Chapter One

The One With The Blueberry Cereal.

Dear Ley,

Everything's so different here, not so much the weather, but more like… everything else! The castle is huge it's so amazing to be here! Most of the staff here is around 40 years old, save for one, which I haven't met yet because he or she was "otherwise indisposed". It's funny, people don't address each other with Mr. or Ms. Here, everyone is supposed to call you "professor this" or "professor that". It's rather unnerving.

Otherwise, everything is going fine. I've been here for three days and spent most of the time walking around the castle, trying not to get lost! It's said that rooms change, although I'm not so sure about the stair cases, they all seem the same to me. Doors too, are camouflaged; yesterday I spent 10 minutes trying to force a door open that turned out to be a wall in disguise! It was so humiliating when I finally realised what I was doing, thankfully nobody saw me.

The village too, is said to be 'charming' although I haven't had much time to explore anywhere else than the castle and its grounds which are enormous by the way. Remember the first time we came to Midsummer? Coming to Hogwarts was about amazing as that. And you'd think I'd be used to about almost anything by now, after 7 years in the magical world, but I guess not.

Classes start in two days; I'm so nervous and excited! I mean, I think that this is what I want, and I can always quit after a year, but it's so scary! What if I make an idiot out of myself in front of the whole class? I mean, I doubt it and I can always dish out detentions, but then they will hate me… I can't believe I'm actually fretting about that, I think I've been cooped up inside for too long. I'm going to finish this letter, grab my sunglasses and go sit outside; hopefully it's not against the rules to tan on the astronomy tower.

I hope everyone's okay, and I hope Florida is suiting you,

Much love,

Hermione.

P.S: I hope you like the gift, I bought it on impulse, thought you might like it.

XXX

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It was with a yelp that Hermione awoke on Monday morning, and with another that she landed on her bare feet, causing pain waves to course through her legs and back. Falling asleep twice in a row while tanning is never one of the best ideas, but luckily for Hermione, she didn't burn easily, turning a rather dark shade of brown instead. And although her skin didn't look sunburnt, it certainly felt like it.

She winced as he made her way over to her closet, and, choosing not to shower, grabbed a faded out yellow Scooby-Doo tee shirt and pulled it on, before a new army print skirt that stopped a couple centimetres above her knee was hoisted over her legs and fastened on the side.

Flip flops would not do, she knew, this was school, not a holiday park, and so, with much regret she pulled on her sandals, grateful for the platforms, and proceeded to make her way to her turquoise tiled bathroom – the headmaster, Dumbledore, had let her customise it herself.

Splashing water on ones face is usually one of the easiest ways of freshening up. However, when your face is freckled as it only gets when you've been in the sun too long, cold water can hurt. A lot. So you can imagine that a lot of cursing followed this process. However, once the pain had subsided a little, and the eyes had gone back to their original colour – brown, freckled with green – it was once again okay to apply the black eyeliner, mascara, and lip gloss that accentuated her features a little more.

Three minutes later, after the hair had been tied carefully into what was supposed to give the impression of a messy ponytail, and the rest of the bushiness had been clipped to the side with silver hair slides, so that it could later be tucked behind her ears if the owner so chose to wear it so, or hang down and make you look carefree, Hermione Granger, realising full well that if she didn't leave her headquarters in 10 minutes she would be late for breakfast on her first day quickly slipped on what Ley liked to call 'sex bracelets' but to Hermione were just different coloured pieces of plastic she thought looked as Ley liked to say 'trendy' and quickly fastened a chain around her neck, on which hung a silvery coloured plastic ring that Angus, her 8 year old neighbour had won for her at the fair once, before grabbing her black 'sling over the shoulder bag' that was decorated with safety pins and pins from her favourite punk rock bands, that she had made the day before, and departing in a hurry, remembering just in time to lock her quarters. (A/N: OMFG... that is like the longest sentence EVER).

The many trips through the castle paid off, however, as she reached the great hall in time, remembering to pass through the teacher's entry. There were assigned seats, and Hermione soon found herself seated in-between a smiling 40 year old lady with mousy brown hair and very dirty fingernails, and a boy, around her age, who wasn't talking to anybody, and contemplating his food in mild interest.

"Morning dearie," The witch beside her greeted her with a smile.

"Good Morning."

The old witch chuckled. "Sleep well?"

She smiled in return. "Fine, thanks."

Hermione helped herself to cereal, and soon, after a couple inquiries and small talk, her neighbour excused herself, claiming that she needed to go 'check on her Mauradifas,' leaving Hermione alone next to the 17 year old boy.

She turned toward him.

"Hi, I'm Hermione."

The boy turned to look at her. "Severus Snape."

His eyes were as black as his hair, which was uncut at the front, so that his hair hung in his face slightly. He was dressed all in black, and his lips were unsmiling.

She looked around the great hall. "Nervous?"

He shook his head. "What is there to be nervous about?"

She grinned. "Well, the whole not being a good teacher thing, I suppose."

Severus looked at her blankly. "You passed the tests with high grades otherwise you wouldn't have gotten a position here. It's obvious from your scores that you'll be a good teacher."

Hermione frowned. She didn't like his tone of voice. "Yeah, I suppose so…"

"So then there's nothing to be worried about is there?"

She glared at him, taking another bite of her cereal before noticing the round purple ingredients.

"Oh God."

Severus turned to look at her. "Something wrong?"

"These are blueberries aren't they?"

Snape looked down at her plate, then at his plate, before his facial expression changed into one of horror.

"Oh fuck," they both groaned, before jumping to their feet simultaneously, and sprinting to the nearest bathroom, fighting to keep the vomit down.

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Next up:

vomit (YAY)

a single kiss

the first day

Disclaimer: If you want to sue me, it's too late, I put up my disclaimer. I don't own these people.

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