Laying in bed, Hermione stared at the dark red canopy above her. Not that
she was really paying attention to the rich fabric, she was instead,
worrying about the day she had and the next one to come. 'Well, Ron always
did say I think too much...'
When they had reached the common room after lunch, Hermione had told Remus that she needed to study, which wasn't really a lie considering that she did study (the lie inched towards the 'needed' part), even if not for long. The interruption to her studies, however, was not her own choice but rather the ill-timed knock on her door. Hermione frowned as she heard it, not only because of the interruption but mostly because she'd never seen roommates who knocked, not when it was their room too, and especially not when she was used to sharing a dorm with Lavender and Parvati.
As the door slowly opened, Hermione realised the reason for the knock, it wasn't one of her roommates (new or old) but the Head Girl whose head was just peeking in through the small slit made by the open door. With a brilliant smile Lily Evans asked if she was interrupting.
After a quick and awkward exchange of smiles Hermione and Lily were both found sitting on Hermione's bed and talking. It wasn't any deep sort of conversation but what started out as a competition self-consciousness dissolved into an easy flowing exchange where both parties discovered they had quite a bit in common.
'Even more than she knows' thought Hermione as she heard Lily talk of her past as a muggle. To prevent any possible slips in this area Hermione told Lily that before joining Silverwood Conservatory she had gone to a Muggle pre-school. She personally thought it had been very smart of her to say that, it'd explain her knowledge of Muggles and any other possible blunder there might have been.
Hermione was honestly surprised at Lily's determination to succeed in life, then again the same trait could be seen in Harry, he just tended to focus it in areas other than academia. And of course, some of the conversation, if not most of it, did revolve around their school work and Lily was impressed with Anne's intelligence and how advanced she seemed to be already.
"I don't really know what could have possibly possessed Dumbledore to chose him as Head Boy. Not that I don't trust Professor Dumbledore entirely, I do! It's just that it's so obvious that we don't get along and the year has only just started and already things aren't exactly going perfectly well..."
Hermione was also impressed with just how much Lily disliked James. She didn't exactly hate the boy, no that was too strong a word but she did have an intense aversion to the Quidditch player.
How this was supposed to lead to love she didn't know. Then again she had once heard that "the opposite of love was not hate but indifference" and if that was the case, well then Lily certainly wasn't indifferent to the Head Boy. She had already mentioned him a number of times making Hermione think that a relationship between them would be quite hopeless, but it had to happen.
"I think Dumbledore knows what he's doing, he does most of the time..." Not giving Lily any time to ask her how could she know that since she'd just got there Hermione tried to find something positive she could say about the Boy she hardly knew, "Besides, don't you think he's handsome? James, I mean."
Oh great. She'd just acted like some Parvati/Lavender aspirant. And apparently Lily thought so too because she frowned slightly as if a little disappointed with the girl she thought she had connected so well with. It was at that moment that Lily said it was "perhaps a little too late" and "they had "classes in the morning." And with a "Sleep well" she left to the place Hermione still resented for not being her room.
Lily was right though. They did have classes in the morning and lying around and staring at the bed's canopy would only make her day tomorrow worse. Her last thoughts before being taken by sleep revolved around a simple sentence "...the year has only just started..." she wondered if she should consider herself a year older when her birthday came in three days.
* * *
Waking up as early as usual, Hermione managed to avoid most of those she wished to and ended up eating breakfast next to a 6th year Gryffindor named Emmeline Vance and Hermione thought she vaguely recognized the name. Shrugging it off, she had a nice conversation with the young girl who assured Hermione that she would one day become an auror. Smiling at the girl's determination Hermione was surprised to find Remus Lupin taking his seat beside her.
"Morning..."
He seemed to be feeling much better this morning. He looked it too. Aside from the obvious traits of sleep, that seemed to attack every teenage boy unless they've had at least 14 hours of sleep, he looked in much better health and Hermione wondered if the recovery after a transformation was easier when (or now that) he was younger.
"Good morning. Where is everyone else?"
"Oh, don't worry, they'll be doing their usual routine of showing up three minutes before lessons, shoving anything they can get their hands on down their throats and rushing before they're late to classes. And surprisingly succeeding in both arriving in time and keeping their food down. And Lily was having breakfast in her room, I think she was getting a it of studying before classes, said something about arising competition. Think she was talking about you."
The last sentence he said with a small grin towards Anne as he teasingly shoved her with his elbow. Hermione could have killed herself for blushing, this was Professor Lupin, and besides he was only teasing her.
* * *
'That's right, no potions with the Slytherins' Hermione thought to her self as she entered her third lesson of the day, Defence Against the Dark Arts, 'now I just have to endure Charms, Herbology...' she looked around as she stepped into the room '... and, oh joy, Defence Against the Dark Arts.'
Nevertheless, Hermione was quite enthusiastic towards all of her lessons so far. It felt great to be in control again, to be in a familiar environment. And in the classroom she was most definitely in control. Things weren't very different in this decade, there were still those students who slept during class, those who chatted and those few ones who actually paid attention. And again, Hermione raised her hand to every question and, being a new student, was often called upon earning her house 15 points by the end of her first two classes.
She could tell Lily was a bit jealous even if she tried acting as if nothing was wrong. 'Then again,' thought Hermione 'if some Anne girl, ex- Head Girl showed up in my class and answered every question I'd be intimidated too.' Lily still never acted less than nice towards her and she was grateful for it.
Hermione was also surprised with the Marauders. No matter what Lily had said, she could definitely understand why Dumbledore had made James the Head Boy. Both he and Sirius were very smart. They didn't exactly know the answer to most questions but Hermione knew that was lack of study, when a question required actual application of knowledge a quick understanding of new concepts they were both among the top of the class. Remus was another story. He was obviously a very studious and well-read boy who had no problems answering most types of questions and while he did seem very smart and did manage good grades, it was also clear that his talent didn't really lie in any of the two subjects they'd had so far. It was clear he worked really hard for his grades.
Of all of them, Peter was the one who stood out more. That was because of the curious fact that a boy who walked around surrounded by those high- achievers (or in Sirius' case capable of high achievement but too lazy for it) could be such a mediocre student himself. He was always cheerful though, and avoided as much as possible any discussions about grades or schoolwork in general, unless this happened to be about some future test or work they'd have to do.
Taking a seat next to Lily and Frank, Hermione looked around the class once more, this time carefully studying the students she had shared her first two classes with but hadn't really paid much attention too. Towards the back of the room there were two slytherin boys slouching on their stools, on the table beside theirs were three girls, also in slytherin talking animatedly to each other, from time to time one of them would strain her neck to look at a fellow classmate. Beside her own table were the McKinnon twins, Laura flirting shamelessly with Sirius who sat in front of them with a wide grin next to a reading Remus. In front of her sat James who was talking energetically to an animated Peter, and in front of them sat two slytherin boys and a slytherin girl, who Lily kept quietly muttering about for having 'stolen' their front seat.
The girl and one of the boys were talking quietly while he second boy kept mostly to himself. He had black hair that reached just about the middle of his ears. Having his back to her, Hermione couldn't really see his face but she could see that the back of his neck was very pale. She didn't remember his faces from other class, not that she had paid any attention to them before, the again she wouldn't really have noticed him even if she had been paying attention, he was very quiet and she didn't recall seeing him talk at all in class, much less answer any questions.
At that moment the teacher walked into the room and if his face hadn't looked so tired and friendly Hermione would have been offended by his lack of punctuality.
She recognized him as Mr. Boron, Boris Boron, the tall and gangly professor who often sat next to Mrs. Munchkin during meals. She knew he was the current head of Hufflepuff and would soon hand his title down to Madam Hooch, who Hermione hadn't yet seen, with the exception of meals, and thankfully wouldn't have to see; she had a bit of a flying fear, not that she'd ever told anyone.
Mr. Boron had thick glasses that reminded her of her 'aunt's ' glasses except that where his were small and round, Mrs. Munchkin's were large and squared. He was holding a large pie of books and Hermione noticed that very few students had actually noticed his presence. She smiled as she saw that Remus was about to stand up to help the professor with what seemed like heavy books when Mr. Boron managed to place them on his desk with a grateful smile towards his student for his good intentions.
Sirius snorted lightly and slowly shook his head at his friend, who was currently rolling his eyes. Her attention was brought back to the teacher as he began to talk about the day's lesson plan and Hermione noticed, with a bit of pity, the trouble he had in keeping the class attentive.
As the lesson went on Hermione watched Remus' enthusiasm, it wasn't very obvious, not nearly as obvious as she had been during her first year when she couldn't stop herself from bouncing on her seat to answer every possible question. He did seem more into it than he had in their previous lessons. Because of her small observation of her classmates at the beginning of the lesson Hermione now could not help but notice that the black-haired boy in the front seat often raised his hand as well, though he hadn't been called on yet.
Apparently he either didn't mind it or wasn't very surprised that Mr. Boron never asked him to answer.
* * *
He just loved teaching. Knowing that he was the one filling those innocent minds with all the knowledge his own teacher had passed down to him... well, it was an indescribable feeling. It was both thrilling and empowering, an exhilarating feeling he could only have when teaching.
So he had a little problem getting his enthusiasm through. It's not like those 'Innocent minds' were quite so innocent these days, they were probably still empty though. He'd heard of love/hate relationships but never associated to something like teaching. For, he hated teaching. It was frustrating. He was standing right in front of them, explaining, discussing, instructing, educating, passing down all that wonderful information he had worked so hard to learn himself... And most of them stared blankly at him, that is, when they bothered to look his way.
But Boris Boron was not going to give up. He knew there were some few deserving students who earned, no craved, knowledge. His eyes beamed with pride at Lily Evans, whose grades were never below 98%. He could tell that the new girl was heading the same way, he was amazed by how much she already knew but was especially surprised by how much more she wanted to know.
And then there was Remus Lupin. His personal favourite. The boy who he connected to. He didn't have what other professors called a star-pupil, but if he did, Remus would be it. His grades could sometimes even surpass Lily's, though sometimes the boy had some unfortunate and sudden drops (slight as they were) that kept his average just below the Head Girl's. But Boris knew that this was mostly because of his friends. Not to say they were bad influence, no, he thought with a small smile, they were good kids, not very disciplined but good kids nonetheless. But Remus, he was a hard working student who was genuinely interested in the subject. And would always put himself back on track after a one of these minor grades drop.
There was another boy whose grade could rival both Lily's and Remus'. That boy was Severus Snape, a 7th year slytherin who always seemed to be by himself, even when he sat with the company of others. To be honest, Boris rarely noticed the boy. He would always sit quietly and take careful notes of the class. Boris knew he raised his hand to almost every question and although his answers were usually correct, he lacked the enthusiasm the others showed. He didn't know if this was a trait he showed towards everything or his class aloe but the boy would always speak in a low tone that would show his knowledge but no interest.
That is why it was usually only later, when Boris Boron was correcting homeworks, and came across Severus' excellent grade, that he'd remember about the young boy who always held his hand up when a question was asked. He'd sometimes regret never paying any real attention to the kid, but that was only at night. During classes he'd get lost in Lily's intelligence, Remus' keenness and even Sirius' and James' jokes.
* * *
As Hermione answered another question with one of her brilliant answers a she saw, for the first time since she'd noticed him, the dark haired boy slowly turning to face her. She could hardly see his eyes as they were covered by his greasy black hair that fell over his face, almost reaching the tip of his nose as his face was tilted slightly downwards. His pale jaw was set and his lips were drawn to a thin line. Hermione had seen that face (and often in that exact expression) too many times not to recognize it. 'Could it be him, well obviously it could, he was their age. And it obviously WAS him.' Now of course Hermione knew that Professor Snape could, no would be here but it wasn't until then that she actually realised it. 'so much for cleverest witch in Hogwarts...'
Hermione also knew that Snape was a reformed Death Eater and that in her time Dumbledore trusted him completely. But what about now? Was Snape a Death Eater right now? At the young age of seventeen? Probably. And Hermione was incredibly scared to know that she was sharing a class with a death eater. With someone who could kill. She knew he had been a death eater but it had never been so real when he was a professor who she knew was trusted by Dumbledore.
She thought about Draco Malfoy. He was probably one too. And she had worked as Heads with him. But suspecting (even if it was a strong suspicion) was nothing like knowing.
Slowly, with her eyes still on her ex-Professor, noting that he was now slightly puzzled, Hermione raised a shake hand.
"Yes Mrs. Munchkin?"
"Sir, could I please go to the school nurse, I'm afraid I'm not feeling very well..."
"Of course."
And with that worried and soft reply Hermione dashed out of the room, breathing a bit heavier than usual.
When they had reached the common room after lunch, Hermione had told Remus that she needed to study, which wasn't really a lie considering that she did study (the lie inched towards the 'needed' part), even if not for long. The interruption to her studies, however, was not her own choice but rather the ill-timed knock on her door. Hermione frowned as she heard it, not only because of the interruption but mostly because she'd never seen roommates who knocked, not when it was their room too, and especially not when she was used to sharing a dorm with Lavender and Parvati.
As the door slowly opened, Hermione realised the reason for the knock, it wasn't one of her roommates (new or old) but the Head Girl whose head was just peeking in through the small slit made by the open door. With a brilliant smile Lily Evans asked if she was interrupting.
After a quick and awkward exchange of smiles Hermione and Lily were both found sitting on Hermione's bed and talking. It wasn't any deep sort of conversation but what started out as a competition self-consciousness dissolved into an easy flowing exchange where both parties discovered they had quite a bit in common.
'Even more than she knows' thought Hermione as she heard Lily talk of her past as a muggle. To prevent any possible slips in this area Hermione told Lily that before joining Silverwood Conservatory she had gone to a Muggle pre-school. She personally thought it had been very smart of her to say that, it'd explain her knowledge of Muggles and any other possible blunder there might have been.
Hermione was honestly surprised at Lily's determination to succeed in life, then again the same trait could be seen in Harry, he just tended to focus it in areas other than academia. And of course, some of the conversation, if not most of it, did revolve around their school work and Lily was impressed with Anne's intelligence and how advanced she seemed to be already.
"I don't really know what could have possibly possessed Dumbledore to chose him as Head Boy. Not that I don't trust Professor Dumbledore entirely, I do! It's just that it's so obvious that we don't get along and the year has only just started and already things aren't exactly going perfectly well..."
Hermione was also impressed with just how much Lily disliked James. She didn't exactly hate the boy, no that was too strong a word but she did have an intense aversion to the Quidditch player.
How this was supposed to lead to love she didn't know. Then again she had once heard that "the opposite of love was not hate but indifference" and if that was the case, well then Lily certainly wasn't indifferent to the Head Boy. She had already mentioned him a number of times making Hermione think that a relationship between them would be quite hopeless, but it had to happen.
"I think Dumbledore knows what he's doing, he does most of the time..." Not giving Lily any time to ask her how could she know that since she'd just got there Hermione tried to find something positive she could say about the Boy she hardly knew, "Besides, don't you think he's handsome? James, I mean."
Oh great. She'd just acted like some Parvati/Lavender aspirant. And apparently Lily thought so too because she frowned slightly as if a little disappointed with the girl she thought she had connected so well with. It was at that moment that Lily said it was "perhaps a little too late" and "they had "classes in the morning." And with a "Sleep well" she left to the place Hermione still resented for not being her room.
Lily was right though. They did have classes in the morning and lying around and staring at the bed's canopy would only make her day tomorrow worse. Her last thoughts before being taken by sleep revolved around a simple sentence "...the year has only just started..." she wondered if she should consider herself a year older when her birthday came in three days.
* * *
Waking up as early as usual, Hermione managed to avoid most of those she wished to and ended up eating breakfast next to a 6th year Gryffindor named Emmeline Vance and Hermione thought she vaguely recognized the name. Shrugging it off, she had a nice conversation with the young girl who assured Hermione that she would one day become an auror. Smiling at the girl's determination Hermione was surprised to find Remus Lupin taking his seat beside her.
"Morning..."
He seemed to be feeling much better this morning. He looked it too. Aside from the obvious traits of sleep, that seemed to attack every teenage boy unless they've had at least 14 hours of sleep, he looked in much better health and Hermione wondered if the recovery after a transformation was easier when (or now that) he was younger.
"Good morning. Where is everyone else?"
"Oh, don't worry, they'll be doing their usual routine of showing up three minutes before lessons, shoving anything they can get their hands on down their throats and rushing before they're late to classes. And surprisingly succeeding in both arriving in time and keeping their food down. And Lily was having breakfast in her room, I think she was getting a it of studying before classes, said something about arising competition. Think she was talking about you."
The last sentence he said with a small grin towards Anne as he teasingly shoved her with his elbow. Hermione could have killed herself for blushing, this was Professor Lupin, and besides he was only teasing her.
* * *
'That's right, no potions with the Slytherins' Hermione thought to her self as she entered her third lesson of the day, Defence Against the Dark Arts, 'now I just have to endure Charms, Herbology...' she looked around as she stepped into the room '... and, oh joy, Defence Against the Dark Arts.'
Nevertheless, Hermione was quite enthusiastic towards all of her lessons so far. It felt great to be in control again, to be in a familiar environment. And in the classroom she was most definitely in control. Things weren't very different in this decade, there were still those students who slept during class, those who chatted and those few ones who actually paid attention. And again, Hermione raised her hand to every question and, being a new student, was often called upon earning her house 15 points by the end of her first two classes.
She could tell Lily was a bit jealous even if she tried acting as if nothing was wrong. 'Then again,' thought Hermione 'if some Anne girl, ex- Head Girl showed up in my class and answered every question I'd be intimidated too.' Lily still never acted less than nice towards her and she was grateful for it.
Hermione was also surprised with the Marauders. No matter what Lily had said, she could definitely understand why Dumbledore had made James the Head Boy. Both he and Sirius were very smart. They didn't exactly know the answer to most questions but Hermione knew that was lack of study, when a question required actual application of knowledge a quick understanding of new concepts they were both among the top of the class. Remus was another story. He was obviously a very studious and well-read boy who had no problems answering most types of questions and while he did seem very smart and did manage good grades, it was also clear that his talent didn't really lie in any of the two subjects they'd had so far. It was clear he worked really hard for his grades.
Of all of them, Peter was the one who stood out more. That was because of the curious fact that a boy who walked around surrounded by those high- achievers (or in Sirius' case capable of high achievement but too lazy for it) could be such a mediocre student himself. He was always cheerful though, and avoided as much as possible any discussions about grades or schoolwork in general, unless this happened to be about some future test or work they'd have to do.
Taking a seat next to Lily and Frank, Hermione looked around the class once more, this time carefully studying the students she had shared her first two classes with but hadn't really paid much attention too. Towards the back of the room there were two slytherin boys slouching on their stools, on the table beside theirs were three girls, also in slytherin talking animatedly to each other, from time to time one of them would strain her neck to look at a fellow classmate. Beside her own table were the McKinnon twins, Laura flirting shamelessly with Sirius who sat in front of them with a wide grin next to a reading Remus. In front of her sat James who was talking energetically to an animated Peter, and in front of them sat two slytherin boys and a slytherin girl, who Lily kept quietly muttering about for having 'stolen' their front seat.
The girl and one of the boys were talking quietly while he second boy kept mostly to himself. He had black hair that reached just about the middle of his ears. Having his back to her, Hermione couldn't really see his face but she could see that the back of his neck was very pale. She didn't remember his faces from other class, not that she had paid any attention to them before, the again she wouldn't really have noticed him even if she had been paying attention, he was very quiet and she didn't recall seeing him talk at all in class, much less answer any questions.
At that moment the teacher walked into the room and if his face hadn't looked so tired and friendly Hermione would have been offended by his lack of punctuality.
She recognized him as Mr. Boron, Boris Boron, the tall and gangly professor who often sat next to Mrs. Munchkin during meals. She knew he was the current head of Hufflepuff and would soon hand his title down to Madam Hooch, who Hermione hadn't yet seen, with the exception of meals, and thankfully wouldn't have to see; she had a bit of a flying fear, not that she'd ever told anyone.
Mr. Boron had thick glasses that reminded her of her 'aunt's ' glasses except that where his were small and round, Mrs. Munchkin's were large and squared. He was holding a large pie of books and Hermione noticed that very few students had actually noticed his presence. She smiled as she saw that Remus was about to stand up to help the professor with what seemed like heavy books when Mr. Boron managed to place them on his desk with a grateful smile towards his student for his good intentions.
Sirius snorted lightly and slowly shook his head at his friend, who was currently rolling his eyes. Her attention was brought back to the teacher as he began to talk about the day's lesson plan and Hermione noticed, with a bit of pity, the trouble he had in keeping the class attentive.
As the lesson went on Hermione watched Remus' enthusiasm, it wasn't very obvious, not nearly as obvious as she had been during her first year when she couldn't stop herself from bouncing on her seat to answer every possible question. He did seem more into it than he had in their previous lessons. Because of her small observation of her classmates at the beginning of the lesson Hermione now could not help but notice that the black-haired boy in the front seat often raised his hand as well, though he hadn't been called on yet.
Apparently he either didn't mind it or wasn't very surprised that Mr. Boron never asked him to answer.
* * *
He just loved teaching. Knowing that he was the one filling those innocent minds with all the knowledge his own teacher had passed down to him... well, it was an indescribable feeling. It was both thrilling and empowering, an exhilarating feeling he could only have when teaching.
So he had a little problem getting his enthusiasm through. It's not like those 'Innocent minds' were quite so innocent these days, they were probably still empty though. He'd heard of love/hate relationships but never associated to something like teaching. For, he hated teaching. It was frustrating. He was standing right in front of them, explaining, discussing, instructing, educating, passing down all that wonderful information he had worked so hard to learn himself... And most of them stared blankly at him, that is, when they bothered to look his way.
But Boris Boron was not going to give up. He knew there were some few deserving students who earned, no craved, knowledge. His eyes beamed with pride at Lily Evans, whose grades were never below 98%. He could tell that the new girl was heading the same way, he was amazed by how much she already knew but was especially surprised by how much more she wanted to know.
And then there was Remus Lupin. His personal favourite. The boy who he connected to. He didn't have what other professors called a star-pupil, but if he did, Remus would be it. His grades could sometimes even surpass Lily's, though sometimes the boy had some unfortunate and sudden drops (slight as they were) that kept his average just below the Head Girl's. But Boris knew that this was mostly because of his friends. Not to say they were bad influence, no, he thought with a small smile, they were good kids, not very disciplined but good kids nonetheless. But Remus, he was a hard working student who was genuinely interested in the subject. And would always put himself back on track after a one of these minor grades drop.
There was another boy whose grade could rival both Lily's and Remus'. That boy was Severus Snape, a 7th year slytherin who always seemed to be by himself, even when he sat with the company of others. To be honest, Boris rarely noticed the boy. He would always sit quietly and take careful notes of the class. Boris knew he raised his hand to almost every question and although his answers were usually correct, he lacked the enthusiasm the others showed. He didn't know if this was a trait he showed towards everything or his class aloe but the boy would always speak in a low tone that would show his knowledge but no interest.
That is why it was usually only later, when Boris Boron was correcting homeworks, and came across Severus' excellent grade, that he'd remember about the young boy who always held his hand up when a question was asked. He'd sometimes regret never paying any real attention to the kid, but that was only at night. During classes he'd get lost in Lily's intelligence, Remus' keenness and even Sirius' and James' jokes.
* * *
As Hermione answered another question with one of her brilliant answers a she saw, for the first time since she'd noticed him, the dark haired boy slowly turning to face her. She could hardly see his eyes as they were covered by his greasy black hair that fell over his face, almost reaching the tip of his nose as his face was tilted slightly downwards. His pale jaw was set and his lips were drawn to a thin line. Hermione had seen that face (and often in that exact expression) too many times not to recognize it. 'Could it be him, well obviously it could, he was their age. And it obviously WAS him.' Now of course Hermione knew that Professor Snape could, no would be here but it wasn't until then that she actually realised it. 'so much for cleverest witch in Hogwarts...'
Hermione also knew that Snape was a reformed Death Eater and that in her time Dumbledore trusted him completely. But what about now? Was Snape a Death Eater right now? At the young age of seventeen? Probably. And Hermione was incredibly scared to know that she was sharing a class with a death eater. With someone who could kill. She knew he had been a death eater but it had never been so real when he was a professor who she knew was trusted by Dumbledore.
She thought about Draco Malfoy. He was probably one too. And she had worked as Heads with him. But suspecting (even if it was a strong suspicion) was nothing like knowing.
Slowly, with her eyes still on her ex-Professor, noting that he was now slightly puzzled, Hermione raised a shake hand.
"Yes Mrs. Munchkin?"
"Sir, could I please go to the school nurse, I'm afraid I'm not feeling very well..."
"Of course."
And with that worried and soft reply Hermione dashed out of the room, breathing a bit heavier than usual.