Ron. . .and it must be hard for her to have feelings for Sirius when she's a. with Ron, b. in the past, c. aware of his future. In this chapter, you saw how she kinda stood up to him. . .I hope you can understand she hates teasing. Remember how Draco always teases her? It's the same thing:) Thanks for reading. Hyper-Piper: Love the name! Thank you SO much. . . I am trying to make it good. . .I am falling short, I think.:) Please keep reading. Whispering Romance: Another great username! Yes, Sirius has always been great to her, and now we know the reason why! :) Thanks:) someonelse: Thank you. I think it's an interesting pairing too. My friend got me hooked on them. At first I was like 'Sirius and Hermione? Ick!' But then I realized their potential. Spicedhamincan: lol! Love the name! Well I am planning to update weekly, so here I am! Thanks for the review. Riffinton:It's ok, as long as you review! Don't you hate it when you can't go on the computer? Drives me crazy. Enjoy the coffee. What kind? Lol thank you for reviewing this far. Fallen Angel of Hell: Yes, I know! Hermione is a very great girl and making her feisty adds to her. Willow 'Black Rose' Edra: Short? Lol! That was my longest chapter. . .oops. This one is longer. I think they'll just keep getting longer as time goes on. Thanks for the ball. pnl123: Oh, it's so completely ok! I just wanted to make sure you understood the story better. Thank you. No worries. Siriusly Luvin It: And he'd go for half the girls, huh? :) Mistic Angel: I know in the first chapter I really jumped in. I realize now that it needs a bit of help. I was so eager to get to the story. I will improve as the story goes on, though, I promise. As for the password....my thinking was that Lily opened the door for Hermione, because she was expecting her. I will keep on working, thank you. Raven Potter Weasley: You're my 80th reviewer!!!!! :) Thank you so much!