Hermione lay in bed until three in the morning, mind churning, before she finally gave up hope of sleeping. She couldn't help but worry about the impending start of term and her lesson plans, not to mention Ron and Harry. But mostly she worried about Harry.
Over the last year, Harry had begun taking assignments without her, which had increased in frequency and duration over summer. He could not speak about these assignments with her, "highly top secret ministry business" he'd told her the one time she'd asked, and so all she could do was worry. In fact, she didn't even know that he was even in Germany after all.
She climbed out of bed, exchanging her cotton nightgown for a pair of jeans and a t-shirt from a Muggle rock band, and grabbed her wand before slipping out the door of her quarters. Lucinda, the young witch from the portrait guarding her door, was busy entertaining some handsome wizard, and so didn't notice Hermione's departure. She walked aimlessly, trying to calm her rampant mind, when she found herself standing in front of the library. She laughed, thinking of all the times she had snuck down for some after hours reading for one class or another. She made for the restricted section, hoping perhaps to find something useful for her classes. She had looked at the lesson plans the previous DADA teacher had left, and while they were adequate, she felt they could be much better.
Suddenly, Hermione felt a presence behind her. Her auror training immediately took over, and she spun around, raising her arms in a defensive posture, when a strong pair of hands grasped her wrists and pulled her close, bringing her face-to-face with Snape. She was close enough to feel his warm breath on her face, could see the yellow of his teeth as he spoke.
"Your reflexes could use a little work, Miss Granger," he purred, not loosing his hold on her wrists. She pulled against him to no avail.
"Something I can do for you, Professor?" she asked, attempting to keep her voice neutral, trying not to become angry. He's only trying to scare you, just trying to intimidate you, she told herself. He won't actually hurt you.
"Your first night back at Hogwarts and already sneaking around after dark, I see."
"I was under the impression that I was a teacher here, not a student, which means I have just as much right to be 'sneaking around after dark' as you do, Professor."
His black eyes drilled into her, but she refused to look away. She made another futile attempt to free herself, and when he did not yield, her anger began to rise. "Let me go," she warned, her voice low and dangerous.
The corners of his mouth rose almost imperceptibly as he snidely asked, "Or what?"
Hermione envisioned using her extensive martial arts training to turn the tables and trap him, perhaps even using his own weight and flipping him, but that could result in serious injury -- to him, of course -- and she didn't feel like having to deal with Madam Pomfrey, if she was even here yet. Not to mention Dumbledore most likely wouldn't be too pleased. And so instead, she chose to insult him.
"You know, my parents are both dentists, so they could possibly do something about your teeth, though I don't hold much hope for your breath."
Her remark had the desired effect, and Snape pushed her away, causing her to hit a nearby bookcase which teetered precariously for a moment.
"You would do well to stay out of my way, Miss Granger," he hissed and turned on his heel, storming out of the library.
She wanted to protest to his retreating back that he was the one who kept running into her, but she held her tongue.
Now that's a great start to things, isn't it? she thought as the door to the library slammed shut. Exactly how am I supposed to protect someone I piss off as much as he does me?
Tuesday morning, she forced herself out of bed early in order to have breakfast in the Great Hall with the other teachers. She had skipped both lunch and dinner Monday, she had been so preoccupied with her lesson plans, and so had visited the kitchens later. Normally, she would have settled for a cup of coffee and skipped breakfast altogether, but since she was the new DADA teacher, she felt she should put in an appearance to meet any new teachers and say hello to the old ones.
She dressed and went downstairs, praying that Snape wouldn't be present. He hadn't been a regular figure at breakfast from her days at Hogwarts and she hoped that hadn't changed as she entered the Great Hall.
"Good morning, Hermione!" called Dumbledore and rose from a table on the floor.
As she approached, Hermione took note of the teachers present, all of whom paused in their eating and conversations to look at her, most of them smiling. McGonagall, Sprout and a handsome black-haired man -- who did not smile, in fact hardly looked at her -- sat on one side, Flitwick, Hooch, Sinistra, and a young, brunette woman on the other; Snape, thankfully, had stayed true to form and avoided breakfast.
Dumbledore motioned to the two teachers she didn't recognize, introducing them, "This is Vasily Borodin, who teaches Arithmancy, and Anne Wilde, who teaches Muggle Studies. Vasily, Anne, I would like you to meet Hermione Granger, our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. I believe you know everyone else, Hermione."
Hermione nodded and said hello to everyone, taking a seat next to Vasily, who quickly finished with his plate of eggs and sausage and left the table without a word to Hermione or anyone else, merely a chaste nod to Dumbledore.
Anne, sitting across the table, smiled and said, "Don't mind Vasily. He's not known for his conversation skills."
"Good, I was afraid it was me."
The breakfast aromas were delightful, so Hermione helped herself to a plate full of eggs, bacon and fruit and a large cup of coffee. Anne had already finished eating breakfast, but was still drinking her coffee.
"You went to Hogwarts, didn't you?" Anne asked. Hermione nodded, her mouth full of eggs. "I thought so. I was three years ahead of you your first year, but that was my last year at Hogwarts."
"What house were you?"
"Ravenclaw."
"The sorting hat nearly put me in Ravenclaw. So why did you leave, if you don't mind me asking?"
"Not at all. My dad got a job in America and my mom finished my training at home."
"Living in America must have been fascinating. Why did you move back?"
Anne laughed lightly, her brown eyes sparkling. "I moved back as soon as I could! I came back to study in London."
"London University of Wizarding and Magic? Good school. What did you study?"
"Charms and transfiguration mostly. Then I took a wonderful class, 'Muggles: Past, Present and Future' which really opened my eyes to the non-wizarding world. After I graduated, I spent three years traveling the world, spending most of my time with Muggles."
"Wow!"
"It really was exciting. But not as exciting as being an auror, I'd expect."
Hermione shrugged. "If Harry and Ron hadn't pestered me to become an auror with them, I probably would have ended up at London too. Peer pressure can be a bitch when you're eighteen and don't know what you want to do with the rest of your life."
"Do you wish you had gone to university instead?"
"Sometimes, maybe on a bad day when I'm having to fight off Death Eaters from both sides. But usually I'm happy with my decision. However, it is nice to take a break." She paused, taking a bite of food, chewing thoughtfully. "Though I must say, I now understand Mad Eye Moody's paranoia."
"I heard about that! It seems I missed a lot of excitement."
Laughing, Hermione agreed. "Oh, the stories I could tell."
"You should come by sometime, then, and have tea. My office is on the second floor, near the Princess of Dyfed statue," Anne invited, finishing her coffee and standing, smiling broadly at Hermione.
"Alright, I will," Hermione said, returning the smile, happy to have already found a potential friend. She would definitely have to owl Ron, who had been sure all the teachers at Hogwarts were at least sixty years old, not counting Snape who didn't count anyways.
At that moment, a small, overly energetic owl flew in an open window and crashed into the table beside her. She immediately recognized the grey owl and set down a large piece of crust for her.
"Hi, Pig," she said, the owl hooting happily in return as Hermione untied the rolled parchment from the Pig's leg. "What've you got for me?"
She unrolled the parchment, momentarily confused since the paper was blank, until she belatedly remembered that Ron had promised to send her the Marauders Map as soon as he found it. A small note fell to the table and she quickly read it.
'Hope everything is well. Good luck and give 'em hell! Ron'
She grinned, stuffing the Map into her pocket and pulling out a small piece of paper, upon which she scribbled a quick thank you note for Pig to deliver. She let Pig finish the crust before tying the letter on, and, with an excited hoot, Pig took off.
Hermione looked up, noticing that everyone except for McGonagall and Dumbledore had left. She had been so engrossed in her conversation with Anne that she hadn't been paying attention.
Dumbledore smiled as he asked, "A letter from Mr. Weasley? I seem to remember that owl from his days here."
"Yes, from Ron. That was Pigwidgeon."
"Good news, I hope."
"Just a quick note, wishing me good luck." She neglected to mention the Map, but somehow she felt Dumbledore knew already, judging by the twinkle in the old blue eyes.
___
A/N:
Thanks so much to all the reviewers so far! This chapter seemed to gather momentum towards the end, and I couldn't stop writing! Well, almost. I'm just now finishing and it's 6am -- been up since 11am Tues -- so if there's any misspellings, or grammatical errors, I will fix ASAP, just wanted to get this chapter posted quickly.
BTW, I had originally planned for Hermione to kick Snape's ass ... but eventually decided that would cause too many personal problems, although it would've been a lot of fun! Who knows, it might happen later! :)