Disclaimer: All things belonging to the Harry Potter book belong to J.K.R. All things unrecognisable are mine.
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Smile firmly in place, Dumbledore signalled for the dark haired youth to sit. Hermione, realising that in her anxiousness she was still standing herself, sat on one of the chairs that faced the professor's desk, Severus Snape taking the other.
The room was in silence, Severus looked at the professor. He could tell that Dumbledore was waiting for him to start.
He continued in silence. His eyes never wavered from the Headmaster's own blue ones.
Hermione watched while the two males stared at each other. Snape did not raise his chin or sneer, he did nothing that would seem challenging. Dumbledore still had a half smile on his face. The room was still in silence.
"Sir, why don't you tell us why we're here?" A set of black eyes turned to see her and a second later they were joined by the professor's twinkling ones. Severus silently scolded himself for being the first to look away, not that this had been a competition; he was above such plebeian acts.
"As I'm sure you are already aware of, being in the same class, Mr. Snape here is a very prominent Potions student," he then turned to the Severus, "Mrs. Munchkin is quite the connoisseur herself. I would like it if, as a personal favour to me, the two of you could work together on a rather ancient potion I am curious about."
The room's only female occupant bit her lips; that was hardly a plausible excuse. Snape would probably be full of questions, as she no doubt would've herself. But, much to her surprise, he nodded, eyes never shifting.
Severus knew when to ask questions. He could tell that the professor did not mean for him to know any information or he would have told him himself. He also knew, from personal experience, that there was no amount of questions that would convince this man of sharing any information he did not wish too. He hated to admit it but the older man was very smart, he knew that hidden under the smiling and gentle face was a scheming man who could have been sorted into Slytherin. Besides, he didn't want to seem too interested in this little project. He was now just waiting for the bombardment of questions that would probably come from the girl beside him.
Having only just known her, Severus felt he knew enough. She didn't keep her mouth shut and had to know everything about anything. Finally turning to look at her he wondered at her unexpected silence. He had always been suspicious, and after learning what people were really able to do, that particular characteristic only grew. Although his face showed no betrayal Severus wondered what Anne Munchkin knew about this 'special favour' that he didn't.
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"So I'll see you tomorrow after our last class, I'll meet you in the dungeons."
"Perhaps it's best for us to research the known ingredients first and then the unknown ones in the library before actually making it" Just the way he said it made Hermione flush. He raised one of his eyebrows and she was taken back to the time when she was faced with that exact expression by her Potions Professor. Once again his face hid his inner satisfaction.
"Right, library it is then?"
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After performing yet another cleaning charm on her robes, Hermione finally thought it was time to go to the Headmaster with her little problem, and, walking into her room, Hermione could see that once again Dumbledore did not fail her. At the foot of her bed sat a small trunk (much smaller than the one she had back in her own time) that opened to reveal a few sets of the schools standard robes as well as a few (she blushed) new underwear.
In truth, Hermione had wanted to talk to the headmaster about cloths for a while now but she hadn't, not only because she was embarrassed to admit that she had been wearing the same set for a few days, but especially because it would feel like admitting to the fact she might stay here for longer than she wished for. But after finding out she'd have to work with (and Merlin help her, depend on!) Severus Snape she finally came to terms with the fact that she'd probably stay there for a while longer.
Hermione changed into a new set and sighed with relief; it wasn't that her cleaning charms weren't effective but it just didn't feel the same as putting on a new, clean set of robes. A proof of that was the very fact that even Pureblood wizards (who had always had magic in their lives) preferred to periodically buy new sets as well as have them washed by the house-elves instead of the alternative of having the charm performed on them everyday.
She thought back to about half an hour ago when her feelings had been quite far from relief. After her meeting with Snape and the Headmaster, Hermione had uncharacteristically allowed herself to wallow in self-pity. But being Hermione Granger she permitted herself no more than a few minutes of decadence before she had, once again, the usual determinate glint in her eyes.
Yes, she had to work with Severus Snape and there was nothing she could do about it! Besides, she trusted Professor Dumbledore and was sure that he had his reasons for choosing him. And on another note, sitting here and staring at her shoes wouldn't help any! If Snape thought they should research first (and it made her quite angry at the superior way he had voiced it and especially at how much sense it actually made) well then why not start now and show him she wasn't quite so useless as he appeared to think?
And soon (quite characteristically) she found herself in the library only to run straight into an overloaded Remus who dropped his pile of heavy books.
Hermione had immediately started her frenetic apologies and proceeded to help him collect the large tomes but Remus looked at her and hesitated before asking, "Are you alright?"
The question made her stop, her previous determination and anger melting at his soft and cautious voice.
She took a while to answer him, keeping herself busy by dusting a particularly old volume and then fixing her skirt before she looked up to meet his eyes. Of course by then, he didn't need an answer.
She was nodding now, yes I'm fine, but it was obvious to Remus that she wasn't, still though, having had only Sirius, James and Peter as true friends since being bitten (so, since a very young age) Remus was used to male pride, the type where if they didn't want to share then he'd give them some space. When confronted with a teary-eyed Anne Munchkin, Remus wasn't sure what to do. The girl seemed determined not to allow her tears to spill, perhaps he should ignore them for the sake of her poise, but he didn't want to ignore them. He settled then for something somewhere in between and nodded a little before leaning forward slightly to whisper, "I'm glad, if your ever not though, I'm always here" to talk – he was supposed to add, but the words didn't come out. She didn't seem to notice though and was already nodding, eyes glued to his shoes. She took a deep breath and when her eyes met his again her voice was sharper than the look in them, "Thanks, I'll keep that in mind" and with that she started for the door of the room she had only just entered, she turned back around, an honest smile on her face, "I'm okay now though…" and before leaving she bumped on a chair and then on Sirius who, with a leer set her right before she left.
"You know if all you're going to do is stare at her mate, I'm going to go for it myself." Remus' daze was broken by the amused voice of his best friend who had a wide smirk on his face. "I don't know what you're talking about," was the clipped answer Sirius got before Remus placed his books on a nearby table. Moving swiftly he sat down and opened the first book, staring at the pages. Sirius still stood in his placed and watched, counting down in his head, as his friend turned to face him again and, with a much softer voice asked, "you won't though, will you?" This of course only made him smirk wider and Remus had to stop himself from throwing the heavy tome on his now laughing friend.
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Now, in her clean robes and realising that she couldn't just go back to the library in search of the books she'd gone for in the first place, Hermione began the familiar satisfying task of writing her essays and finishing all homework.
Halfway through her charms assignment the door opened to allow the Marlene and Laura in, followed by Lily. They seemed to be in the middle of a conversation, which, by the looks of it, was greatly aggravating to Lily. "But how can you not Lily," were the words coming from Marlene while the head girl rolled her eyes, "I mean, granted he is kind of big-headed but can you blame him?" Hermione needed to hear no more; they were obviously talking about the rather stylish, if conceited, head boy and she smiled softly as she kept to herself.
"Yes well it's easy for you to overlook his faults, you don't have to spend as much time with him as I do" was the argumentative response she got, to which Laura wistfully sighed while her sister answered in an equal tone, "Well maybe you've gotten so used to seeing him this way that you won't see anything else. We'll ask an unbiased opinion," and she turned to Anne who was still working as she listened to the spat, "tell us Anne, as an unprejudiced party," she emphasised the word 'unprejudiced with a pointed look at Lilly who scowled, "what do you think of our handsome Mr. Potter?"
And with a smile at Lily she said that "indeed he was very handsome" and "smart too, from what she'd gathered, being head boy and all…" She was very pleased with herself as the twins smiled too and, even if she was frowning slightly, Lily seemed to be thinking to herself. Finally she shrugged and turned to Marlene, "Fine, I'll let him miss the Heads' meeting this weekend, but I still think you shouldn't go to Hogsmeade with him," she then turned and left, leaving behind two giggling McKinnons and a frowning Hermione who was wondering what exactly had transpired.
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God, wouldn't they ever stop giggling? During the few days that Hermione had spent here she had began to genuinely like the McKinnon twins. Even if they shared little in common they had been welcoming to her during her first day and had often tried to include her in their conversations so that she wouldn't feel left out. But ever since Lily consent the previous night they had not stopped the incessant giggling. After Lily's exit they had proceeded to pick out clothes for the date (which left Hermione wondering just how many clothes she would need for one date in Hogsmeade) and continued chattering well into the night.
With the prospects of meeting Snape later the only thing that made Hermione happy right now was the knowledge that she'd be sharing her potions class with the Hufflepuffs. She now sat beside Frank who was currently informing her of all the wonderful uses of Jellymol, a small plankton-like seaweed that wizards were only now experimenting with, and Hermione had to pretend she hadn't yet seen them in her Herbology curriculum.
By the end of her class, Hermione's good mood was restored. Now that she didn't have Professor Snape stalking around the room and breathing down her neck, Hermione remembered all the reasons why Potion was such a fascinating subject. If she were to be completely honest with herself, Hermione knew that Professor Snape was more knowledgeable than Professor Munchkin, there didn't seem to be a single topic, concept or even ingredient existent that the man didn't know at least an essays worth and yet, as a teacher Professor Munchkin was an enthusiast. Much like Professor Boron, Mona Munchkin seemed to love her profession as well as every one of her students, and Hermione noticed that the affection was returned, even by those who'd mock her, they didn't seem to do so in a malicious way but rather as a light teasing.
Having just been assigned her first large project of the term, Hermione was bubbling with excitement and had already made plans to meet Frank to discuss their project during lunch, she was sure that they could work with his passion for Herbology and use it for their potions assignment.
Moving on to her DADA lesson, Hermione looked forward to another enthusiastic lecture that she was certain to enjoy. As she entered, her eyes immediately began to seep the room and soon she found herself staring into the eyes of Severus Snape who was sitting next Dorcas Meadowes, a quiet girl who always seemed to be pensive and who Hermione vaguely recalled as the girl who apologized to Emmeline Vance after tripping her in the hallway, now usually this would not warrant any recollection if not for the fact that Dorcas was a Slytherin while Emmeline was a muggleborn Gryffindor.
Her staring contest was broken as Remus and Lily slipped into the seats beside her and as she turned to see them she didn't noticed that Snape's eyes had lingered on her before he turned returning to the front of the room. Smiling as they sat, Hermione threw a quick glance at Sirius, Remus' usual partner in class, and found that he was sitting next to Pettigrew, smiling as the smaller boy chatted away. His eyes weren't on him though, but rather on the lanky boy sitting beside her.
"Not sitting with Black today?" Hermione turned to Remus, also wanting to know the answer to Lily's question. "No, he said he had to talk to Peter about something and that I should just sit here. Besides, if they'll be talking throughout the lesson I'd rather sit here with you two, to you know, work and… yep…" he finished rather awkwardly shuffling his parchments before writing the date on the top right corner. September 18th. Hermione wondered again if it mattered that her birthday was tomorrow and if she would be getting older when she was actually years behind. She also felt a tight squeeze in her chest knowing that she wouldn't be around Harry or Ron for her birthday, that she wouldn't be receiving an owl from her parents during breakfast and that tomorrow would come and no-one would know it was a special day for her.
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A/N: Right, I know it's been ages but these few months have been terrible for me, and (again) I should apologise if anyone's been waiting.
I know that nothing much happens in this chapter but it has just served to set smaller plot lines that are coming in the near future.
Big thanks to:
An Anti-Sheep Cheese Muffin – You were right, I did want to!
hye em yes – thanks, and I know about the dates thing (well I didn't when I started but I've been told after) I hadn't really thought of the exact dates when I began and I guess it was easier to think of it in a time not only closer to my own but one that would allow me to use easier numbers, being 17 and from 2007 makes it a lot easier to situate Hermione in time.
Joots – Thanks, I'm glad you like it (you have no idea how glad!!!)
Astrea Von Hurston – I'm afraid it wasn't very exciting this time… and thanks for the review!
MutantJediBauer- I kind of like Remus myself actually, (great name by the way!)
Kitty- took me a while didn't it? Oh well, hope you enjoy it.
And of course Joann who has not only sent numerous reviews but has also completely grasped the idea so far, yes poor Hermione…