Disclaimer: -sigh- wish I owned everything
A/N: Well, I'm back again. About one week since my last entry! That's pretty good for me! I'm slightly disheartened that I've lost some readers but I still got some new ones! Just a question...does any of you read the 'reviews' first before you read the story? I've got my first flame for chapter 21! It's a bit confusing...but well, can't really do anything to improve my story if the flamer isn't specific. Okies, I'll stop babbling. Next chapter- right back with Hermione.
Face
Two days after she accepted the job as the new Defense Against Dark Arts professor, she received a fire call to collect her schedule and to tell her that there would be a meeting in the teachers' lounge. She left her recently prepared room and walked leisurely down the still empty halls. She meandered through the stairs and found herself in front of the chandelier which led to the teachers' meeting area. She could've used her floo system in Hogwarts to get there from her room. But she had always adored walking through the Hogwarts' hallways. Every time was a different experience. She'd learnt that in her first year in Hogwarts. Sometimes, it was peaceful; sometimes, it was busy even though the hall was bare and empty.
She whispered the password to the chandelier that hung delicately on the old wall and waited for the doorway to open and admit her in. When she entered, she nodded sheepishly in greeting to the already present figures there, as she was the last one to arrive. She moved further into the room as the sliding door closed. She went into the sitting area, where she found herself looking at a vaguely familiar back. Was this the new Herbology Teacher? Her mouth opened to greet the man before her when said man, as if sensing her intrigued glance, turned around.
She gasped slightly as familiar eyes bored into hers. She remembered them.
They had been on a face she knew.
A face of an old friend.
A face that had been on neither side of the war.
A boy who shied away from this mess. Shoulders slumped. Face wet. Scared.
A man stood in his place now. A confident and self-assured man. Not fearless but courageous.
"Neville!" she cried out in surprise and joy. "It's been ages!"
And it was true. The boy who left Hogwarts and the man stood before her was so different. He had been so lost and ashamed.
A huge grin spread across his face. "Hi, Hermione. I've decided to teach here."
Those words had so much implication. Neville Longbottom had joined the war and was fighting for the Order. Another fighter on the thinning front. Another possible life lost. She didn't know whether she should be ecstatic or sad.
Brushing her thoughts aside, Hermione walked briskly to him and enveloped him into a fierce hug and told him how great it was to see him. They found themselves sitting together on a sofa when Professor Dumbledore came.
There was a brief introduction as the two new professors reacquainted themselves with the rest of the faculty. Then the details of the next term which begun the day after. Hermione listened attentively and after the meeting adjourned, she stopped Neville for a long chat in the lounge.
It had been a long time, and nothing was better than to start the year with a re-acquaintance of an old friend.
xxXxx
It had been a week since the raid could she approach Severus. She was sure that he knew already, seeing that in the Order's meeting he'd mentioned Blaise Zabini's sudden ascend into the Dark Lord's right hand position. They had discussed the implication of this relatively unknown Death Eater in the Lord Voldemort's ring of Power. They'd known that Zabini was a part of the elites, but his activities, aside from the usual participation in the Revel, had remained a mystery.
Hermione knocked on the Potion door and waited for the admittance. She didn't need t wait long as he had obviously expected her. Severus had known that she'd approach him soon. He knew from the downcast eyes and slight shifting during the meeting.
"Come in." Severus invited her in and sat her down in front of his desk. Then he disappeared into his private office to bring forth two glasses and a bottle of liquor. She smiled gratefully and accepted the offered drink.
Severus sat down sipped his drink, allowing a moment of silence, before he opened his mouth again. "So how is teaching?"
She sighed softly, once again grateful that Severus started the conversation.
"It's fine." She said, and then with a soft grin, she continued. "I'm beginning to understand why you were so grumpy. Gryffindors and their silly pranks and loudness. Hufflepuffs are so gullible and stubborn. Ravenclaws are the better bunch to teach. But sometimes, they look at the questions or situation too theoretically!"
Severus nodded in amusement, a thin lipped smirk appeared. "And the Slytherin?"
Hermione froze. She thought carefully before answering. "Well…the Slytherins are…Slytherins…Some are very good students, in the academic sense. But some are so prejudice and rude. They think I don't know it, but they make faces and comments when my back is turned."
"I see." Severus nodded. "You should've gave them detentions. That's what they're for."
They shard a short laugh, before falling into silence again. There was something that they needed to talk about. Both of them knew it. But neither knew how to start.
"I…" Hermione started hesitantly, she wasn't sure how she could do this. "I came to talk about Draco Malfoy."
Severus looked at her solemnly and said, "I know."
"He's dead, isn't he?" she asked, "…that's why Zabini got his spot."
"Yes." He answered; his black eyes still stared intently at her.
She nodded slowly. Looking into her glass of drink. Admiring the way the liquid swirled in her slightly trembling hand. "I sent the killing curse at him." She blurted out, then she looked up from her glass.
Severus's face remained impassive. As was expected of a dedicated spy. He stared at her, as if searching for something. Some sort of reaction.
"As I've been told in the Dark Revel." He said, still staring at her.
"I ended it. Just like I promised." She said. A cynical smile appeared on her face.
Severus continued to observe the warrior before him. It wasn't the fighter in her that he was concerned with. It hadn't been the woman he was looking for. It was the girl. He had been trying to see how the girl reacted to this. The girl who still lived before the day of the graduation.
"I took the Polyjuice. Malfoy thought I was Harry." Hermione said in a matter of fact way. Betraying no emotions, because emotions were not needed. "We dual, and I cast the spell while apparating away with Remus."
"Are you…" Severus hesitated before continuing. "Will you be okay?"
"I am fine." She said firmly, placing the glass of finished liquor on the desk. "…Thank you for listening."
With that, she left the classroom and returned to her quarters. A smile was on her face. Because she remembered Draco. Not Malfoy.
She remembered only Draco now. The Draco in his last year of Hogwarts. The one who died first. He had been an eagle free to fly. He had a sad soft smile. He had unblemished skin. He had no gaudy scars or mark. He had been a wonderful promise.
She had mourned. And it was over.
xxXxx
The January sun shone on the pristine sheet of snow and into a room at Hogwarts in the early morning.
She stood before her mirror and tied her hair up. Being satisfied by her reflection, as she presented an image of respectable Professor, she turned around and left the spacious room that was hers.
It was another day at Hogwarts for her. She'd felt oddly excluded in her first day of teaching. It had been as if she was no longer a part of the war because she was around smiling faces and innocent students that had yet to be touched, at least not fully, by the treachery that lies outside. But then, she saw the students' faces transformed within the classroom. A seriousness that had been lacking in her school years was found in her students. It was then she realized her importance in Hogwarts. She was their best chance of survival.
And she'd be damned if she didn't do her best because she was too preoccupied by the war and Harry as well as Ron's safety.
She entered the scarcely occupied Great Hall. It was still early in the morning, only the teachers and a handful of students. She nodded with a smile of her face as the students greeted her. Some of them knew her in her school years and they were more than pleased to see her back. Hermione proceeded effortlessly towards the table where the other professors sat.
She plopped herself down next to Neville who gave her a smile. She returned one gladly and began to fill her plate with food. They shared light-hearted talk and watched students slowly emerging into the hall.
The students yawned and stretched and bickered. Very much like them just a few years ago. It was moments like these that the war seemed non-existent.
Upon the arrival of the fluttering mails, a very plain and ordinary owl flew away from the flock. Unbeknown by most of the students as they were too immersed in their own letters. However, the teaching faculty all shifted warily as the owl neared them.
Hermione regarded the bird that approached the faculty table carefully. It had landed almost silently in front of Professor Dumbledore. She watched the bird staring at the Headmaster until it was sure that he took the parchment tied to its leg and opened the message. She watched carefully as the owl departed with barely a flutter and no hoot at all.
An owl trained to be discreet. Most definitely news concerning the war, she decided.
She returned her attention to the elderly Professor whose mouth was drawn to an uncharacteristic thin line. All of them waited. With an agonizing casualness, Professor looked along the head table.
"It would seem," he said lightly, not betraying any sort of distress, "that first lessons today must be canceled as we have a meeting to go through."
A/N: Would you call that a cliffy? So how did you like it? If you're gonna ask me what's in that letter...I can't really tell you because it'd spoil the next chapter. There's only one girl out there who knows it because she's somehow successfully 'bullied' it out of me. She's somewhere in Canada enjoying her holiday now. About next week's update, it might be a bit late as I'll be out of town for a couple of days. So I'll be without my computer...and you all know how writing is without the computer.
Please, please, please review! And please, please, please read To My Son. That's the side story to this chapter. It shows how Neville changed his mind and joined...please with chocolate fudge and coco pops on top of cookie n' cream ice cream?